The 15 best safe sex anthems by queer artists & allies
lays everything out there in the name of sexual liberation, there is something so cool and refreshing about music artists who use their talents to send an important message, such as practicing safe sex.
Even more important is how the idea of safe sex has evolved over time. From the HIV/AIDS epidemic to proper consent and today’s #MeToo movement, feeling safe during one of life’s most intimate moments is important now more than ever. The following 15 songs prove that point with their timeless, catchy and, at times, critical lyrics underscoring safe sex is the best sex…Released in 1986, the title of this song says it all, and the late, great Jermaine Stewart’s delivery is cooler than cool in the very ’80s-esque video that accompanied the song.A gaggle of smiling girls dance, play instruments and get splashed with water—proof that they can indeed have a good time without taking their clothes off, and Stewart looks like a star singing along.Although Stewart’s life was cut short by an AIDS-related illness in 1997, he has given the LGBTQ+ one helluva positive parting message that dancefloors still sing along to today.Somehow “2 Become 1” became the Spices Girls’ most spicy song for the way they seemed to directly allude to having sex, and also having sex with protection.
From the group of five, Baby Spice (a.k.a. Emma Bunton) was given these very direct words to sing: “Be a little bit wiser baby, put it on, put it on,” and it set off a massive debate about whether the girls were really singing about what everyone thought they were singing about. (Spoiler: Yes!
Considering the song came out in 1996, at the height of many safe sex anthems, the message couldn’t be more obvious.)“Sign o’ The Times,” the album and the accompanying song, was Prince’s opportunity to address the hot topics of the time, which included drug abuse and its connection to AIDS.
