Raunchy lyrics trigger earlier sex, study says

CHICAGO – Teens whose iPods are full of music with raunchy sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study has found.

Songs depicting men as “sex-driven studs” and women as sex objects and containing explicit references to sex acts are more likely to trigger early sexual behavior than songs in which sexual references are more veiled and relationships appear more committed, the study found.

Teens who said they listen to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to engage in sexual activities within the next 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 compared with 29 percent of those who said they listened to little or no sexually degrading music.

Exposure to lots of sexually degrading music “gives them a specific message about sex,” said lead author Steven Martino, a researcher for Rand Corp. in Pittsburgh. Boys learn they should be relentless in pursuit of women and girls learn to view themselves as sex objects, he said.

The study, based on telephone interviews with 1,461 participants 12 to 17 years old, appears in the August issue of Pediatrics, being released today.

Natasha Ramsey, a 17-year-old from New Brunswick, N.J., said she “won’t really realize that the person is talking about having sex or raping a girl.” Even so, the message “is being beaten into teens’ heads,” she said. “We don’t even really realize how much.”

Benjamin Chavis, chief executive officer of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a coalition of hip-hop musicians and recording industry executives, said explicit lyrics are a cultural expression that reflect “social and economic realities.”

“We caution rushing to judgment that music more than any other factor is a causative factor” for teens initiating sex, he said.

Yvonne K. Fulbright, a New York-based sex researcher, said peer pressure, self-esteem and home environment probably are more influential than the research suggests.

“It’s a little dangerous to pinpoint just one thing. You have to look at everything that’s going on in a young person’s life,” she said. When teens “have a healthy sense of themselves, they don’t take these lyrics too seriously.”