Sexism in the music industry: sexist questions in interviews to female singers and songwriters

This thesis will talk about sexism in the music industry, in particular sexist questions in interviews to female singers and songwriters. There will be the definition of sexism, and the explanation of the different types: hostile, benevolent, ambivalent, institutional, interpersonal, and internalised. There will be an analysis of sexist discourse in the music industry, a brief description of four female artists (Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Britney Spears) and how they have been treated by the media. Then six videos of interviews with sexist questions will be analysed, asked to these singers (two videos per artist), with the criteria analysed in the first chapter. Then it will be explained how social media puts women’s bodies on the spot and the damage made by beauty standards, body shaming and the belief that being skinny is healthy and being fat is unhealthy. It will be stressed how important it is for journalists to receive specific training on how to avoid behaving in a sexist way, and there will be given some suggestions on how to respond to some sexist remarks.