BYU ScholarsArchive

Title

Popular Music: Sexually Saturated? A Content Analysis of Sexual References in Popular Music

Authors

Meghan Terry, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Mariah Ramage, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Crystal Gardner, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Jessica Van Alfen, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
Emilee Gregson, Brigham Young UniversityFollow

Files

Keywords

popular music, sexual references, sexual attitude

Abstract

Adolescents and young adults listen to 2-3 hours of music per day. The sexual content of that music is important to identify formation and how they perceive sex and relationships, and genre of music can influence lyrics. This paper analyzes the effect that genre has on both presence and attitude of sexual references in popular music. The sample consisted of 200 of the best-selling songs on iTunes. Results suggest a significant relationship between both genre and presence of sexual references and genre and attitudes toward sex. This study shows that sexual content is prevalent in popular music and could suggest that the lyrics we listen to can impact the way we perceive the world.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Terry, Meghan; Ramage, Mariah; Gardner, Crystal; Van Alfen, Jessica; and Gregson, Emilee, "Popular Music: Sexually Saturated? A Content Analysis of Sexual References in Popular Music" (2016). FHSS Mentored Research Conference. 294.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/fhssconference_studentpub/294

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2016-04-07

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

University Standing at Time of Publication

Senior

Course

SFL 358

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