A Porn-Pop Summer

Flo Rida granted an interview to NBC anchor Matt Lauer, who buttered up his guest by asking if his mother deserved credit for inspiring him to ascend from the rougher neighborhoods of Miami. Flo Rida's answer was even more offensive in its hypocrisy: "I mean, most definitely. She always taught me to dream big, put God first, you know, sacrifice and the sky's the limit."

I wonder what God thinks of that.

It's not just men who behave like pigs. The dance diva named Lady Gaga had a hit song titled "Love Game" that repeatedly celebrated the male anatomy: "Let's have some fun, this beat is sick / I wanna take a ride on your disco stick." A newspaper in the Philippines put the perfect spin on her concert there: "Lady with Legs Wide Open." Her songs aren't just a smash on the radio; they star on TV shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" on FOX.

These songs are not the cutting edge; they are the mainstream. The Culture and Media Institute studied 29 songs that were listed on top 20 airplay charts posted by Mediabase from June 10 to July 22. A large majority (69 percent) of the songs made at least one reference to sex, alcohol, drugs, or contained profanity. Nearly half (46 percent) of the songs contained sexual lyrics and 31 percent of the songs referenced drugs or alcohol. Profanity occurred in 41 percent of the songs.

Dr. Brian Primack of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School studied more than 700 ninth-graders and found in a study earlier this year that sexual songs lead to more sexual activity by teens: "High exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music was independently associated with higher levels of sexual behavior. In fact, exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex was one of the strongest associations with sexual activity." This might seem like an obvious finding, but no one in the music business bats an eye.

If tobacco companies can be blamed for lung cancer, and oil companies can be blamed for global warming, why aren't radio stations and record companies that churn out pornographic music blamed for teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases?