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5.  Popular Music


 And Sex
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Similar to what we observed in the segment Pop Music and Drugs, norms of 

behaviour in Western `traditional’ culture have long been challenged by alternative 

ideologies and lifestyles - and indeed perceptions of self and sexuality. Those 

considering themselves to be `progressive’ or `liberated’ often measure or determine 

what they regard as `oppressive’ societies by mainstream and even official attitudes to 

sexuality, and particularly attitudes to censorship and homosexuality. Those more 

`conservative’ elements, measure what they consider as the `decay’ and corruption of 

societies in much the same way. Attitudes to sexuality can tell us a lot about the power 

relations of any given society and much of collective society’s attitudes to sexuality and 

indeed the challenges to them are reflected in Western Popular Music. In this segment 

we overview some of this music and the messages therein.

The David Rose Orchestra - The Stripper
Debate

In any society, there are always supporters of behaviour that is accepting to different

moral codes and practices and this includes the sexual act and different practices and 

cultures supporting them - with some acts sometimes proclaimed as illegal. And as such

we always, at least in the west, get ongoing debates and sometimes bitter ones, and 

even ensuing civil disobedience campaigns, wherein some sectors of society try and get

some illegal sexual behaviors such as prostitution and homosexuality, accepted as 

morally and legally legitimate for all sorts of reasons including those ideological, 

and even economic. And just as in other dimensions of entertainment, sexuality and 

sexual behavior and the debates they generate have been, and are, inherent in modern 

Popular music.
Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing

While most music talks about love in some sense - Pop music talks not just about love, 

but also procreation and ways of doing it. Since the advent of modern pop and a 

general relaxation in censorship in the West since the 1960s, there have been countless

songs about sex in all shapes and dimensions. 
However, generally speaking, before the

1960s, sex in music was pretty tame and 

heavily censored, and even more so after 

Elvis Presley's 'black sexual' music had 

the US conservative establishment 'hot 

and bothered' with its sanitised heavily 

censored response embodied in the 

works of such 'Sclock Rockers' as Bobby 

Vee.
Bobby Vee - The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

But with the onset of the Counterculture in the mid 60s and the concomitant sexual 

revolution all hell let loose on the airwaves, with the sexual revolution also transmitted

through Pop music. Ever since, deregulation and an easing of official attitudes has seen 

sex in all its dimensions increasingly and more explicitly sung about in Pop.
Captain & Tennille - Do That To Me One More Time
Donna Summer  - Hot Stuff (1980)

In the 21st century it  is now possible to identify and categorise many different sexual

themes in modern Popular music. For our purposes we have loosely divided them up 

into: 'Traditional-Conservative': music reflecting traditional heterosexual desires 

reflected in modern Pop; 'Raunchy': music reflecting sexuality and sex more 'explicitly';

'Very Raunchy': music reflecting raunchy sex - even more 'raunchily'; 'Gay' - music 

reflecting male homosexuality; Lesbian - music that is self evidently lesbian; and finally 

music that is 'Transgender' - or promotes it. Finally there is music that can be

considered to be advocating acceptance of gay, lesbian or other forms of sexual activity.
Traditional - Conservative (Straight)

Olivia Newton-John - Physical
Rod Stewart - Tonight's The Night
Donna Summer - Love To Love You 
Bob Seger - Night Moves
The Doors - Light My Fire
Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar
The Beatles - I Want You
Def Leppard - Pur Some Sugar
Aerosmith - Love In An Elevator
Bad Company - Feel Like Making Love
Marvin Gaye - Lets Get It On
Led Zeppelin - 'Whole Lotta Love'

Raunchy
Salt N Pepa - Push It
Kiss - Take It Off
George Michael - I Want Your Sex
Madonna - Erotica
Duran Duran -  Girls On Film
Divinyls - I Touch Myself
Prince - Cream
Sexyback - Justin Timberlake
Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Very Raunchy
Benny Benassi - Satisfaction
Marianne Faithfull - Why D'Ya Do It?

Again as in Segment Five and the use of drugs, sexual behaviour has often been central

to broader debates -politically, about the way human society should be organised. And 

again this debate is the Collectivism versus Libertarianism debate - a debate over the 

legitimate role of the State and the reach of its power in our society, and a debate 

fundamentally central to the way we organise our community. To refresh yourself with 

the points of this debate, you should refer back to Segment Five.

Gay & Lesbian Music

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Kevin Ayers - Caribbean Moon
Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl
Melissa Etheridge - Bring Me Some ...
Damn - I Wish I Was Your Lover
K.D Lang - Sexuality
Sebastion Castro - Bubble
Neon Hitch - F U Betta


When we consider the argument supporting the right to free expression of sexuality

and variants of the sexual act, it clearly is a libertarian argument. And briefly this is the

State has no right to dictate what is legitimate sexual behavior provided no innocent or 

third parties are harmed in any way.


Lets recap the characteristics of the Libertarian position:

First, it stresses the individualism of human beings, and their right to pursue interests 

unhindered by the interference of the State and its agencies. The individual is believed 

to hold certain inalienable rights which are not the subject of, and do not fall within, the 

sphere of the arbitrary whims of government, and in this case sexual activity, and any 

interference with this right is a gross infringement of individual liberty. 


Second, and following on from the first, is that the individual being the embodiment of 

certain inalienable rights, is considered to have an invisible circle, or bubble  drawn 

around him or her. This circle is considered to circumscribe the area of activity which is

exclusively the realm of the individual, which in this case embraces the individuals 

sexual preferences and related activities. A distinction is thus made, then, between self-

regarding and other regarding interests. Those activities which affect only the individual,

or consenting individuals, concerned are the exclusive domain of the person as opposed 

to the State. Extreme libertarians would therefore apply this to the unimpeded 

engagement in any form of sexual activity. However, where an individual’s actions self-

evidently impinge upon those of another without their consent, and where palpable 

harm is perceived, the State then is believed to have a role to play in preventing this 

harm.

 
The State, therefore, is considered to be a necessary evil. Sexual libertarians believe 

the powers of the State must be strictly limited to those minimal concerns of providing 

the framework within which individual sexual liberties and preferences can be 

preserved. And from within this 'bubble of sexual autonomy' those sexual libertarians 

argue for the right to practise those sexual activities often considered 'unnatural' and 

even illegal by the State, such as homosexuality, transgender etc, and even beastiality, 

etc.

Transgender

Kinks - Lola
Queen - I Want To Break Free
David Bowie - The Jean Genie
Boy George - The Crying Game
Marilyn - I Call Your Name

To conclude, what does modern Pop actually say about sex and sexuality? In short, it 

doesn't really say anything in terms of value judgments but instead freely promotes all

sorts of sexual conduct. Whether Pop music in highlighting and advocating all sorts of 

sexual behaviours is morally right or wrong, or indicative of a society in decay - or 

one that is modern and free, history will decide. At present, such advocacy in Pop 

music indicates the degree of libertarianism we have reached in the generally Christian 

and/or secular West, as opposed to the moral constraints imposed on other societies by

Islamic regimes and others.
Advocacy
Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
Rod Stewart - The Killing Of Georgie

But to finish our brief overview, how could we possibly forget to include two very 

famous songs; one promoting gays; the other - a little bit of sex in the afternoon!


Village People - YMCA
Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight
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