When Lady Gaga sings “I wanna take a ride on your disco stick” in her new hit single “Love Game,” she’s got people wondering, Is she singing about what I think she’s singing about? With its catchy pop lyrics and up-tempo beat, it’s hard to resist this popular song and music video.

Yet, it’s important to remember that “Love Game,” through its seductive words and images, promotes a distorted view of sexuality. The music video, with Lady Gaga naked and suggestively gyrating with groups of men, shows a sexual fantasy world that’s all about fun and games without consequences or emotion. It offers no honest, accurate information about real relationships or important sexual health information about STDs, pregnancy or safer sex. Although the lyrics are provocative, they just seem empty and vapid.

Asking “Love Game” to offer real information about sexuality is probably too much to ask from a simple song and music video. After all, “Love Game” was manufactured to sell, and as we already know, sex sells. But we should always keep in mind that there is so much more to sex than just carefree flings. While it’s fun to sing along with the catchy tune and there’s something appealing about fantasy, real relationships require more than gyrating and disco sticks.

—Cynthia Lam, 15, Staff Writer

Pay attention to lyrics the next time you’re plugged into your iPod. According to a new study, teens that listen to songs with “degrading” sexual lyrics, like “Wait” by the Ying Yang Twins, are more likely to have sex. In the study, researchers suggest that listening to these lyrics makes teens more likely to imitate what they hear.

People might find lyrics to some songs degrading, but are those lyrics really influencing teens to have sex? Even if you pulled all songs with sexual lyrics off the radio and MTV, guess what? Some teens would still be having sex! It’s easy to get alarmed about kids listening to raunchy lyrics in music. But it’s much harder—for parents and teens—to have open and honest discussions about what those lyrics really mean and what our values are when it comes to sex, love and relationships.

The next time you’re in the car with your parents and you hear some pretty lewd lyrics on the radio, why not ask what they think about it. It’s a great way to break the ice and begin an open dialogue about sex.

Britney Spears’ latest single, “Womanizer,” has been getting a lot of play on radio and MTV. The song isn’t groundbreaking. It has a lot in common with many of the music videos you see today—a woman using her body and sex for attention or power.

What’s interesting is that some people are calling “Womanizer” a girl power anthem. When you see the “Womanizer” music video, do you think of girl power?

Check out Wikipedia’s 10 Golden Rules of Girl Power:

1. Be positive.
2. Be strong.
3. Don’t let anyone put you down.
4. Be in control of your own life and your destiny.
5. Support your girl friends.
6. Let your girl friends support you, too.
7. Say what’s on your mind.
8. Approach life with attitude.
9. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can never do something because you’re a girl.
10. Have fun.

Does “Womanizer” make you feel empowered? Or does it tell girls that all they have to offer—the only thing that makes them valuable—is their bodies and sex?

Lots of people think that makeup is only for girls, but that idea is slowly changing. Bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance aren’t the first to wear makeup, but their popularity with teens has inspired more guys than ever to be OK with makeup. Check out what Pete Wentz had to say about eyeliner—or what he calls “guyliner”—in this interview with People:

Pete raises a good point: Guys wearing eyeliner, or any makeup, is about pushing boundaries. It’s about not being afraid to express yourself. Sure, people might react negatively, but if a guy has decided to wear makeup, shouldn’t we respect his decision?

We asked our users what they think about guys wearing makeup, and overall, people think that it’s a matter of self-expression and personal taste. One user said it best:

“If you’re gonna wear makeup, you have to be comfortable with it and know that there will be people who will tease you for it. The key is to like it enough to not care what others think.”
—Midnight_Rose, 16, MA

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard Katy Perry’s hit single “I Kissed a Girl,” a song about girls kissing girls and sexual experimentation. If you haven’t heard it yet, pay attention to the lyrics and check out the video below:

Sexual experimentation is a normal part of being a teen, and, like Katy says, it’s “just human nature.” It’s a way to explore your sexuality and find out what you like or don’t like sexually. But we have to wonder: Would we ever hear a song about boys kissing boys on the radio?

There’s a belief in our culture that two girls together are hot, but two guys are not. Girls are given much more freedom than guys to express themselves sexually, and, as Katy puts it, most people think girl-on-girl kissing “ain’t no big deal, it’s innocent.” The same isn’t true for guys, though, and lots of people believe that guy-on-guy kissing is just plain wrong.

It’s awesome to hear a song on the radio that celebrates girls kissing girls. Isn’t it time we break down the double standard and accept guys kissing guys, too?