Singer Annie Lennox says some pop videos have become “highly styled pornography with musical accompaniment,” and should be subject to an age-rating system.
She said impressionable young girls are already facing a “tidal wave of sexualized imagery” but the music industry is continuing to push sexual boundaries.
The Aberdeen-born singer said that if a performer has “an audience of impressionable young fans and they want to present a soft porn video or highly sexualized live performance, then it needs to qualify as such and be X rated for adults only”.
Speaking to the BBC Annie Lennox also said the issue was about caring for children: “I don’t think there’s one parent of young boys and girls in this country that would honestly, comfortably say they were fine with seeing their kids being exposed to that kind of thing.”
“I think this debate is about getting the voice of reason back there to say ‘look, we want to protect our kids.’”
She commented that while she has “nothing against” artists who had performed highly sexualized routines, they need to be “age-appropriate.”
Recently pop stars including Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have been criticized for their dance routines.
In 2011 actress Jennifer Saunders criticized the sexual content of music videos, saying: “I don’t think it helps society”.
In January this year Labour MP Diane Abbott warned in a speech that an “increasingly pornified” British culture is damaging young people.
In comments released to the media before her speech, she said: “For so long, it’s been argued that overt, public displays of sexuality are an enlightened liberation.
“But I believe that for many, the pressure of conforming to hyper-sexualisation and its pitfalls is a prison. And the permanence of social media and technology can be a life sentence.”
Diane Abbott argued that families have a “duty” to make sure children have a healthy view of sexuality.
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