Promiscuous

"Dudes is gettin' straight to the point. They just be like, 'Yo, when you gonna' have sex with me?'"

By Youth Radio

Listen to this Commentary!

This summer, the Rand Corporation released a study that documents the impact of sexually explicit music lyrics on teen sex habits. It found that teenagers who listen to explicit lyrics are more likely to have sex than those who don't. Youth Radio students have been debating this concept lately as they discuss one of the summer's hit songs, "Promiscuous." It's currently number 6 on Billboard's top 100 songs list. Here's what some Bay Area youth have to say about the song's sexually suggestive lyrics. (September 14 on NPR's All Things Considered)

JENNIFER MARSHALL (on tape)
Girls and boys, that's how they act towards each other. There's that little game of "I like you, you like me, but we're not gonna' tell each other."

ALANA GERMANY (on tape)
She's trying to play hard to get, but it's like a game.

GE' QUEZ EDMONDSON (on tape)
"How ya' doin' little lady?" Yeah, like stuff like that. That's how people approach girls.

ALANA (on tape)
When you meet a person the way they approach you is very different nowadays. It's not necessarily, "Hi, how are you doing"...you know..."My name is..." It's more, "Hey, you look good, let me holla' at you." There's no equality to anything anymore.

QUINCY MOSBY (on tape)
Dudes is gettin' straight to the point. They just be like, " Yo, when you gonna' have sex with me?"

ALANA (on tape)
I like the song because of the beat but I don't necessarily agree with the message. I mean, "promiscuous girl"...that's not something that a guy should want. I mean, guys should care about personality, intelligence, confidence.

QUINCY (on tape)
That whole idea of a dude being able to be "easy" - you don't hear that in hip hop. You don't hear that in pop.

JENNIFER (on tape)
Chivalry is dead. Like that whole opening doors for a girl and walking on the outside of the street, you don't see that happen much.

DAVID BICKHAM (on tape)
It ain't really dead for me. It ain't dead for a lot of my peers and a lot of my homeboys, so I can't really say it's dead.

JENNIFER (on tape)
It's just like adults try to grasp the idea that teenagers do have sex nowadays. It's hard for them to like think: "Oh God, that's what they're doing and they're putting it out there. Like, we may have done that but that was in like Johnny's car and we sure as heck didn't talk about it with the other kids."

MARIA GONZALEZ (on tape)
Yes, I do believe that songs like this do lead to promiscuous behavior, in what you hear, is a big effect on how you live.

ALANA (on tape)
Your favorite celebrities are the one that is singing the song and you're gonna' want to live her lifestyle and you're gonna want to change the way you act. I mean, I do feel like it really contributes to the way girls just carry themselves.

JENNIFER (on tape)
I mean, unless they're already sexually active, a song will not make you go out and have sex.

QUINCY (on tape)
A lot of old soul songs had that real smooth-talkin' dude. A lot of people born in that time was conceived to those songs. But, I don't think nobody's playing "Promiscuous Girl" and gettin' it on to that song...that's a little too corny.