Rise Against—a hardcore punk band I’ve always associated with screaming about heartbreak and partying—recently surprised me. The Illinois band took on more poignant subject matter this year, and MTV took notice. Rise Against’s anthem of LGBTQ acceptance and hope—“Make It Stop (September’s Children)”—has been nominated for the 2011 Video Music Awards’ Best Video With a Message.

The lyrics and video make it clear that the song’s goal is to help end homophobia. The message is delivered powerfully: at one point, lead singer Tim McIlrath lists the names of the teens who died by suicide almost a year ago and stresses their young ages (between 13 and 18). Clips from the It Gets Better Project cut into the music video and highlight the happy lives led by many LGBTQ adults who were bullied as teens.

The video ends hopefully with its three main characters—bullied LGBTQ teenagers—deciding against ending their lives. The viewers get a flash-forward into the teens’ happy futures to come, and the implication is that the It Gets Better Project’s powerful message of hope convinced those teens contemplating suicide to change their minds.

Rise Against deserves more than a spaceman statuette for “Make It Stop (September’s Children).” The group merits widespread recognition and respect, both from fans and those (like me) who’d normally give them a pass. The group took on an important subject often ignored by mainstream musicians. Even the song’s lyrics make this clear: “children shamed for those they chose to kiss… we’re calling for/ insisting on, a different beat/ a brand new song.”

—Meg Gibbon, 19, Contributor

Lady Gaga is a popular singer and musician, known for her elaborate outfits and videos. Her first album came out in 2008, and she has since sold over 13 million albums. She appears on the cover of the September issue of Vogue Hommes Japan dressed as her male alter ego, “Jo Calderone.”

I’m not a Lady Gaga fan; all of the information above came from five minutes on Google. My interest in the photographs of her cross-dressing doesn’t lie in any interest in her music, but rather in the fact that I’m gender-fluid. This means that I identify as someone whose gender shifts between male, female and neither, as does the way I present myself to the outside world.

What’s Lady Gaga’s motivation for this stunt? Publicity? An opportunity to introduce “Jo Calderone” to the world? Real gender identity issues? I can’t tell you for sure, but I can guess that it’s probably just publicity.

This isn’t the first time a celebrity has taken advantage of taking on an LGBT identity. Anyone who remembers Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” can tell you that. Perry sang, “Ain’t no big deal, it’s innocent,” denying—both in the song and outside of it—that she has any actual attraction to girls.

How will Lady Gaga or “Jo” handle this? We don’t know yet, but I don’t anticipate tact and sensitivity towards transsexuals and cross-dressers. It’s not something most celebrities seem interested in bothering with.

—Leo Johnson, 14, Contributor

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?