Sexual Themes in Music

There has always been an association between music and sex, but in the past decade or so this connection has tested the limits of what is acceptable in our culture. Newer songs, mostly rap and hip hop, which talk about topics like rape and murder, have stirred up much controversy across the nation. Using women as sexual objects has become common in modern day music. This is done for one simple reason, sex sells. Women are constantly sexually exploited in order to accommodate our country’s sexual culture.

In our society there is a steady depiction of girls, particularly African American girls, as sex objects which sends a message that some people in our society find extremely offensive. There is a distinction between a music video “fantasy” and reality, but many people believe these songs and music videos depict real life. Although people most certainly do mistreat women, these ridiculously sexist acts seen in music videos are not common in our country. This is where the problem arises. Many children are not mature enough to understand the difference between “fantasy” and reality. They very easily could believe that mistreating women is acceptable and common in our culture. This problem is magnified even greater when the artist himself can’t seem to tell the difference between music “fantasy” and reality. Artists sometimes turn this “fantasy” into a reality and treat women like they own them. Obviously, these are not the types of acts that children should be exploited to, as they may start to act this way themselves.

The one thing that I find particularly interesting about this entire topic is the fact that rappers sometimes rap so fast that there is a chance that people might not even be able to comprehend these offensive lyrics. Also, our society is so accustomed to hearing songs with that talk about drugs, sex, and disrespecting women that people may not even pick up on what is actually being said anymore. The fact that these types of songs are accepted has lead to problems, but the fact that people listen to these songs and try to imitate what they hear is a huge problem. Women are constantly Exploitation of women has become an accepted part in the music industry, for both the artists and the public. These explicit lyrics commonly lead other men to think that treating women disrespectfully is tolerable. Why is this? Because hip-hop and rap music promotes degrading women. Even though rap is extremely well known, it has developed a reputation by some people as being explicit, violent, and disrespectful. Since the beginning of rap music, artists have used derogatory lyrics about women. Today, these degrading lyrics have become more brutal, and more common to hear.

Rap music is definitely the most influential and powerful part of the hip-hop culture, and the fact that it is encouraging the disrespect for women is concerning.
These artists are role models to people throughout the country, including children. These rappers are well respected in our culture by some and some even look up to them, wanting to imitate their actions. These children are of a new generation, and they have already been exposed to these sexual and derogatory songs about women. The longer we allow women to be objectified against, the longer it will take our culture to get rid of this idea that women are sexual objects.