Sexuality in music videos

Sexuality in music videos has become more widespread since the 1980s. Because of its commercial function, music videos must attract the audience's attention and convey a message quickly. The sexual attraction provides a means of both drawing attention and conveying a message quickly.

According to social learning theory, in order for a mediated model to have a legitimate chance at gaining the attention of a potential attendee, that model and its media-form must be salient, striking, conspicuous, and/or prominent.

A survey found that 72.2% of black, 68.0% of white, and 69.2% of Hispanic youths agree with the suggestion that rap music videos contain 'too many' references to sex.

The nature of sexual activity in music videos has evolved over time in more or less the same way as cable and network television. A sample of sixty-two videos from 1984 showed, that 60% included "some portrayal of sexual feelings or impulses". The most sex-appealing videos of that year included "Legs" by ZZ Top and "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John.

In 1990, suggestive sexual activity such as pelvic thrusts, long lip licking or stroking, was present in 89% of MTV videos. The 1996 research showed, that the hip-hop and R&B were greatest in the sexual variables. In further analysis, videos that mixed hip-hop and R&B displayed sexual content the most frequently, followed by hip-hop itself and R&B itself. Country videos depicted sexual content the least often of the seven genre categories picked, followed by rock videos. However, country musicians such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill garnered substantial crossover success in pop after sexualizing their images ("You Win My Love" and "This Kiss" respectively). The diverse content may occur within the one video, for example in Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me", where she portrayed a waitress, a dominatrix and a nurse.

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