Sexually explicit song lyrics are encouraging vulnerable young girls to experiment with sex, according to a psychologist.
This latest warning by Dr Jane McCartney is likely to add to concern about the increasing sexualisation of the nation’s children.
Warning about the dangers of explicit lyrics, Dr McCartney said: “I think it is making children think this social behaviour is the norm and the danger is when you have girls listening to girls singing about it.”
Impression
The psychologist also warned that the suggestive lyrics, used by artists such as Lady Gaga, could give girls the impression that they are in control, when the stark reality is often quite the opposite.
Last week Mandy Smith, who slept with Rolling Stone Bill Wyman when she was just 14, warned about the dangers of underage sex.
Miss Smith said: “It’s not about being physically mature. It’s emotional maturity that matters.”
She added: “You can never get that part of your life, your childhood, back. I never could.”
Harmed
Dr McCartney’s warning echoes the findings of a previous report, commissioned by the Home Office, which warned that children are being harmed by exposure to violent and sexual images.
The report, written by Dr Linda Papadopoulos, warned that exposure to an increasing amount of “hyper-sexualised” images by the media was selling young people the idea that they have to look “sexy” and “hot”.
She cautioned that this “drip drip” effect was causing many young people to grow up with “poor self-esteem, depression and eating disorders”.
Pornographic
Last month it was revealed that many teenage girls are being pressurised by their boyfriends to engage in sexual acts taken from pornographic films.
The research showed that many girls are resentful that their parents do not protect them from ‘pornified boys’.