As it stands this article is a piece of crap.  It reads like a lame defence of the artless sexploitation that's taken over mainstream music.  The lead is especially bad  there ARE studies which point out the negative effects of these videos.  The statements in defence of this stuff are vague to the point of meaninglessness.  What does "hurt" mean in this case?  More importantly, what are the effects of this trend on MUSIC  what happens when talented musicians who don't act "sexy" are shut out of the buisiness, and pop music becomes nothing more than lipsynching stripshows?  And why is hip-hop emphasized?  If this article is going to be valuable, it needs to cover things like Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" and Motley Crue's "Girls Girls Girls".  Madonna and her wannabe followers (Britney Spears, ect.) need to be covered.  The rampant sexualization of young girls needs to be covered.  Most of all, this article needs some balance  some mention of the many people who find this a cheap, exploitative trend  a way for big bizness to stablize the market: instead of taking chances with art and creativity (when they're so out of touch with actual music making they can't tell a hit from a shit) they cynically wipe the field clean of real (unreliable, difficult to manage) artists and pump the world full of guaranteed-to-get-a-reaction pornography soundtracked by freeze-dried zombie music and performed by circus-trained money-hungry strippers who are no longer expected to even sing on stage.  The commodification of music is fueled by the increasing emphasis on sexuality and SEX SEX SEX is the number one reason big bizness music is both omnipresent and creatively bankrupt.  If I can find the time I will improve this article, just because it pissed me off so much.  I hope others will join me.  (Personally, I enjoy music AND pornography.  But the exploitation of both results in DEAD PRODUCT.  I can neither jerk off nor rock out to this zombie crap.  And I fear this crap is eating a hole in the souls of our young people.  It's all so creepy it cannot be dismissed as "Okay" and "Not hurting anybody" and "Who cares?"  Fuck the music biz and fuck this article, as it stands).