Analysis Of Salt-N Pepa

Fact: Everyone has heard at least one Salt-N-Pepa song. Now, hear me out, I know you recognize these lyrics: “Let's talk about sex, baby/let's talk about you and me/let's talk about all the good things/and the bad things that may be.” That song is appropriately titled “Let’s Talk About Sex,” and it is a ballad about safe sex and sexual awareness as a whole. Salt, Pepa, and DJ Spinderella cried out against the lack of conversation about sex in the ‘90s because they believed in normalizing sex, especially safe sex. Today, it seems that we have not come very far from almost twenty years ago. Even the mere mentioning of sex has faces turning red and bodies shifting uncomfortably; as a society, we have not progressed to a state where the taboo of
For example, on the very first day, “sex” was openly defined as an act where penetration must occur. That is a heteronormative definition. To me, that sounds outlandish—to think that all lesbians out there are just pure, abstinent persons who are not having sex is just sort of sick and unrealistic. Another instance that I found very non-inclusive was when losing your virginity, for a girl, was described as “when the hymen breaks.” It actually stunned me to think that some people still believe the myths that were tossed around in high school. Both of these instances, although almost frightening to me, are quite common. According to a study of American and Costa Rican undergraduates, over half define sex in such a way that excludes any oral acts. The same study also found that between ten to twenty percent of participants included sex on the phone as “sex” (Rodriguez-Arauz, Mealy, Smith, & DiPlacido, 2013). In simplest terms, everyone’s view of sex and sexuality is varying and sometimes vastly different. I cannot expect my views to always align with the majority or vice