Toxicity in the Video Vixen World

Background

Before the toxic culture of Instagram models, there was the toxic culture of video vixens. Just like Instagram models today, video vixens were thought to be living a luxurious lifestyle, having the time of their lives dancing in music videos. However, the video vixen image is, in reality, looked down upon, and for understandable reasons.

Video vixen before social media

During the 1980s, when the concept of video vixen was conceived, these vixens were mere accessories in hip-hop music videos. By the 1990s, video vixens became a staple for music videos within the genre. The women would sometimes be the main focus of the video, wearing revealing clothing and doing simple things seductively. 

During this era, people would think that rappers made it when they had a music video featuring video vixens and high-end items. The early 2000s would be the peak of the video vixen era, as women became a focal point in music videos. Vixens also received more recognition in advertisements for clothing. 

King Magazine (established in 2002) became one of the first magazines to give these video vixens more recognition. Their pay rate also increased. Some video vixens went from making $1,000 to up to $10,000 per video.

The social media era

Currently, with the popularity of Instagram, it can be easy for anyone to become a video vixen. It can be a great thing and a bad thing as well.

What’s great about it is that regular girls can achieve endorsements and bookings from their online popularity. The bad part about it all is that there is an oversaturation within the industry, which leads to a devaluation of the job.

Are the two eras really different?

Some may think toxicity in the media has only been around since the rise of social media. However, that is not the case. Toxicity has always been an issue in the media way before social media took off. 

Just like many may seem to think Instagram models have it good, most also thought video vixens had it good back in the day. That has also never been the case. For the longest time, people have mainly looked down on video vixens because they found their presence in media to be sexist and objectifying. 

Now that has all changed, as well-known 2000s video vixens have continued to expose the toxic side of being a video vixen.

What does toxicity mean for a video vixen?

The toxic environment of being a video vixen was first exposed in 2005, when Karinne Steffans (a former video vixen) released her tell-all book titled, Confessions of a Video Vixen. Steffans’s tell-all book shares details of the hardships she experienced throughout her early years and what would sometimes take place on music video sets. It serves as a cautionary tale. The book produced controversy and led to industry insiders and other video vixens labeling Steffans as a snitch. 

More specifically, the usage of video vixens has also set unrealistic beauty standards for girls and women. For the first two decades since the introduction of the video vixen, slim-figured women would be the main feature in music videos. Since the 2010s, the women featured would have a BBL (Brazilian butt lift) and a slim waist. Having either of those images consistently featured can make one feel bad about themselves if their body doesn’t look like what the media views to be the “look.”

Video vixen and socio-cultural representation

Although the video vixen image can affect all women, Black women are disproportionately affected by this image. The video vixen plays a role in the hyper-sexualization of Black women.

According to Ladel Lewis’s thesis, called The Portrayal of African American Women in Hip-Hop Videos, this image can lead to people looking down at Black women. Lewis dives deeper into how the hip-hop genre portrays Black women as animals who need training, as non-valuable, and only worthy of being sexual objects. These negative images play into how Black women experience mistreatment from their counterparts.

So when Yo Gotti released the visuals for his single featuring DaBaby, Drop, it was shocking to see Black women express disappointment when noticing there wasn’t any representation of Black women in the video. It’s great to see a Black representation of Black women, but this is not the representation Black women should have. 

Economic implications for video vixens

In her commentary video on the situation, LovelyTi TV also touched on the money video vixens earn. While some will make a large amount of money per video, others will make almost little to no money. It can take hours to put together a music video. Not only could a video vixen be working in a potentially toxic environment, they may not receive any money for their work.

The women in these videos may appear to have the time of their life in these music videos, but that’s not always the case. The video vixen job can be very toxic for various reasons. Glamourizing this career should never be encouraged.