We listen to songs, watch reels and enjoy movies — but often miss the message behind them.
“It’s just a song.” It is something we hear often.
A trending song appears on social media. Within days, everyone knows the beat, the lyrics and the choreography. We sing along without necessarily thinking about what those lyrics are actually saying.
Somewhere between the beats, trends and reels, the message becomes invisible because society as a whole is busy enjoying it.
When Entertainment Becomes a Message
Take a song like “FYN SHYT.” The conversation often revolves around the beat, the trend and the dance — while the meaning behind the lyrics receives much less attention.
The concern isn't that one song is single-handedly responsible for sexualization. The bigger question is about a pattern in the way we consume entertainment.
Our Brain Is Constantly Taking Notes
Psychologist Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory explains that people can learn by observing behaviours that are rewarded, admired or repeatedly shown.
Nobody has to explicitly teach us an ideology for it to influence us.
When women are repeatedly portrayed as prized possessions, bodies to be admired, or status symbols to be displayed, these portrayals don't exist in isolation.
Repetition can make familiar patterns feel normal. And this doesn't necessarily happen within a few hours. It can happen through the slow accumulation of messages we encounter every day.
Think about how women are often portrayed through appearance rather than personality.
How some lyrics celebrate conquest rather than connection, while confidence gets confused with control.
Individually, these moments can seem insignificant. Collectively, however, they can tell a much bigger story:
That a woman’s value can become tied to how desirable she is rather than who she is.
What Does Psychology Say?
Self-objectification is a topic that psychologists have studied extensively. Research has explored how repeated exposure to idealized and sexualized portrayals can influence the way people, particularly young women, perceive themselves.
Research has linked repeated exposure to sexualized media with:
- Greater body dissatisfaction
- Stronger gender stereotypes
- Greater acceptance of sexist attitudes
- Increased focus on appearance and self-objectification
So, How Do We Enjoy Music?
Music can still be enjoyable.
This isn't about cancelling every artist or deleting our Spotify playlists.
It is about learning to consume entertainment consciously.
The next time a song goes viral, pause for a moment and ask yourself:
Last Thoughts
Every reel, story, lyric, movie scene and advertisement contributes to the stories we tell ourselves about relationships, beauty, power and worth.
Often, this doesn't happen loudly. It happens quietly — through repetition.
This isn't about whether songs like “FYN SHYT” are good or bad. It is about whether we have become so accustomed to certain portrayals of women that we no longer notice them.
Maybe the most important skill isn't avoiding entertainment.
Maybe it's learning to press “play”
without pressing “pause” on our critical thinking.
