I’ve got no problem with teenagers having sex. Teen pregnancy – yes, sex without consent – of course, and sex before someone’s ready for it – obviously. But being 13-19 and having intercourse because you want to, understand the risks and have taken precautions? Fine by me.
Of course, not everyone’s on my side. As a pornographer who used to drive a hybrid car (constant travel means I only drive my Timberlands nowadays) I represent the far end of the ‘relax and enjoy the fucking’ school of thought people in Hummers find so terrifying. Recent research connecting sexy music and teen sex is just the kind of thing they think people like me should be reading.
Unfortunately I did.
The study, by Rand Corp. in Pittsburgh, interviewed over a thousand 12-17 year olds (when was 12 teenage?) about their listening and sexual habits. Most of the interviewees were virgins at the start of the study in 2001 and they found:
“Teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who listened to little or no sexually degrading music.
Among heavy listeners, 51 percent started having sex within two years, versus 29 percent of those who said they listened to little or no sexually degrading music.”
Who cares? As long as the sexual contact is safe, sane, consensual and comes without pregnancy isn’t teenage sexual exploration part of growing up? When weren’t teens having sex and what would be gain from a generation of eighteen year old virgins with shrink-wrap on their genitals?
The language used is also pretty ripe. What is ’sexually degrading music’? ‘Let’s Get it On‘ is directly sexual but degrading? ‘Closer‘ includes the line ‘I wanna fuck you like an animal’ but then goes on to claim ‘You bring me closer to God.’ Is that song sexually degrading, overtly religious or both?
“Songs depicting men as “sex-driven studs,” women as sex objects and with explicit references to sex acts are more likely to trigger early sexual behavior than those where sexual references are more veiled and relationships appear more committed, the study found.”
When was the last time you heard a song about a committed relationship that wasn’t country and western and which didn’t end with the woman getting shot? Hardly a good example. Then you’ve got to question the honesty of the answers the teens gave. Can someone who doesn’t like a form of music honestly claim to have heard none of it in two years? I don’t like smooth jazz but it’s piped into a lot of the lifts and restaurants I use arriving as welcome a hot fart. How valid are results which claim to isolate music from thousands of other factors leading to teen sex? Like our fundamental deire to further the species.
Regarding the sex questions, wouldn’t teens who feel shy about admitting they listen to ‘Peaches‘ also be less likely to admit they enjoy being finger-banged to a stranger over the phone? Factoring for human nature the survey says a lot more about how comfortable teens are discussing sex then the sex they have.
As an ex-PR flack I know that commissioning a survey on a controversial subject is one of the cheapest and most effective ways of getting your name into print. If you can involve a university even better. You’re just a press release away from having ‘Fishermen for Decency’ quoted as an expert source on a whole range of issues.
Lies, damn lies and statistics twice in one week. Incredible.
Popularity: 34% [?]
I regret not having more sex when I was a teenager since it was easier then and I won’t be getting any more of it now.
*toast* Here’s to promiscuity kids, soak it up while you can.
The better question toward the validity of the test is are all other factors in the lives of the teens the same? Is the correlation the music or the family lives of the kids? What are the odds that a family/community that encourages/teaches abstinence only also encourages “degrading” or “sexualized” music?
The biggest influence in the child’s life is _not_ pop culture in any aspect but the ideas of his/her friends and classmates. (That and a billion years of evolution encouraging sex as early and often as possible till one become infertile.)
“Studies” such as this are not worth a lot because 1000 students are not enough to give a fare statistical analysis of anything from the total youths of America and there is no way they have isolated degrading music as the only difference in the lives of these kids.
What’s next? Are they going to survey the kids about drug usage and claim that degrading and sexual music leads to drug usage?
robber.barron – don’t even say it. I’m sure that study’s in progress right now…
I have nothing to say about this bullshit, but I would like to thank you for the thumb.
*right click, save as*
As usual, they forgot the obvious: Teens uncomfortable with/disinterested in sex tend to feel a little funny listening to sexual lyrics a lot, whereas horny teenagers and those more comfortable with and/or experienced with sex are going to get more, ahem, enjoyment out of sexy songs.
I still remember when “Red Light Special” was “gross.”