Social Experiment Regarding Plus Size Representation in Hip-Hop
I was extremely interested to see how society views plus size women in hip hop media. It is very seldom that we see plus size women in hip hop music video as video vixens or models. Though it isn't common to see plus size women in video production I was still very curious to see the personal preference of people when it comes to the women we place in hip hop music videos.
So I went out an conducted a little experiment to hopefully uncover some of the personal bias that people hold towards plus size women not necessarily in everyday life but in a hip hop music video to be specific.
STOP BEFORE YOU PROCCED
If you wish to participant in the study before reviewing the data results below, click the link to proceed to the survey.
BIG TIME HIP HOP SOCIAL EXPERIMENT
For this survey-based experiment, participants were asked to complete a survey that asked them to imagine themselves as casting directors for a new music video by a popular male hip hop artist. The survey proceeded as follows:
After the participants read their role in the study they were them prompted to answer several questions regarding the location, models, and overall concept for the music video. With these questions, I wanted to see what people found more favorable when it comes to the women they wanted to see in the video and the way each woman carried themselves.
This question was used to make participants think about the overall setting of the music video. What where their model wear? Since most of the options are set outside I wanting participants the think of a model in a swimsuit or a more revealing outfit. Though it isn't necessary for a model to be dressed half naked in these settings it is more of a common trend in music videos for them to be depicted that way.
The intent of these questions I hope is self-explanatory. I simply wanted to see whom the participants would prefer to be the love interests in the music video. There is a large stigma that plus size women aren't sexy or cant be viewed as attractive because of their extra weight. With these questions, I wanted to see which type of females the participants found favorable. I used women of ethnicities to reduce race bias. For each option, there is clearly a plus size option included with the other size options.
This portion of the survey was created to unveil some of the general misogyny towards women in hip hop music videos. Women are always depicted to be head over heels for men in popular music videos. In a disgusting way, men seem to always win in these videos. In the end, women fall to their knees because they are depicted as "needing men." With this question, I wanted to see how participants would change up the storyline if they had the chance.