A new study shows that teenagers who listen to music (cough, RAP!, cough) containing sexually degrading song lyrics are more likely to have sex than the teenagers who don’t.

Teens who prefer popular songs with degrading sexual references are more likely to engage in intercourse or in pre-coital activities, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Brian A. Primack of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine says the study demonstrates that, among this sample of young adolescents, high exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music was independently associated with higher levels of sexual behavior. In fact, exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex was one of the strongest associations with sexual activity.

Surveys were completed by 711 ninth-grade students at three large U.S. urban high schools. The participants were exposed to more than 14 hours each week of lyrics describing degrading sex. About one-third said they had previously been sexually active.

The study, scheduled to be published in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, says those with the most exposure to the lyrics describing degrading sex were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse, compared to those with the least exposure.

The relationship between exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex and sexual experience held equally for both young men and women.

Well, duh. I don’t think anyone who possessed a modicum of common sense couldn’t have figured that out. When impressionable people are exposed to songs glorifying sex — and many of these songs are glorifying casual sex, too — it’s more than just a dope beat they’re listening to.

And what are they listening to, exactly? While rap by no means has a monopoly on songs containing degrading sexual messages, rap certainly have a majority. Most rap songs contain messages of either violence or sex. One or the other. Browsing the lyrics of some popular rap songs can tell you that. Here’s a few examples.

When I was in high school, the Ludacris song “What’s Your Fantasy?” was one of the most popular songs on the radio. Everyone in my year knew the song, sang along to it, listened to it. Check out the explicit lyrics:

[Ludacris] Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
give it to me now, give it to me now,
give it to me now, give it to me now

[Shawnna] Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
give it to me now, give it to me now,
give it to me now, give it to me now

Chorus: Ludacris 1x then Shawnna 1x

I wanna li li li lick you from your head to your toes
and I wanna
move from the bed down to the down to the to the floor
and I wanna ah ah you make it so good I don’t wanna leave
but I got to
let let me know wh what’s your fant-tasy

[Ludacris] I wanna get you in the Georgia Dome on the fifty yard line
while the dirty birds kick for t’ree
and if you like in the club we can do it
in the DJ booth or in the back of the VIP
whip cream with cherries,n’ strawberries on top
lick it don’t stop
with the doe lock
don’t knock while the boat rock
We go-bots and robots or they got to wait till the show stop
or how ’bout on the beach with black sand
lick up your thigh then call me the pac man
table top or just give me a lap dance
the rock to the park to the point to the flat land
that man Ludacris (woo) in the public bathroom
or in the back of a classroom
how ever you want it lover lover gonna tap that ass soon
see I cast ’em and I pass’em get a tight grip and I grasp ’em
I flash ’em and out last ’em
and if ain’t good then I trash ’em while you stash ’em
I’ll let ’em free
and the tell me what they fantasy
like up on the roof roof tell yo boyfriend not to be mad at me

Chorus

[Ludacris] I wanna get you in the bath tub
with the candles lit you give it up till they go out
or we can do it on stage at the Ludacris concert
cause you know it got sold out
or red carpet dick could just roll out
go ‘head ‘n scream you can’t hold out
we can do it in the pouring rain
runnin the train when it’s hot or when its cold out
how ’bout up in the library on top of books
but you can’t be too loud
you wanna make a brother beg for it
give me TLC ’cause you know I be too proud
we can do it in the white house
tryna make them turn the lights out
champagne with my campaign let me do the damn thang
what’s my name, what’s my name, what’s my name
ahh the sauna, jacuzzi in the back row at the movie
You can stratch my back and rule me
You can push me and just pull me
on hay in the middle of the barn (woo) rose pedals on the silk sheets uh
eating fresh fruits sweep yo woman right off her feet

Chorus

[Ludacris] I wanna get you in the back seat windows up
that’s the way you like to fuck
clogged up fog alert rip the pants and rip the shirt
ruff sex make it hurt
in the garden all in the dirt
roll around Georgia brown that’s the way that I like it twerk
legs jerk, over worked, under paid, but don’t be afraid
in the sun or up in the shade
on the top of my Escalade
maybe your girl and my friend can trade
tag team off the ropes on the ocean or in the boat
factories or hundred spokes
what ’bout up in the candy sto’ that chocolate chocolate make it melt
whips and chains handcuffs smack a little bootie up with my belt
scream help play my game
dracula man I’ll get my fangs,
horse backin’ i’ll get my reins
School teacher let me get my brains

chorus 2x

Charming, huh? And that song was played endlessly on every top 40 station. Not much was edited.

A few years later, the song Get Low by the Ying Yang Twins was all the rage in the clubs. Follow the link for more explicit lyrics. Some other great rap songs featuring sexually explicit lyrics are Badd, Ms New Booty, and Wait (The Whisper Song). And these were all songs played on contemporary radio stations. Every single one of them. Capping off the grand tradition in rap music is a new song called Lollipop by Lil Wayne, a truly charming piece about a woman licking a man… like a lollipop.

What I’m always curious about, by the way, is the utter lack of response from feminists about this kind of thing. They bitch and screech about a Virgin Atlantic ad showing attractive stewardessess flight attendants, but degrading lyrics about women in rap music is A-OK? Hmm.

Anyway, considering all of the above, when you’re listening to that kind of music over and over again, of course it’s going to sink in. And I’d wager that kids who listen to that kind of music are not only more likely to have sex, but they’re also more likely to have multiple partners, to have more casual sex, and to look at sex as something vapid and meaningless. Teenagers are at an age where they are their most impressionable. While obviously sexually explicit music does not cause kids to go out and have sex — just like violent video games do not cause people to go out and murder people — I have no doubt that it is a contributing factor.

Look at it this way. My hometown, Jacksonville, seems to love the multiple-clubs-under-one-roof theme, because there are a lot of them. Most of them will contain one hip-hop, booty dancing room and one country music line-dancing room. Let’s say you’re looking to get laid. You go into Bourbon Street, one of these clubs. First you go into the Mardi Gras room, where they play the booty dancing music, and you dance with a girl who is rapping every lyric to “Lollipop” while she’s grinding her butt against your groin on the dance floor. Then, you go into The Crazy Horse, a country bar, and slow dance under a disco ball with a girl who knows every word to “Paint Me a Birmingham”. Which one of these girls do you think you’re more likely to score with?

My thoughts exactly. Is the music the reason teens are having more sex? No, but it sure doesn’t help dissuade them from waiting, does it?

Hat Tip: Allah Pundit