INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT IN MUSIC

Music is a universal language capable of awakening unique emotions and sensations.

Sometimes you hear someone sing in an unknown language, but you can feel what they want
to convey, even if you don't know specifically what the lyrics say. What you do know is that it is
expressing something happy, or sad, or dramatic, etc.
Music is like chocolate, almost everyone likes it. This has been going on since time immemorial.
For as long as culture itself has existed, there has also been a place for those rhythmic sounds
that communicate feelings. In all times and in all civilizations, this particular form of expression,
so rich in styles, has existed.
Without realizing it, we sometimes turn to music looking for a container for feelings that
overwhelm us, a place where they can flow freely without harming anyone. Other times we get
together to dance and make the musical rhythms mark the party. We also look for melodies to
calm down, or to study or work.
But many other times the lyrics, the sound, and even the visual content are not correct enough
to project it to the public even more knowing that it is seen and heard by the general public.
Some of the inappropriate content is listed below:
sexualization
While the letters themselves are well documented, their effects can be more difficult to identify.
In a study titled "Exposure to Demeaning Versus Nondegrading Song Lyrics and Sexual
Behavior Among Youth," Steven C. Martino and colleagues followed a group of adolescents for
more than three years to assess the correlation between the music they listened to and their
sexual behaviors. They showed that the letters
sexually demeaning are correlated with higher rates of sexual activity in adolescents.
"Our research suggests that...sexually demeaning lyrics do more than go out one ear and go
in the other," Martino's study said. "It may be that listening to popular music, regardless of its
content, results in elevated physiological brain activation that, through a process of arousal
transfer, prompts sexual behavior among adolescents."
Demeaning lyrics were defined in the study as lyrics that "portray women as objects, and men
as sexually voracious and insatiable," Martino said in an interview. They also included lyrics
that portray sex as inconsequential.
"I think these kinds of messages are prevalent in popular music, and they're not always the
kinds of messages we're looking for as parents. They could be more subtle. Degrading sexual
content doesn't necessarily mean sexually explicit content," Martino said.
The researcher and his team found that children with the highest levels have greater exposure
to sexually degrading letters, with 51 percent initiating sexual relations between the first and
second survey. For those with the lowest levels, only 29 percent initiated intercourse.
"We're talking about kids who are 12, 13, or 14 years old. They're very impressionable. It's a
time when they're looking to the media, their friends, and their parents for guidance. We have
to look at the messages that they're going to get before a permanent pattern of behavior is
forged," Martino advised.
Hall, who runs a sex education class at BYU, fears that teens confuse popular music lyrics with
social norms.
"If Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are talking about their sexual activity, and I'm 14, it just
adds to this misperception I have that all kids are sexually active. It's the idea that, if you're
listening to music, and we're saturated With sexual messages, you tend to believe that
everyone is doing it. That in itself becomes a powerful perspective," Hall said.
Aggression and misogyny
In a 2006 study by Peter Fischer and Tobias Greitemeyer, “Music and Aggression: The Impact
of Sexual-Aggressive Song Lyrics on Aggression-Related Thoughts, Emotions, and Behavior
Toward the Same and the Opposite Sex,” The Impact of Sexually Aggressive Songs on Related
Aggressive Thoughts, Emotions, and Behavior toward the Same and Opposite Sex), subjects
were told they were participating in two studies: one on music and one on spicy foods. After
listening to the assigned music, the subjects gave a serving of hot chili sauce to a woman for
the test.
The woman, as part of the study, made it clear that she did not like spicy food; all the participants
were told that the woman would have to eat the full amount of chili sauce that she was given.
Next, the hot chili sauce was measured as an indicator of aggression. The study showed that
the male subjects, who had listened to songs with misogynistic lyrics, gave the woman hotter
chili sauce than the other control groups.
"Boys start listening to this music and feeling a sense of allowance from it, which is their right
to have lots of sex with women without thinking about their feelings or values. That can affect
their behavior as well," Martino said.
In the follow-up study, when the men and women listened to misogynistic or "man-hating"
music, respectively, each cohort was assigned the opposite sex for longer durations of "ice
water treatment" than the control groups.
"Male participants in our studies only listened to two different songs with misogynistic lyrics and
showed a significant increase in aggression towards women," the study noted. "What can be
said about this effect in real life, where men probably listen to hundreds of misogynistic songs
in their lifetimes?"
Jack R. Christianson, author of "Making the Music Decision" and "Music: Apples or Onions,"
was inspired to investigate the effects of music when he realized its impregnation in a high
school setting.
"I'm not going to say that if you listen to songs with 'bad lyrics' you're going to go out and do
what the lyrics suggest. But the dominant thoughts that you have in your mind are what drive
your behaviors. Music allows you to remember those lyrics." Christianson said.
He indicated that this process is not always deliberate, but rather may be the subconscious act
of a brain releasing hormones and stimulating pleasure centers in response to certain chords,
rhythms, and patterns in music.
Self-esteem
Another issue that can be exacerbated by degrading lyrics is low self-esteem, which can lead
to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
A 2007 press release from the American Psychological Association warned that social media
influences, including music lyrics, can interfere with cognitive functioning, physical health,
mental health, and sexual development.
Martino's study found that lyrics affect men and women equally.
"Girls adopt these representations of sexuality just as easily as boys do. So if the message girls
are getting from these lyrics is that they should be valued primarily for their sexuality and sexual
attractiveness, it may be detrimental to them." girls' self-esteem. They feel like they need to live
up to the images that come from these types of songs, and that can be a difficult thing for girls
to deal with," she said.
Music has always played a fundamental role in the construction of the culture of a society and
much more in the identity of a person, because through its lyrics it allows us to revive feelings
and memories of our lives. And as a phrase from Aristotle says, "Music directly imitates the
passions or states of the soul."
For years it has been debated whether the explicit lyrics of many urban genre themes loaded
with violence, sexuality and anti-values influence the listener, triggering aggressive behavior in
it. The representatives and interpreters of the music industry deny it tooth and nail, one of the
most recent is the Puerto Rican urban singer Ozuna who stated that "music does not influence
any child, music does not influence anyone to do something bad, vice versa it influences you
to do what is good, that you enjoy yourself”, while professionals who have studied the mind and
human behavior affirm the opposite.
The psychologist Ana Simó and the psychiatrist César Mella, were consulted by this means on
the subject, and both agreed that the letters have an impact on the behavior of an individual.
"Everything that enters through our senses as acoustic perception influences our behavior,"
added Dr. Mella.
In this sense, Dr. Simó said that "music has an impact on human behavior, and its lyrics affect
not only our humor, but also our way of perceiving life, our way of thinking, acting and many
other things." times in decision-making, therefore, we must know what kind of music we choose
to listen to”.