Music videos aren’t alone in expressing a voyeuristic gaze towards one’s object of obsession. In fact, it has been a key concept in popular culture and youthful relationships in general.

For example, the MTV show “Undressed,” which originally aired from 1999 to 2002, followed several relationships between young people and was controversial for frank discussions about sex. Unknown to viewers, however, was something more disturbing- “the prevalence of a certain ‘televisual voyeurism’ that functions differently from voyeurism in theories of classical cinema spectatorship” (Middleton).¹⁾Middleton, Jason. “Youth, Leisure, and Voyeurism in MTV’s ‘Undressed.’” The Velvet Light Trap, no. 48, 2001. As the members of the show undressed each other in a very intimate way, there was a “cinematic ‘gaze’… unified, gendered male, and subject to voyeurism and narcissism” (Middleton).²⁾Middleton, Jason. “Youth, Leisure, and Voyeurism in MTV’s ‘Undressed.’” The Velvet Light Trap, no. 48, 2001.

The camera zoomed in on certain body parts, treating the members of the show as objects to be spied upon. Yet despite such a controversial approach to dating and an obvious presentation of voyeurism, the show has been re-started and has been airing again on the MTV website since 2017. The show describes itself on Youtube as “a one-of-a-kind social experiment that strips away the distractions and superficiality of the digital world. In each episode of this dating experiment, two strangers must undress each other before getting to know one another for the next 30 minutes.” (MTV, Youtube).³⁾MTV. “’Alexa & Emily’s Sweet Introduction’ Official Sneak Peek | Undressed | MTV.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Aug. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lc514DkzE. Yet the show replaces the distractions of a digital world with the distractions of a voyeuristic camera gaze which roams the bodies of the pair.

Unrequited love and obsession have become so prevalent in popular culture that psychologist Dorothy Tennov dubbed it “limerence,” which is “an involuntary interpersonal state that involves an acute longing for emotional reciprocation, obsessive-compulsive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and emotional dependence on another person” (Sack).⁴⁾Sack, M.D. David. “Can You Literally Be Love Sick?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Aug. 2012, www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sack-md/limerence_b_1627089.html. The emphasis of this definition is on the term “involuntary.” The culture of pining after unrequited love is so commonplace that psychologists have deemed it a subconscious, involuntary characteristic. Popular culture has expressed obsession to the point of normalizing it through scientific measures. Thus, we can clearly see another reason why voyeurism has been so prevalent in music videos- it is an integral part of popular culture, to the point of scientific recognition.