Thankfully, there is a vibrant, if under appreciated, tradition of such songs. More than that, they can be glorious, rebellious, liberating and even healing. In this atmosphere, songs that turn the tables and express female sexual interest in men can be refreshing antidotes to the toxic levels of testosterone in pop culture. Of course, no song floats in a vacuum they all exist in a world where the music industry is still largely run by men and where it’s a lot more common, and socially acceptable, to hear a woman on the radio objectify herself than for her to objectify a man. The case can be made that “Baby Got Back” is commendable for the way it dismisses Eurocentric beauty standards. On its own, in perfect laboratory conditions, lyrical statements of thirst made by men and addressed to women aren’t necessarily harmful. It can range from the subtle, say the way The Beach Boys’ “California Girls” fetishizes women from a particular state in the union, to the more obvious “Baby Got Back,” in which Sir Mix-A-Lot airs his fixation on a certain (arguably fascinating) body part. The definition of objectification can be hard to pin down, but you know it when you hear it, and you hear it a lot. Songs by men that objectify women are a mainstay of popular music genres from hip-hop, to country, to rock and pop.
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