An article due to be published in the American Journal of
Preventative Medicine puts forward the hypothesis that adolescents who
regularly listen to songs with "degrading sexual references" are more
likely to engage in sexual activity. According to Dr. Brian Primack of the Center for Research on
Health Care at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, "high
exposure of lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music was independently
associated with higher levels of sexual behaviour."
While the article will not be available to read in full
until April, the abstract has garnered
significant interest, though if one considers it carefully, the study is
neither wide-ranging nor especially illuminating. The authors admit as much,
saying that the results of their study merely "provide further support for
the need for additional research and educational intervention in this
area."
What is not outlined in the abstract are the criteria used
to define "lyrics describing degrading sex," and how these differ from
other sexually-explicit lyrics. In addition, there is also no attempt to link
social background or home life to the results of the study. We are simply told
that surveys were completed by 14-15 year-olds in "three large urban
schools," and are left to draw our own conclusions.
We have been here before, of course, with the wrong-headed
moral panic over violent gangsta rap lyrics in the 1990s. Then, the concern was
that the way of life portrayed would somehow manipulate otherwise well-behaved
children into taking up arms and start running drugs. Today, worried adults
appear to believe that sexually explicit imagery will fuel a boom in teenage
pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
Like other scientifically-illiterate scare stories that have
been reported in the press recently, those with a particular agenda will seize upon
the vague findings in the article and insist that "something has to be
done." This, however, is premature. Not only do the authors themselves
state that further research is necessary, but banning sexually explicit lyrics
is unlikely to lead to a drop in teenage sexual activity. Albums with explicit
or violent lyrics are already marked out by their "Parental Advisory"
stickers, and are subject to censorship when they receive radio airplay.
While the aims of the American Journal of Preventative
Medicine are commendable, one can't help but feel that perhaps the research
grant would have been better spent on investigating other, more relevant,
influences on teenage sexual activity. People do not listen to music in a
vacuum; there are cultural, societal and individual factors that all play a
role in affecting behaviour. Music may be the food of love, but it never forced
anyone into bed.
While the aims of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine are commendable, one can't help but feel that perhaps the research grant would have been better spent on investigating other, more relevant, influences on teenage sexual activity. People do not listen to music in a vacuum; there are cultural, societal and individual factors that all play a role in affecting behaviour. Music may be the food of love, but it never forced anyone into bed.
Well put.
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you write very well written by trrrrr , March 10, 2009
Now Stephanie, Less is more, surely. It may not be that music actually causes violence or sexually deviant behaviour, but what it does is normalise it, drag it from under the bed to a full romping on the springy mattress.
Oh, and lots of people ignore labels such as parental advisory on good days, or else are driven to purchase or download (including illegal download) by such warnings.
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... written by Stephanie Migot , May 07, 2009
As a child of the hip-hop age, who venerated Tupac and Biggie, I have failed.
I have failed to accept the men in my life calling me a "bitch," I have failed in developing a career as a "video ho," or even an entry-level "ho," yet somehow, I have succeeded in resisting breast implants and liposuction.
Perhaps I am a failed woman? Maybe I missed the signs telling me I should have given in to the pressure from modern rap music.
Alternatively, perhaps I had enough of a sense of myself not to act as a video girl, and to behave in a manner that is conducive to my own morals and mores.
It is perfectly acceptable to love the music without taking any message from it. Humans are not robots.
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Well put.