4 Did you know that the Most Popular Music of 2024 Commonly Depicts Women as Sexual Objects?

By: Anna Varga

What’s So Important about Music and What Does it Say about You

Why do you listen to the music that you do? Have you ever thought about how the music you listen to affects your inner thoughts or reflects social attitudes? Literature and theorists point to music’s impact on attitudes and behaviours, and self-perception. Music plays a significant role in shaping identity and may reflect existing popular ideologies. That is why we conducted a study guided by the question of: how common are songs that sexually objectify women in popular music? It is important to explore how women are represented in popular media.

How and What was Found in Popular Music Methodologies

We used a media content analysis approach to study the sexual objectification of women in popular music using the 2024 year-end chart to analyze songs. We used a purposeful sampling method to explore the most economically successful songs in 2024. Our independent variable (IV) was the lyrics, and the dependent variable (DV) was the presence of objectifying language directed at women. To assess objectification, we used a systematic coding scheme that characterized lyrics into 5 categories: sexual appeal (SA), sexual physical attributes (SPA), degrading terms (DT), submissive roles (SR), and occurrences of non-consent (NC). This structured methodology enables the quantification of the representation of women in popular music and examines how songs can shape gendered narratives.

Findings

Total Sexual Objectification

Our findings showed 72.5% of the songs in the sample had sexually objectifying phrases, which is 29/40 songs. In the study, there were 0 non-consent phrases. Moreover, we compared and contrasted the results by artist identity (male, female, groups, non-binary), ranking, and genre to track patterns within the sample.

Artist Identity

We found that male artists were the most represented within the sample, with 19 songs, and non-binary artists were the least represented, with 1 song. Overall, the results showed that 59.1% of sexual objectification was from male artists and 33.6% from women in the sample. Males scored the highest in SPA with 23 phrases and the highest in degrading terms with 45 phrases, whereas females had the highest SA with 30 phrases. Groups scored 4 in SA and 2 in SPA, Non-binary scored 2 in SA, 2 in DTA, and 1 in SPA.

Ranking

In the sample, pop and country were the most popular genres in the top 10, with 3 songs each, and DT had the highest representation. However, we found no significant patterns of sexual objectification based on ranking.

Genre

Results of genres showed that pop was the most popular genre with 11/15 songs by females, and it scored the highest in SA with 22/26 phrases by females. Pop was dominated by females, and it showed the highest amount of sexual objectification from women. Country was male-led, with 9/12 songs by men, and its highest sexual objectification category was SA, with a score of 9 total. Hip hop/ Rap has 7 songs in the sample, 5 by males, and it had the highest SPA score within the sample, with 16/18 by males. DT was significantly higher in this genre, with 40/43 phrases by males. This genre scored the highest in SR, with 6 phrases all by men. Hip hop/ Rap scored the highest in sexual objectification overall with 76 phrases. Alternative/ Folk is the smallest genre in the sample, and it has 1 sexually objectifying phrase. R&B had 4 songs in the sample, and its highest score was 5 in SA. R&B and Hip hop/ Rap were the only 2 genres with phrases in 4 of the 5 categories.

Why the Prevalence of Sexual Objectification of Women in Music Matters

We hypothesized that a notable number of song lyrics in the sample would sexually objectify women, and the content analysis revealed that 72.5% of the sample held sexually objectifying phrases towards women. Pops score of the highest SA, majority by females, may exemplify the societal pressures for women to present themselves as sexually appealing. Another study focused on objectification in popular music by Flynn et al, also found that women are more likely than men to objectify themselves (2016). These are significant findings as a study on the ‘self’ showed that objectifying music is linked to low body image, eating disorders, depression, and increased risky sexual behaviour in young people (Aubrey, 2006). Hip hop/ Raps high score in DT and SPA by males implies that this genre frequently objectifies women through sexually objectifying terms and frames women using degrading terms. Framing theory highlights how degrading lyrics can lead to negative attitudes and behaviours towards women (Chong and Druckman, 2007). Further, the high presence of SPA and DT may also reflect current ideologies towards women as sexual objects. These results are significant as social cognitive theory presents evidence that repeated exposure can shape public opinion (Hart & Day, 2020), slowly normalizing the sexual objection of women.  Moreover, multiple theories highlight how significant these results of sexual objectification of women can massively impact self-perception, societal attitudes, and behaviours towards women.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, our study found that sexual objectification of women in lyrics was prevalent. There were limitations in our research, such as unequal representation of artist identities and genre imbalance. To build on our findings, future studies could use a balanced sample with an equal number of songs from each genre and artist identity, examine objectification in different artist identities, and analyze how listeners perceive and respond to objectifying lyrics. Furthermore, readers should consider the music prevalent in their lives and reflect on the implications of such lyrics and the effects they may have.

Contributors

This research study was conducted by Emma Brown, Selena Vergas, and myself in March of 2025.

References

Aubrey, J. S., & Frisby, C. M. (2011). Sexual Objectification in Music Videos: A Content Analysis Comparing Gender and Genre. Mass Communication & Society, 14(4), 475–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2010.513468

Aubrey, J. S. (2006). Effects of Sexually Objectifying Media on Self-Objectification and Body Surveillance in Undergraduates: Results of a 2-Year Panel Study. Journal of Communication, 56(2), 366–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00024.x

Bretthauer, B., Zimmerman, T. S., & Banning, J. H. (2007). A Feminist Analysis of Popular Music. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 18(4), 29–51. https://doi.org/10.1300/J086v18n04_02

Couto, L., Hust, S. J. T., Rodgers, K. B., Kang, S., & Li, J. (2022). A Content Analysis of Music Lyrics Exploring the Co-Occurrence of Violence, Sexual Content, and Degrading Terms Toward Women. Sexuality and Culture, 26(6), 1965+. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-09978-2

Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007). Framing Theory. Annual Review of Political Science, 10, 103–126. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054

Flynn, M. A., Craig, C. M., Anderson, C. N., & Holody, K. J. (2016). Objectification in Popular Music Lyrics: An Examination of Gender and Genre Differences. Sex Roles, 75(3–4), 164–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0592-3es

Hart, C. B., & Day, G. (2020). A Linguistic Analysis of Sexual Content and Emotive Language in Contemporary Music Genres. Sexuality & Culture, 24(3), 516–531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-019-09645-z

Rasmussen, E. E., & Densley, R. L. (2017). Girl in a Country Song: Gender Roles and Objectification of Women in Popular Country Music across 1990 to 2014. Sex Roles, 76(3–4), 188–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0670-6