Music has become ingrained within our every day lives. It ranges from the music we hear during commercials to popular mainstream artists playing over the radio, the lyrics of music has shaped roles and standards for both men and women. In the past four decades, lyrics have begun to increasingly depict sex, sexual violence and male dominance. With teenagers being the main audience for the music media the lyrics are typically aimed for that age group. Because of the targeted age group the lyrics have affected women mentally into a stereotypical role of women in society and has influenced teenagers into engaging in early sexual acts.
There are two main sources where these messages could be found within the music media, they are rock and rap. Each have a different way of depicting women but it has become an almost predictable subject to try and understand. On very rare occasions are there songs that depict women in a positive outlook, the greater majority of lyrics have established masculinity or the idea that women are the reason for the issue at hand.
In the genre of rock there are two typical forms, cock rock and teeny-bop. Both have a foundation of somehow degrading women either emotionally or even physically. Although in comparison to rap, the idea of male domination is subtle. Teeny-bop presents the male singer as a vulnerable, self-pity and in need individual; often times the lyrics are about women being formed as “unreliable, fickle, [and] more selfish than men” (Frith and Goodwin 12). Within the Teeny-bop image the men are shown as being the victim in a relationship by having crushed dreams of a long term relationship with a women; the men are shown as soft, romantic, loyal and anxious to find true love where it has become the woman's fault for denying these characteristics. Contrast to the Teeny-bop image found in rock music, is the image of the Cock Rocker. The Cock Rocker idealism is that females are mere images that are provided to please the male's preference. There are aggressive references to sexual acts which helps promote male sexuality. The Cock Rockers promote the idea that women should be seen as possessive, anti-free and those are the ultimate restriction on a male's life. A common explanation to this within lyrics is that women could be sexually repressed and are in need of male sexual attention (Reitsamer).
Contemporary rock, regardless of which type is listened to have a tendency to depict women as mere sexual objects with no emotional relationship. More often than not, rock music promotes the idea of having sex with any individual; for instance songs such as Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye, this song has both sexual acts and a reinforced idea that women are objects for sexual gratification. Gaye 's lyrics imply that he is in need for sexual acts and needs a girl, one lyric is “I can get on the telephone and call you up baby, and honey I know you'll be there to heal me” (Gaye). It is obvious that there is no real...
