james brooks's List: PROFANITY AND VULGARITY IN MUSIC

A study from Harvard 10 years ago shows that there are strong links between vulgar music and sexual behaviors among many teens. Results showed, “A rap artist released 25 albums, those albums contain 127% percent of sexual content, and within that 127%, 88% of those sexually explicit songs are degrading (Greenspan 2). This statistic is a prime example siding with music censorship being allowed. The reason being that music with too much vulgarity shouldn’t be played on the radios.  According to the article “Media Effects on Kids” a study of more than 700 students who listened to sexually degrading lyrics linked the music to higher levels of sexual behavior among many young teens (Greenspan 2). This article shows that vulgar music does affect teens’ decisions. Where it concerns those of our history as a people, “Aristotle was sure that music affected one’s being, and along with him Plato believed that music is instrumental in changing an entire society’s belief system (Terrance 3).

In an interview with the chairman of the American Medical Association Council on specific affairs, Dr. William told the press, “Music with vulgar messages presents a real threat to the physical health and the emotional well-being of especially vulnerable young children and adolescents” (3). When listening to music, kids can develop the “monkey see monkey do” mindframe. Teens who listen to certain messages constantly in music are more likely to copy what they hear in future situations. The statement of only listening to music for the beat and not the lyrics is used, but when asked if music fans know what they are listening to “90% of them admit to knowing all the words and 60% agree with the message in them” This study was concerning high school students in the year of 2003 (Medved 2). According to the study of child and adolescent psychiatry by Dr. Paul King, the message of vulgar and degrading music is that there is a higher power in control of the world and that power is violence (2).

CHICAGO — Teenagers who listen to music with explicitly sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study found.

Whether it is hip-hop, rap, pop or rock, much of popular music aimed at teens contains sexual overtones. Its influence on their behavior appears to depend on how the sex is portrayed, researchers found.

Songs depicting men as "sex-driven studs" and women as sex objects, and with explicit references to sex acts, are more likely to trigger early sexual behavior than those where sexual references are more veiled and relationships appear more committed, the study found.

Teenagers who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were those who listened to little or no sexually degrading music.

Among heavy listeners, 51 percent started having sex within two years, versus 29 percent of those who said they listened to little or no sexually degrading music.

Rap legend Min. Curtis Walker (Curtis Blow) voiced his concerns. "Basically, this is a struggle between good and evil. And I am here as a concerned parent. The fact my children can hear this kind of language creates a problem in my household. Integrity is missing in the kind of hip hop that uses this language. I am living proof that it is possible that you can have a career in hip hop and not be profane. I have recorded over 100 rap songs and I have never used profanity. In the '70s hip hop was our way of dealing with the oppression, and it created a way out of the ghetto. Now it is being used to create a hell."

Record company owner Stacia Means of SWAGGA Records, who flew in from Chicago, where she heard about the protest, had these thoughts; "If they can shut it down with Don Imus, then they can shut down the disgraceful language in music. It's ridiculous for people to think that in order to make any kind of money that they have to disrespect each other. It's bad that Black people think that way and that the corporations will do anything for a dollar. The corporations could stop this just the way they shut down Imus, who was just a little piece of the problem."