Women in popular music: A quantitative analysis of feminine images over time

Abstract

Popular song lyrics from the years 1946, 1956, 1966, and 1976, were content analyzed for feminine images. Eleven stereotyped female images were examined: woman as evil; emphasis on physical characteristics; woman's need for man; woman as a possession of man; woman as mother; woman as sex object; woman as delicate; woman as child; woman on a pedestal; woman as physically attractive; and woman as supernatural. Significant changes over time were found for 8 of the 11 images. Of the songs sampled from 1946–1976, 96% contained at least one of the female stereotypes examined in this investigation.