Sexy video clips have a more positive influence on girls than on boys, says Dutch pop professor Tom ter Bogt. Ter Bogt investigated the influence of sexy video clips on the thoughts, behaviour and self-image of 13 to 16 year old children. After viewing the clips, girls tend to dress more sexy than before, and are less resolute in in denying permissive sex.

In his research Ter Bogt showed sexy videos from well-known popartists 50 Cent, Amanda Wilson ft. Freemasons, Nelly, NERD and David Guetta to a group of 250 children. An equally-sized group watched the concert performances of the same songs. After seeing the video's the girls in the test group tended to act and dress more like the models in the clips, and they tended to be less satisfied about their own appearances. Unexpectedly the videos did not affect the boys in the groups as much, their behavior and self-image was more or less unchanged, contrary to previous beliefs that boys can be influenced by sexy videos to participate in group rapes.

Tom ter Bogt was instated today as professor at the University of Utrecht in pop music and youth culture. "There is no reason for a moral panic," Ter Bogt says, "young people need to experiment with sex. But these experiments must be based on equality between men and women, and the relationships in these videos are not based on equality. The clips undermine the self-image of young girls. When they start to define their identity with their looks, they may lose self-confidence, will perform worse in school, and will suffer more from eating disorders."

The conclusions of Ter Bogt are confirmed by research by U.S. psychologists. Their research shows that parents are a major influence in how girls get their self-image.

Link - www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=nw20080215114135529C520762