In my Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies class, I was asked to analyze a feminist and thought-provoking music video. The reason I picked Christina Aguilera’s music video, “Dirrty” was because of how avant-garde it was. Indeed, it was truly ahead of its time. For those who don’t know, Christina Aguilera is an American Latin songstress who is celebrated for using her tremendous vocal prowess to approach topics such as feminism, sexuality and domestic abuse. One of her most critically acclaimed yet shocking albums was her fourth studio album Stripped (2002). Her song and music video “Dirrty” received a tsunami of attention for its liberation of female sexuality as well as the departure from Aguilera’s “squeaky clean” image established in her previous albums. The instances where Aguilera constructs sexual images involve her wearing risqué clothing, dancing erotically and depicting overly sexual fetishes such as male fantasies of lesbianism and catfighting, mud wrestling and body worshiping. However, Aguilera still conforms to quite a few regressive gender stereotypes such as depicting the defining quality of masculinity as displaying aggression, having female dancers in the video with the exact same body type as her and fetishizing race.
In a patriarchal society, women’s clothing is constantly policed by society and women are not allowed to revel in their sexuality, as it is believed that a woman’s sexuality only exists for a man’s pleasure. In fact, women are shamed by society for wearing revealing clothes if they want to. This reminds me of Jamaica Kincaid’s short story, “Girl.” The sentence, “to prevent yourself from dressing like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” demonstrates how women are judged, shamed and policed by society for the clothes they wear. Their choices are constantly dictated by the male gaze. It exemplifies how limited a woman’s autonomy really is. However, by wearing what makes her comfortable and enjoying her sexuality, Christina Aguilera reclaims her autonomy. In the music video she dons several risqué outfits. The first of which are her infamous black leather chaps and a red bikini and the second is a black mini-skirt and black bikini. Red symbolizes sexuality and passion whereas black symbolizes strength. Thus, through the symbolic representation of her clothing, Christina Aguilera demonstrates that the subversion of patriarchal norms is powerful and there is strength in a woman reclaiming her agency- by wearing clothes that she wants to wear.
In addition, in a patriarchal society, women experience tremendous disrespect and invalidation from men. This is done to maintain male dominance. When looking at the music video, one of the sentences that jumped out at me was from Sarah Ahmed’s “Slammed Doors” -“women enter, only to head right out again: whoosh, whoosh.” The door doesn’t symbolize freedom or liberation but, rather, an exit that exists for women to be chased out of the system by men to maintain male supremacy. This notion of male supremacy extends itself to the topic of sexuality. It is firmly believed that women cannot be expressive of their own sexuality. Although, men can be expressive of their sexuality and are allowed to sexualize women because a woman’s sexuality exists for a man’s pleasure. In the music video, Christina Aguilera constructs women as sexual beings and refuses to conform to gender stereotypes thereby, breaking free of patriarchal norms. This is clearly seen through a closeup shot of her in a cage. A cage is a symbol of restriction, oppression and signifies a loss in freedom and agency. When Christina Aguilera leaves the cage and tosses her jacket, she immediately begins to dance in a sultry manner and moans provocatively. This signifies a liberation or freeing of female sexuality. She agrees that she is “nasty” and “too dirty to clean her act up” thus, showing how freeing it is for a woman to revel in her sexuality. Aguilera subverts patriarchal norms by depicting herself as a sexual being and celebrating her sexuality and autonomy. Thus, she once again reclaims her power and autonomy by subverting patriarchal norms of gender. Her refusal to conform to gender stereotypes is also seen when she rides a motorbike in the opening of the music video of “Dirrty.” In essence, Aguilera demonstrates that women, like men, are sexual beings and there is power in a woman reclaiming her agency and sexuality by subverting norms of society.
Moreover, Aguilera further dives into her sexuality in the music video by exploring aspects of female pleasure which are denounced by the patriarchy. In the music video of “Dirrty”, Aguilera is surrounded by other women and is seen dancing, twerking and writhing in pleasure. This is demonstrated by her aggressively growling out “Ooh baby” and stroking her crotch. The stroking of her crotch and shaking of her hand are also indicative of female masturbation. This is particularly significant as Aguilera demonstrates how female pleasure should be celebrated and not ignored. When I was watching the music video, one of the sentences that jumped out to me were from the book, “Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemology of ignorance” Nancy Tuana writes:
“What was once common knowledge or even common scientific knowledge can be transferred to the realm of ignorance not because it is refuted and seen as false, but because such knowledge is no longer seen as valuable, important or functional.”
This notion extends itself to the topic of female pleasure. According to religious scriptures, a woman’s lustfulness led to the original sin- sex. As such, society considers female pleasure as vulgar. However, Aguilera’s depictions of female masturbation and her suggestive smirks once again denounce such values. She is clearly a woman who takes pride in her pleasure and embraces her sexuality rather than ignoring it. By doing so, she also encourages other women to take pride in their own sexuality and reminds them that female erotic pleasure does not exist for a man’s satisfaction.
However, while Christina Aguilera celebrates female sexuality and its liberation, she still sexualizes herself in a manner which subtly implies that a woman’s sexuality exists for a man’s erotic viewing pleasure. For instance, when Aguilera is thrusting her hips and stroking her hair suggestively, she is surrounded by several male bodybuilders who are all staring at her in a suggestive and intense manner, another instance is when she and her female dancers are in the boxing ring dancing, all of them are surrounded again by male mud wrestlers. In both scenes, the camera closes in on her crotch and her head swaying aggressively, depicting female orgasm. However, because she is surrounded by men in her music video who are smiling sexually at her erotic self-touching, it sends a message to her audience that a woman’s sexuality exists for a man’s sexual satisfaction. Laura Mulvey states in her book “Visual Pleasure and Narrative cinema”, that a woman is regarded as someone who “holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire” really is exemplified by the sheer number of men in the video. The camera shots zooming in up close on Aguilera’s buttocks, breast and legs is evident of how women are seen as objects of male desire and male sexual pleasure and it is misogynistic as it implies that a woman’s true value is in her body parts and not her identity and personhood. The camera also zooms in intensely in the scene between Aguilera and another female boxer wrestling and fighting each other as the men lick their lips and cheer raucously, strongly suggesting male erotic fantasies of lesbianism and catfighting. Also, the director of “Dirrty,” David LaChapelle, is also a man, it introduces a gender bias and reinforces the notion that a woman’s sexuality is solely intended for a man’s viewing pleasure.
Moreover, Aguilera conforms to eurocentric standards of beauty and thereby, excludes members of her female audience who don’t have the same body type as her. Indeed, there is an implicit fat stigma present in the music video of “Dirrty.” All the dancers have Aguilera’s body type- petite breasts, short height, slim legs and a flat stomach. These were features idolized by Eurocentric beauty standards during the early 2000s, which was when the music video was released. Although the ideal body type has now changed and beauty standards are evolving constantly, there is still a pressure to conform to those standards. By having women who all have the exact same body type as her, Christina Aguilera subtly perpetuates the notion that only women who conform to Eurocentric beauty standards deserve to be sexually liberated. She reinforces the notion Eurocentric standards of beauty are the norm and thereby, exacerbates the pressure that women experience to conform to those standards. There aren’t any plus-sized women in the video or women with a diverse range of body types. This is an example of “harboring whiteness.” According to Caleb Luna, in her piece “Your Fat Stigma is Racist – Here are 6 Ways to Fix That,” Latinx and Black folk are scrutinized for having “full” and “fat” features, whereas white women are applauded for slim features. Being slim herself and having only slim female dancers featuring in her music video, Christina Aguilera glorifies white-eurocentric standards of beauty. She thereby marginalizes Black and Latin X folks, as well as women who don’t have the same body type as her. Thus, reinforcing the message that only women who look like her deserve to be sexually liberated.
Another problematic aspect in Aguilera’s music video is the fetishization of race. One of the things that I learned from my Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies class is that misogynoir is a term used to describe the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience, particularly in US visual and digital culture. The stereotypical Jezebel is the image of hyper sexualized Black women and is seen as “animalistic, strong, insatiable. In the music video of “Dirrty”, there are many Black female dancers who are aggressively twerking and dancing suggestively. This reinforces the Jezebel stereotype and fetishization of Black women. This is particularly problematic as these stereotypes are harmful to and marginalize Black women. This is corroborated by the CDC as Black women are 3-4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related deaths than their white counterparts. The music video also reflects Aguilera’s privilege. Devon Carbado defines privilege in his essay “Privilege” as, “those of us who unquestionably accept the racial, gender and heterosexual privileges we have.” Even though Aguilera is acknowledged by the media as part Latin, she is white-passing and has been treated by the media as a white woman throughout her two-decade long career. As such, she is not subjected to the harmful stereotypes, such as the “spicy Latina”, that other Latina women must face, which is an example of her privilege. Thus, Aguilera’s privilege in the music video is evident as she fetishizes minorities such as Black and Latinx individuals, without having to face the repercussions of the fetishization.
What is also problematic is her portrayal of masculinity as being solely defined by aggression and being highly testosterone driven. All the men present in the video are mud-wrestlers and bodybuilders, all of whom have extremely muscular and toned physiques. The video depicts men punching and wrestling one another and are cheered on by other wrestlers in the video. This glorification of violence as an indicator of masculinity is both regressive and harmful. According to Michael S. Kimmel in his essay “Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity”, “Violence is often the single evident marker of manhood.” If a man doesn’t demonstrate violent behavior, he is seen as a “sissy” and bullied by his male peers. This is an example of Aguilera’s privilege because as is defined by Carbado, when someone is a “perpetrator of discrimination,” they are demonstrating their own privilege. Because Aguilera is not a man, she doesn’t have to experience or be subjected to some of the pernicious stereotypes that even men experience in society such as constantly having to prove their dominance and masculinity through brute aggression, which is damaging to their mental health. Also, in Aguilera’s music video all the men have extremely muscular physiques and the camera focuses in and highlights these features. This indicates that manhood is defined by the presence of brawn and strength. By glorifying aggression and muscular bodies in her music video, she conforms to patriarchal norms of society that judge and deem men as “sissies” if they are not muscular and aggressive, thereby demonstrating her privilege once again.
Thus, through the symbolic representation of clothing, metaphors, close-up shots and sultry dancing, Christina Aguilera portrays female sexuality as a liberating experience. However, because her representation of female sexuality borrows heavily from already existing societal gender norms, her attempt at liberation still perpetuates problematic and regressive patriarchal and racial stereotypes. This mélange of female sexual liberation, messaging and adherence to problematic societal norms is a characteristic of early 2000 music videos. However, Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” is still significant because the music video and song inspired other female artists and women at large to unapologetically embrace their sexuality. Both the song and music video cemented Aguilera as a talented vocalist and feminist icon of the early 2000s.
