Sexualistation of Young People

Sexualisation of Young People Review
50
pose rather than, say, singing or playing an
instrument 256 They are depicted as being
in a state of sexual readiness, and there
is often a focus on their bodies or on
specific body parts and facial features. 257
Even where women are the performers,
they are often presented and portrayed
in an overtly sexual way. Violence occurs
in 56.6 per cent of videos and visual
presentations of sexual intimacy in over
75 per cent. Perhaps most tellingly, 81 per
cent of the videos containing violence also
include sexual imagery. 258 Males are often
shown as hyper-masculinised and sexually
dominant.
In their experiment on exposure to
pornography, Zilllmann and Bryant
demonstrated that frequent exposure to
pornography resulted in both men and
women becoming more accepting of
rape myths. Put simply, ‘rape myths’ are
a collection of untruths which minimises
the occurrence of sexual violence and
diminishes the aggressor’s responsibility.
While this study was primarily concerned
with measuring the effects of exposure
to explicit sex, it did suggest that milder
forms of sexual content, including the
depiction of women as sexual objects,
might yield similar results. 259
Research into the often sexual and violent
content of music lyrics is comparatively
thin on the ground. However, the APA Task
Force 260 noted the tendency of popular
song lyrics to sexualise women or refer
to them in a derogatory manner, citing
examples from popular mainstream artists
like N-Dubz (‘I don’t mean to be pushy,
pushy, I’m just in it for the pussy, pussy’) and
50 Cent (‘I tell the hos all the time, Bitch
get in my car’).
256 Arnett (2002); Gow (1990)
257 Vincent et al. (1987)
258 Sherman and Dominick (1986)
259 Zillmann and Bryant (1989)
260 APA (2007)
One study based on a sample of 160
songs found that an average of 16 per
cent contained sexually degrading 261
lyrics, rising to 70 per cent within certain
genres. 262 A 2006 study revealed that,
while lyrics from almost all music genres
contained sexual content, degrading sexual
content was most apparent in rap-rock,
rap, rap-metal and R&B. The researchers
identified a possible link between
exposure to popular music and early
initiation of sexual activity, pointing to the
prevalence of sexual themes and referring
to a previous longitudinal study linking
music video consumption with risky sexual
behaviour. 263
It is important to remember here that the
possible association between sexualised
lyrics and sexual attitudes is not related
to the sexual content of the lyrics alone
but also to their degrading nature. 264
Lyrics like these are often accompanied
by comparable images, for example, rap
artist Nelly swiping a credit card through
a young woman’s buttocks (Tip Drill) and
women being walked on leashes (P. I. M. P.
by 50 cent). 265 In an article published in the
April 2009 issue of the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine, researchers found that
teenagers who preferred popular songs
with degrading sexual references were
more likely to engage in intercourse or in
pre-coital activities. 266
The identities celebrated through different
music genres like rap and hip-hop has
highlighted some of the racist portrayals
of young black women. Researchers
have suggested that young black girls are
261 Sexually degrading, as defined by (Rudman
and Borgida (1995)) “An environment that
implicitly primes perceivers to categorise
women negatively (e.g. as sexual objects in an
inappropriate context)”
262 Martino et al. (2006)
263 Martino et al. (2006)
264 Martino et al. (2006). Quoted in Coy (2009)
265 Coy (2009)
266 Primack (2009)