Popular Sexually Objectifying Music has been Proven to Cause Men to be More Sexually Aggressive and Permissive

 AC/DC, Rhianna and Trace Atkins are all very popular artists who America has grown to love over the years for their unique musical styles. Very few consider these artists misogamists but when analyzing their lyrics they may feel differently. We should note that males are not the only culprits of this act; female musicians also objectify and demean women in their music. In the photo to the right the listener is viewing a music video featuring a scantily claud female being represented as an object in this video.  Demeaning music is heard by all ages and has many negative effects on our society including increased sexual aggression and permissiveness.    

 Ramifications of Degrading Music Lyrics

           Many are surprised to observe the consequences that degrading music can have on its listeners. When asked the question of whether sexually explicit music has negative effects on its listeners Athena Hiotis music producer and song writer hasgood insight on this topic. 

           A study performed by Dr. Micelle E. Kistler of Washington State University proved that the negative affects this music has on its listeners. These included an increase in sexual aggression towards women, increase in sexual permissiveness, increase in objectification of women and the most shocking effect an an increase in their acceptance of rape. In this study participants were exposed to hip-hop music with either high or low sexual content. One of these tests observed the effects of this music on

 the participant’s acceptance of rape. They were        asked to rank how much they agreed with each statement on a scale of 1-7 where 1 is strongly disagree and 7 is strongly agree. In other words the higher their score the more they agreed with the statements presented.   In other words the higher their score the more they agreed with the statements presented. Statements included “Women who dress provocatively or wear revealing clothing are just asking for trouble” and “If a woman engages in making-out or sexual touching and things get out of hand, it is her own fault if her partner forces sex on her.” Both of these are strong statements on rape and its victims. It’s shocking to know that those who listened to this degrading music were much more inclined to agree with these statements.  The specific results of males who listened to highly sexual music, low sexual music and no music and participated in this test are shown on the right.

            Men who listened to rap music with sexual content were more inclined to objectify women and agree with these tasteless acts included in the statements. The above negative effects are detrimental to our society but objectification of woman in songs continues to be the norm. 

Women Objectify Themselves

           In popular music today women demean themselves by releasing music with objectifying lyrics. An article released in Sage Journals by Theresa White criticizes rap artists Missy Elliot and Nikki Manaj for contributing to their own objectification. Her lyrics speak to this alone. Recently Manaj released a song in which she calls “stupid hoe” and another where she sings “And he telling me it's real, that he love my sex appeal. Say he don't like em boney, he want something he can grab” these song title and lyrics degrade women. Although Nicki may claim she is trying to empower women, this use of degrading language just makes it more acceptable for men to use this language.  Another article by Erica Scmidt criticizes Khia for her song My Neck, My Back saying “Khia is objectifying herself to men as she is saying that all women want sex.” With these implications in her lyrics she is giving males the wrong impression and in turn approving of males degrading her. Rhianna is another even more popular artist who would fall into this category. She sings "Strippers goin' up and down that pole and I still got my money” Rhianna is a role model to many but includes these degrading lyrics in her very popular song “Pour it up”. We can only imagine the wide scale effects she must have. 

        Women have started to degrade themselves in the music industry. But many are suggesting the importance of accepting those who feel their brand is to own their sexuality. Often female artists aim to present themselves sexually because they believe they must own their sexuality. Can we really criticize them for this? If we are criticizing them should we be trying to make changes in the music industry placing regulations on what can be presented to the public? When asked if regulations should be placed on lyrics Hiotis gave us some insight on her views.  Many also claim that rap-music artists are the only ones guilty of this task but what few realize is the misogyny of music runs throughout all genres.

Objectification of Women is Prevalent in Very Popular Music Today

       Although degrading lyrics may be obvious in some genres of music such as rap it may be subtler in other music such as pop and rock. It is often hidden in the lyrics of popular catchy songs. Very few would consider AC/DC a misogamist. But what many don’t know is his song lyrics can be considered very degrading towards women. Including phrases like “She was a fast machine. She kept her motor clean. She was the best damn woman that I ever seen”. In these lyrics above AC/DC compares a female to a car, which could otherwise be known as objectifying women.

          Another sexually explicit popular song that demonstrates objectification “Whistle” by Flo Rida where is asking a woman to have oral sex with him. He sings “Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby, let me know, I’m gonna show you how to do it and we start real slow”. Many would agree this tune is quite catchy and Flo Rida is very popular among a younger audience where this song is well known. These popular songs are often played frequently on various radio stations and make lasting impressions on our youth.   

        An additional lyric where the misogamy is less obvious is “Steal My Girl” by One Direction. This artist sings that this girl is his possession, and saying people want to steal something that is his or that he in other words owns like one would own an object.

       Other than just the Billboard top 100 another place objectification of women has been very prevalent is country music. Trace Atkins’ song  “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” objectifies women once again by justifying the action of males staring at a woman and accept them as nothing more than sex objects. 

Although there are many negative effects of this type of music we must accept that sexually explicit and objectifying music sells. To address the downside of accepting this music we must be sure educate our youth to separate the words in their music from reality. In addition we also have to teach them of the negative affects listening to this music can cause.

As Virtual Gaming Expands Through the Development of Technology and the Increasing Online Culture of Today’s Society, Children Become More Invested in Online Worlds

•   Virtual World gaming has become a way for children to escape reality and expand their imaginations

•   Communicating and playing in a “virtual world” as opposed to the real one is becoming more of the norm for today’s youth culture.

•   According to Jackie Marsh, a writer for the Early Childhood Research department of SAGE Journals, virtual worlds offer a similar range and variety of gaming kids experience in the real world. 

Running home just to log on the computer was the moment I waited for all school day. The hours felt endless; I couldn’t wait to finally play club penguin with my friends online. Club Penguin is a very popular game for children from the ages of 6-14, achieving a population of over 200 million registered users in 2013, the biggest of any “virtual world” video game. There are many reasons such as socialization, competition, adaptability, and overall user interface, contributing to why this game has become so popular for the younger generation.

Virtual world gaming has grown tremendously amongst children over the past decade. According to a study by Jackie Marsh, “virtual worlds offer these young children a wide range of opportunities for play and that the types of play in which they engaged relate closely to ‘offline’ play”. The variety and quality of these games has increased substantially in recent years due to developments in technology, and thus online gaming has become hotter than ever for children.

The first few reasons that so many people including myself like Club Penguin specifically is because of how well the creators made all the traditional aspects of gaming in it that are so essential in the video game industry to cover. For starters I loved the socialization aspect; with social chat rooms the game was easy to stay connected with all those playing. In this scenario, all of my friends had accounts when we were younger; to the point where it became the cool thing to do, the status quo, and I just had to get one. Through the game we could talk all the time and ‘hang out’ without even leaving our houses. Club Penguin made it easy and fun to communicate with each other wherever we were.

During these ‘hang outs’ we could also challenge one another in games. This was another aspect that drew me in was the game’s level of competition, another huge attention point for the video game industry to focus on in order to create an exciting and attractive game. There were many opportunities to challenge one another and then in addition, you could earn badges and trophies to prove that you were successful in this gaming world.

Playing Club Penguin was also very convenient, because the game was adaptable to any laptop or tablet, meaning I could also play it on the go. This provided me with many opportunities to play this game in my down time. In addition to this my parents didn’t need to provide me with a cell phone or take me anywhere in order for me to talk with my friends. Furthermore, being able to play on the go was an enormous benefit in regards to being able to interact with all my friends from any location. 

The final reason my friends and I thought this virtual world was so much fun was the user interface. Club Penguin continuously updated its game capabilities in order to cater to all kids. The quality of their design and interface even won the 2008 Webaward for Entertainment Standard of Excellence and Game Site Standard of Excellence. 

Club Penguin won these honors because it created a site with many different types of games for those who have different interests. For example, my brother and I played a variety of games but had very different preferences when we got to choose which ones, and the game offered us both great choices. In addition to the games, there was an aspect of real life within the gaming world. The game provides each member with a virtual house that you can decorate with the money you have earned. Members can also get a pet that they take care of and bring places with them. These features are where the user interface thrived the most because they created a sense of importance and reality in its users and was the thing that separated this game for me from all others.

I eventually quit around the age of 12, when I grew out of it and the games no longer catered to my interests. The fun challenges and adventures I loved became too juvenile for me and I became involved in other things. Looking back though I really enjoyed the many years I spent invested in the club penguin world and I see how it continues to be a popular and well-liked game for today’s youth.

Refugees in Africa Risk their Lives Immigrating to Europe to Escape the Dangers in their Home Nation

This photograph depicts the dangerous journey that many refugees face in order to escape the inhumane conditions that exist in their native countries. These immigrants risk everything including life by boarding these poorly crafted boats with little supplies to make the voyage to Europe. Despite the recent sinking of a similar boat that caused the death of hundreds, the flow of immigrants to Europe has only increased.
The photograph on the left depicts  the Italian navy's mission to patrol the Mediterranean and save refugees. This mission has rescued over 30,000 people and continues it efforts today. In order to continue this mission further, economic support is needed by more European countries. Without this support many more people will die.

Today Women Are Used as Objects in the Selling World

Since the beginning of time women have been seen as subservient to their male counterpart. Women have gone from being treated as house wives to being seen as sexual objects. Today’s advertising industry thrives on the idea that sex sells. Many advertisers overplay this idea by using women as objects in selling their products. 
In the Mercedes photograph they have placed a car over the woman’s face and turned her into nothing more than a piece in the male’s sexual experience, thus completely demoralizing her. In the airplane commercial these unclothed women pictured as the focal point seem out of place and irrelevant to this advertisement. This airline is using these women as sexual objects to draw people into flying with them. Both images portray women in a demoralizing light, in which they only have value in their physical bodies, rather than anything else they could offer. Seeing these advertisements gives the female population the idea to objectify themselves.