Men sing about sex more often than women.
An analysis of popular song lyrics from 1960 through 2008 reveals that men are more likely to sing about both romantic love and sex than women. However, female artists sing about romantic love in a higher percentage of their songs. The difference is due to gender disparity in the number of songs, with male singers performing a significantly higher percentage of popular songs than female performers during that period.
About sex singing
The study, conducted by Jennifer W. Shewmaker, Ph.D., Andrew P. Smiler, Ph.D., and Brittany Hearon, MA, explored sexual stereotypes in popular music lyrics over five decades. According to the researchers, women are expected to focus on love and romantic relationships and have sexually objectified bodies, while men are expected to focus on sexual behavior. The analysis of the media content of 1,250 popular songs showed that gender-based differences in sexuality are indeed common and consistent with gender stereotypes.
Songs about sex
- 71% of all numbers refer to a dating relationship, including more than half of all numbers in each decade.
- 57% of all songs used the word love, mostly as a romantic term. This includes more than half of all songs in every decade except the 2000s (at 49%).
- 22% of all songs included a sexual reference, mostly via metaphor (11% of all songs).
- 14% of all songs included sexually objectifying lyrics, with female bodies being more often objectified than male bodies (13% vs. 4%)
- Of the 1250 numbers, 827 were performed by men, 328 by women and 95 by co-ed groups.
- More than half of all songs from the rock, R&B and 'other' genres were about dating and love; more than half of all songs from rap genre focused on sex and objectified bodies (and female bodies were more objectified than male bodies).
- Among female artists, the share of songs referring to dating remained relatively constant over five decades, 78-83%.
- Among male performers, the number of songs referring to dating declined over time, starting at 69% in the 1960s and dropped to 59% in the 2000s, despite an increase to 78% during the 1980s.
- Among female performers, the proportion of songs related to sex in the 1960s was 6% and then rose from 1970-2000 to 16-21%.
- Among male artists, the proportion of songs referring to sex rose from 7% in the 1960s to 20-29% in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and then to 40% in the 2000s.
Singing about sex
