The charts were once dominated by porngraphic scenes, but in an era of identity politics and powerful women, a new kind of sexuality has emerged in the pop and warming cyber world.

Pop music and sex

When Robin Thicke and Pharell released Blurred Lines on March 26, 2013, they had no idea they would start a discussion about rape culture and misogyny. The furious response to the suggestive lyrics, particularly the chorus “I know you want it”, permanently changed the standards of pop music and the way pop deals with sex. That's not to say sex has disappeared since pop's controversy. Jason Derulo and Bruno Mars are no strangers to objectification; ex-boy bands like the former One Direction - members are still breaking their tightly cut past by letting you know exactly how much sex they are having in the song. In 2016, Ariana Grande released a classic in the admirably cheeky Side to Side, about the inability to walk straight after a long night of sex.

Sexuality in pop turns

But the portraits of pop and sexuality are complicated, and muted, by an unusually eventful half-decade. Intimacy has been corrupted by technology and anxiety. Female Artists Redefine Sexuality. so-called seducers must recognize conversations about consent and gender politics. Non-progressive provocateurs are quickly called to the mat. R&B struggles with what fun looks like when black bodies are besieged by police brutality and cultural fetishization. And LGBTQ listeners demand more than heterosexual hook-ups. This immediacy is nothing new, pop has always shaped or reflected the social and sexual mores of its time, but the outcomes are.

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