MTV doesn’t focus much on music these days. But the medium that the cable channel helped pioneer back in the 1980s, the music video, continues to exert significant cultural influence. Specifically, a new study conducted by researchers at Catholic University of Leuven in Flanders, Belgium, finds that some teens who watch music videos today are more likely to be sexually active.
Researchers surveyed 515 Belgian teens between the ages of 12 to 15 and asked them how often they watched music videos, how sexually active they were and how sexually active they thought their peers were. They found that among boys, greater consumption of music videos correlated with higher rates of sexual activity and the belief that their peers were behaving similarly. Interestingly, the researchers didn’t find a parallel correlation among teen girls.
“Regarding the influence of music television exposure on sexual behavior, our findings suggest that increased sexual activities may be triggered by media use among boys, but not among girls,” said study co-author Eline Frison.
Frison speculates that girls are perhaps less interested because women are frequently objectified in music videos. “As the portrayal of women as objects of lust reflects patriarchal values, media images that support this type of male dominance may provoke resistance in female viewers,” she says. “This is especially valid among those who view such activity as a threat because of the high sexual activity rates of male peers.”
The study, published in the journal Sex Roles, is the latest scientific evidence suggesting that the entertainment some people consume—in this case, adolescent boys’ consumption of music videos—helps shape their expectations, their frame of reference and their behaviors when it comes to important issues, such as sexuality. It’s another reminder that the ideas and images in popular culture aren’t just entertainment, but instead powerfully mold our understanding of what’s right, what’s good, what’s acceptable and what’s normal. And that’s especially true for young people whose worldview and values are not yet fully formed.
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