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on My Mind was written and recorded in the summer of 2014 at our North Walian studio the Red Brick, just outside of Mold in Clwyd. It has the feel and sentiment of a lot of the tracks from our new album, it talks about feeling alive, being free and this track in particular touches upon sexual liberation; specifically about a woman's carnal imagination. We're big on making our own music videos, so last month we started collecting footage & finishing the treatment to this song. The video follows a voyeuristic heterosexual female gaze (like my own) watching men in all forms, free, relaxed, sexy and objectified . It's beautiful, provocative, occasionally pervy , sometimes just admiring the prowess of Hendrix and his guitar or Iggy's gorgeous lack of inhibitions. I'm writing this piece as the frontwoman of The Joy Formidable, but the intent behind this video was formed as a group, with both my male band members. I think that's important to mention because what fueled this treatment was something that we'd all been feeling; that there just isn't enough diversity in music videos when it comes to sexual representation. The male gaze is well represented, we see plenty of female nudity, statistically more than men, we see men in positions of power with scantily clad women, and we see female protagonists mirroring that power dynamic with overt sexual aggression. This obsession with who is sexually in control is negative for both sexes. The implication that all men are aggressive and that women need to compete in the same way isn't the road to equality. In music videos what we don't see very often is men and women equal in their nudity and sensual without a power struggle. It's a lot to cover in one music video; but showing a different side of male sensuality is one part of the conversation. It was actually very difficult finding footage to this aim. At one point whilst typing in "female gaze" to a search engine, the results were some camera shots of a woman's behind . I guess what I'm trying to convey is whilst making this video we kept finding proof of the imbalance, of the ingrained gender stereotypes, it was difficult finding footage that showed men sexualised, sensual or vulnerable from a female perspective that mirrored my own. We all have the freedom to do what we like with our bodies and our sexuality (as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else), and we don't condone objectification in general, the point here is, when the media representation is imbalanced,if we're mostly seeing women sexualised or objectified, from a male perspective or otherwise, it's limited, it's damaging and frankly; it's boring too. I'd like to see even more diversity please, in music videos and the way that sex is represented in general. Censorship is changing with the Internet and the way that music videos are reaching people, we're socially becoming more accustomed to explicit material. If that's what society has decided lets see more bulges, more condoms, labia, different body types, pubic hair, even the long vilified erection is fine by me , everything presented equally with less taboo so that diversity is accepted. New album 'Hitch' out March 25, 2016 https://www.facebook.com/thejoyformidable https://www.twitter.com/joyformidable https://www.instagram.com/joyformidable