Does Exposure to Sexual Hip-Hop Music Videos Influence the Sexual Attitudes of College Students?

Abstract

This study investigated short-term effects of exposure to hip-hop music videos with varying degrees of sexual imagery on viewers' acceptance of the objectification of women, sexual permissiveness, gender attitudes, and rape myth acceptance. Using a posttest-only group experimental design, college undergraduates (N = 195) viewed a set of 5 hip-hop music videos of either high or low sexual content. Male participants who were exposed to hip-hop music videos of highly sexual content expressed greater objectification of women, sexual permissiveness, stereotypical gender attitudes, and acceptance of rape at posttest than male participants in the low sex condition. Results for female participants were mixed. In addition, hip-hop fandom played a significant role in participants' objectification of women and sexual permissiveness. Implications are discussed within the frameworks of vicarious learning through the media and parasocial interaction with media figures.