Representations of gender and sexuality in popular music in Uganda

Abstract

Popular music is a social and critical artifact of the creative and performing arts not only for its entertainment value but also for its implicit discourses relating to gender, sexuality, politics, culture and economics. While music in Uganda can be used to promote messages for attaining good health, quality education, it is also a space for normalizing sexualization and perpetuating gendered inequalities. The mass (media) production, distribution and consumption of popular music is dominated by the youth whose access to, and repeated consumption of highly sexualized content (lyrics and music videos) is made easily available through media outlets like radios, television, and social media platforms. Yet, as illustrated by a number of scholars, the repetitive consumption of popular music that is sexist and objectifying has undesirable implications including limiting sexual autonomy and negatively impacting individual choices relating to sexuality. This study draws on multiple lenses including Butler’s Theory of Gender Performativity and Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory as conceptual tools to critically reflect on select popular songs in Uganda. Drawing on a critical discourse analysis of the lyrics and music videos, I draw insights that affirm the power of popular music as an enabling and disabling tool for shaping perceptions around gender and sexuality. As an enabler, popular music has been used to empower women, promote positive sexualities, and communicate advocacy messages relating to various forms of violence. On the contrary, popular music has been used as a tool to objectify women, promote gender inequality, and sustain harmful gender stereotypes. Using a gender lens for producing and analyzing popular music, we can think creatively with music to shape and reshape how gender and sexuality is portrayed in our communities.