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Article Excerpt
Understanding sexual relationships and gender-specific norms is a fundamental task involved in the social development of adolescents and young adults (Arnett, 2000). Although parents and peers are generally acknowledged to be important sources of messages about sexuality and gender schemas (Ballard & Morris, 1998; Sutton, Brown, Wilson, & Klein, 2002), the media and television in particular are believed to play a critical role in sexual socialization among young people (Arnett, 2002; Brown & Steele, 1995). Content analyses show that sexual references and innuendoes are prevalent in television programming (Olson, 1994; Ward, 1995). With compelling story lines and appealing images, television provides numerous examples of sexual and romantic interactions such as dating, initiating sexual activities, and gender-appropriate sexual behaviors (Ward, 2002). These highly accessible materials containing explicit information about sexuality help young people to construct their own perceptions about sexual relationships as well as gender roles. However, in spite of television's potential role as a socializing agent, the bulk of sexual themes and portrayals in this medium are inaccurate, stereotypical, and unrealistic (Huston, Wartella, & Donnerstein, 1998). Because of television's slanted view of sexuality, concern has been raised that heavy exposure to these images may have harmful effects on young people's sexual socialization. One genre that has received strong public criticism, but remains empirically under-examined, is music videos.
Sexual Portrayals in Music Videos
Since Music Television (MTV) was introduced in 1981, music videos have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment among young people (Hansen & Hansen, 2000). The visual and auditory representation of music videos provides a powerful channel through which young people may learn about society, culture, and behaviors (Sun & Lull, 1986). With their high accessibility and immense appeal, music videos have the potential to affect this group's sexual and gender socialization (e.g., Hansen & Hansen, 2000).
Content analyses show that since its inception, the music video genre has been overflowing with sexual content. Specifically, 40% to 75% of music videos have been found to contain sexual imagery (Baxter, De Riemer, Landini, Leslie, & Singletary, 1985; Gow, 1990; Greeson & Williams, 1986; Pardun & McKee, 1995). Baxter et al. (1985) reported that 60% of MTV music videos had sexually suggestive content or "the portrayal of sexual feelings or impulses" (p. 337). Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, and Davis (1993) showed that 90% of the 30-second intervals from 40 videos featured implied images of sex. Although sexual portrayals are prevalent in music videos, they tend to be mild and implicit, relying heavily on innuendo through clothing, suggestive behaviors, and light physical contact (Hansen & Hansen, 2000; Ward, 2003). Most of these content analyses were conducted more than 10 years ago, but because today's music video market is bolder in depicting sexual content (Smith, 2005), it is only reasonable to expect that the amount of sexual imagery in today's videos would stay the same as before, if not increase.
Not only are music videos replete with sexual imagery, they also treat sexual relationships in a stereotypical way (Arnett, 2002; Vincent, Davis, & Boruszkowski, 1987). Studies revealed that the depiction of men and women is polarized along the sex-role stereotypic dimension. Males are typically portrayed as more aggressive and dominant, whereas females are portrayed as more dependent and passive (Arnett, 2002; Seidman, 1992). Moreover, men are more likely to be shown as sexual animals with a relentless urge to have sex with women, whereas women are more likely to be shown as sexual objects with a heavy emphasis on physical appearance and sexual attractiveness (Hansen & Hansen, 2000). Female characters are much more likely than male characters to be dressed scantily or provocatively (Seidman, 1992), and they typically serve as decorative objects designed to attract men (Gow, 1996).
Associations Between Viewing Music Videos and Attitudes About Sexuality
Since the sexual portrayals in music videos are abundant yet distorted and stereotypical, concern has been raised about how these images might potentially influence young people's perceptions about sexuality. This concern has heightened following the publication of recent longitudinal research demonstrating that listening to music with sexually explicit lyrics was associated with a greater likelihood of initiating intercourse and advanced sexual behaviors among a sample of 1242 adolescents (Martino et al., 2006). Overall, results from survey research show that the more people watch music videos, the more likely they are to have high frequency estimates of sexual behaviors in the real world (Ward, 2002) and liberal attitudes toward sex (Strouse & Buerkel-Rothfuss, 1987), along with a stronger tendency to endorse sex-role stereotypes (Ward, 2002) and tolerate sexual harassment (Strouse, Goodwin, & Roscoe, 1994). For example, Strouse and Buerkel-Rothfuss (1987) reported that among female undergraduate students, exposure to music videos was positively linked to sexually permissive attitudes and behavior. Moreover, Ward (2002) examined the relationship between viewing various television programs (i.e., prime-time sitcoms and dramas, soap operas, and music videos) and young adults' sexual attitudes. She found that, among female participants, heavier consumption of music videos led to stronger endorsement of the view that women are sexual objects. Among male participants, heavier consumption was related to stronger endorsement of sex-role stereotypes, stronger support of dating as recreational, and higher estimates of the prevalence of sex among male peers.
Experimental research that helps in determining causal relationships also provides supporting evidence concerning the effects of music videos on young people. For example, Greeson and Williams (1986) reported that 7th- and 10th-grade students who watched MTV tapes for less than an hour were more likely to approve of premarital sex than were students who did not watch MTV. Calfin, Carroll, and Schmidt (1993) found similar results, such that college students who viewed a music video were more likely to endorse sexually permissive attitudes than were those without such exposure. Moreover, in a study of Black adolescents, Ward, Hansbrough, and Walker (2005) found that a single exposure to videos with sex-role stereotypic images resulted in higher endorsement of traditional gender roles and stereotypical view of sexual relationships. In summary, both survey and experimental research seem to show robust associations between exposure to music videos and young people's attitudes about sexuality.
The Present Study
While findings from previous studies reveal important and valuable information, their examination of music videos' contribution to sexual socialization is limited in two ways. The first limitation concerns the measurement of music video exposure. In most survey studies, music video exposure has been assessed with only one item. Participants are typically asked to indicate either how often they watch music videos (Strouse & Buerkel-Rothfuss, 1987) or how many hours they watch music videos on a typical day (Ward et al., 2005). Although this approach is able to offer a general picture of music videos' role as a socializing agent, the resulting assessment may be too broad to capture the differential impact of music videos with more sexual content compared to those with less sexual content. Since the presence of sexual images tends to vary from genre to genre (Hansen & Hansen, 2000), the extent to which music videos influence people's sexual attitudes may well depend on the level of sexual content within the videos. Thus it seems important to extend the existing research on music video viewing and sexual attitudes by measuring exposure to sexual music videos specifically, not just music videos overall.
The second limitation of previous research is that while most of the studies have focused on the relationship between music video exposure and individuals' general attitudes about sexuality (e.g., premarital sexual permissiveness), with a few exceptions (Ward et al., 2005), little research has specifically examined the relationship between music video viewing and viewers' attitudes toward gender roles. This is important because content analyses show that sex-role stereotypes are prevalent in music videos (Arnett, 2002; Vincent et al., 1987). Depictions of women as sexual objects and men as sexual actors in videos convey the idea of the sexual double standard, whereby sexually active women are degraded and sexually active men are rewarded (Oliver & Hyde, 1993; Schwartz & Rutter, 1998). Consequently, it is important to examine how viewers' attitudes toward sex-role stereotypes might be influenced by sexual music video viewing. Ward et al. reported a positive relationship...
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