Introduction
The media continues to play a crucial role in the sexualization of teenagers and young adults. The over-presentation of social content in audio and music videos has impacted the timing of sexual intercourse, sexual initiation, and sex role stereotyping among younger generations. All across the music industry, sexuality has been a common subject as artists explore the numerous facets of human intimacy, desire, and relationships.
Technological advancements have made it difficult to escape the influence of sexualized music, as it can now be accessed easily through streaming. Different genres, such as soul, reggae, pop, and rock, present the topic in various ways, spanning from more explicit lyrics to fine ones. The popularity of the singers plays a big part in influencing fans who tend to imitate, thus leading to the adoption of hazardous sexual scripts. This paper will examine the adverse effects of sexualized music on adolescents and young adults, including its influence on behavior, self-esteem, and psychological and emotional well-being, by applying the knowledge from theoretical approaches.
Sexual Content in Songs
Sexualized content in music results in a negative influence on young listeners. The erotic content in songs is highly presented in the form of explicit behavior and the use of sexual language. Young people are the primary consumers of vulgar songs offered online and on cable channels (Hart & Day, 2019). They relate more to this music category because it focuses on identity development and learning about sexual activity. The music sector is all about business, so there is a need to make songs more explicit to gain more publicity and higher ratings (Hart & Day, 2019). The excessive integration of nudity in these music videos has led to some songs, such as ‘Wrecking Ball’ by Miley Cyrus, being banned (Wright & Rubin, 2019).
Modern dancehall, pop, and hip-hop are the most sexualized genres of music. The visual films of these types of songs are full of girls and sometimes men, half-naked, while the audio is full of vulgar and sexist expressions. When teenagers and youths interact with these eroticized materials, they are likely to adopt what they hear and see, thus getting their behavior and attitudes influenced negatively.
Effects of Sexualized Music Content on Teenagers and Young Adults
Eroticized songs can be in the form of lyrics or music videos. Technological advancements in the music industry have enabled audio and video to be accessed on computers from platforms such as YouTube and Spotify (Lin et al., 2020). Easy access results in a higher consumer rate, thus making young adults and teenagers more vulnerable to sexual content present in songs. Sexualized verses can influence the way young people view gender roles, love, and relationships(Ward & Grower, 2020).
The continuous use of certain words may normalize certain attitudes and behaviors. Keenan-Kroff et al. (2023), in their article, state that there is a latent connection between casual views toward sex, risky sexual acts, and early sexual engagement with exposure to sexualized content, whether lyrics or videos. Explicit lyrics shape the impressions youths and juveniles have of body image, thus influencing their thoughts on what is attractive. The way teens and youth conduct themselves is altered when they interact more with hypersexualized songs.
Influence on Behavior
Sexual content in music presented in lyrics and imagery can affect how teenagers and young adults behave. When the young audience gets exposed to explicit material, they are likely to portray a change in their attitudes toward relationships and sex (Lin et al., 2020). The alteration can result in changes in their sexual behaviors, thus shaping their view on sexuality.
If the music the young individuals are listening to portrays objectifying actions toward sex, they are likely to normalize such attitudes. Erotic lyrics romanticize aspects of relationships; thus, when young audiences listen, they are likely to adopt these habits (Keenan-Kroff et al., 2023). The continuous exposure to sexual content from music can further increase risk-taking attitudes like early sexual activity and engagement in unprotected sex (Lin et al., 2020). Erotic music presentations often emphasize beauty ideals and specific body standards, thereby affecting self-esteem.
Influence on Self-Esteem
Young individuals tend to copy their favorite musicians. An idealized version of body types, physical appearance, and beauty is constantly presented in sexualized music vividly and through lyrics (Lin et al., 2020). Constant exposure of young listeners to the words and images of the ideal, perfect body can make them dissatisfied with their appearance (Lin et al., 2020; Ward & Grower, 2020). Discontentment can negatively affect the self-esteem of teenagers and youths who want to compare themselves to what they see or hear. The pressure to fit and attain the idealized body shape and behavior presented in the songs can impact young listeners’ psychological and emotional wellness.
Psychological and Emotional Impact
The psychological and emotional well-being of juveniles and young adults is impacted when they repeatedly interact with sexual music. As a result of dissatisfaction with their bodies, young people are likely to feel confused, pressured, and anxious. Desensitization and normalization can be attained when the young audience is continuously exposed to sexualized music(Lebedíková et al., 2022).
The decision-making of the individuals is thus affected when they normalize the nature of the sexual content presented and view it as being appropriate. The confusion the young listeners experience when trying to identify themselves by listening to immoral content can cause emotional distress and internal conflicts. Juveniles’ and young adults’ views on gender roles can be influenced by the picture presented in the sexualized songs, where there is stereotyping.
Influence on Gender Roles
Erotic songs objectify and dehumanize women, reducing them to objects that are meant to be consumed by the audience. In sexualized music videos, women dress provocatively as a means of attracting the audience as they gaze at their bodies(Wright & Rubin, 2019). When teens and young individuals view this presentation, they become conversant with an inappropriate culture, where value is placed on appearance rather than feelings and abilities. Sexualized lyrics can influence interpersonal relationships, shaping the power change between genders (Ward & Grower, 2020). Understanding the impact of sex in music on young audiences can be facilitated by using cultivation and social cognitive theories developed by renowned philosophers such as Albert Bandura.
Theoretical Perspectives
Applying theoretical frameworks from media studies, psychology, and sociology is essential in understanding the impact of sexualization in music. Applicable theories for understanding this effect include cultivation and social cognitive theories (Wright et al., 2022). The cultivation tenet, as formulated by George Gerbner and Larry Gross, enhances understanding by explaining the impact of long-term exposure (Wright et al., 2022).
When juveniles and young adults repeatedly encounter sexualized music, they will normalize the attitudes it displays (Keenan-Kroff et al., 2023; Wright et al., 2022). Young people will likely emulate the behaviors depicted in music films and adopt similar behaviors. The lyrics also influence how they talk, as the usage of some sexualized words will be displayed. Young adults, the highest music consumers, view the world in ways that align with the songs’ messages, even if those messages differ from the facts.
Observational learning can lead consumers of sexualized content to copy what they hear or see. The social cognitive theory (SCT) can be used to understand how young listeners can acquire, process, and apply the message they receive from erotic songs (Wright et al., 2022). According to the SCT, the actions of others and environmental factors can influence a person’s behavior (Wright et al., 2022).
Teenagers and youths perceive and learn about certain deeds and attitudes in explicit music. According to Hart and Day (2019), the media, celebrities, musicians, and characters in music videos are influential role models. Young people view these public figures as role models and always copy what they do or say. Copying the stars can lead to adopting the negative attitudes they display.
Conclusion
The music industry is perpetuating sexual themes in modern music, which has adverse effects on adolescents’ and young adults’ behavior, self-esteem, and psychological and emotional well-being. Today, explicit content is added to many songs as a marketing strategy, since it particularly captures the attention of adolescents and young adults, who are the target consumers. Media agencies have been censoring songs that contain highly offensive words deemed inappropriate.
However, young people’s behaviors, self-esteem, and emotional health are influenced when they interact with sexualized music for an extended period. The song’s portrayal shapes their view of gender roles and relationships. Erotic songs can affect their judgment-making as they impact their decision-making process. For these reasons, applying the cultivating tenet and the SCT in music studies is critical for understanding the impact of music on audience behavior. The two principles provide valuable insight into the factors that promote the change and how they can be limited. Preventing the adverse effects of sexualized music on the young population requires the intervention of private and government institutions, which need to ban and censor songs that incorporate explicit content.
References
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Keenan-Kroff, S. L., Coyne, S. M., Shawcroft, J., Sheppard, J. A., James, S. L., Ehrenreich, S. E., & Underwood, M. (2023). Associations between sexual music lyrics and sexting across adolescence. Computers in Human Behavior, 140(2), 1–13.
Lebedíková, M., Mýlek, V., Subrahmanyam, K., & Šmahel, D. (2022). Exposure to sexually explicit materials and feelings after exposure among adolescents in nine European countries: The role of individual factors and social characteristics. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52(1), 333–351.
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