Why did Nicki Do It?

Based on a very popular magazine, featuring Grammy award winning female hip-hop rapper, Nicki Minaj in Cosmopolitans July 2015 issue, it became evident that the female image is all about “SEX”. The issue released revealing images of Nicki and also featured an article about her “SEX” experiences and advises on sex. On the cover of the magazine she was in a tight one piece, swimsuit like outfit, standing in a way that extended her booty, and hips to enhance the sexiness of the picture and appeal to readers and consumers. Cosmopolitan magazine is are magazine that has become extremely popular over other magazines regardless of the obvious reflection of larger societal patterns and power structures within the motto and magazine concept itself, deeming women as objects to be looked at in a discrete and creative way which many consumers indulge in rather than reject it.

        The American pop culture is prone to accepting stereotypes and directing them a particular group of individuals. Numerous feminists loathe the ways in which women are explicitly portrayed because it only generates stereotypes, misconceptions and negativity towards women around the world. In regards to femininity and sexuality they exploit women by using their “sexiness or bodily appearance” to intrigue the male gaze. The Advertising Educational Foundation article mentions that, “these images of women seem to affect men most strikingly by influencing how they judge the real women in their lives” (Kilbourne, 3).

Many readers and consumers are blind to the ideology that those magazines represent total sexualized objectification that tends to prolong the societal perception of women through provocative images used to advertise and sell products. Cosmo wrote an article in which Nicki talked about being “High Maintenance in Bed”, while posing in a bathtub almost nude. The idea that black women in particular are hypersexual beings, her response only confirms those stereotypes ever the more. “Girls try to make sense of the contradictory expectations of themselves in a culture dominated by advertising…toxic for girl’s self-esteem” (Kilbourne, 2). If a young woman looks into a Cosmo magazine and views an image of her favorite rapper portraying herself in a way that is “Sexy” it will only influence her to want or do the same, but it is not attained it can cause her to be insecure because no matter what she tries she will never look like Nicki looked in the magazine. 

There’s a saying circulating throughout Hollywood that, “We can be successful as long as we stay feminine.” Femininity is associated with being weak, submissive and non-threatening, but why are women expected to be that way? Women who don’t fall into the stereotypes or necessarily agree with these characteristics and that’s why feminist exist.  The idea of feminism is, “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (Bell Hooks). Many feminists don’t support many magazines like Cosmo because it explicitly exploits everything they fighting for. The print media industry has been exploiting women for decades but because society refuses to reject the negative impact it has, they continue to thrive.