I am going to make you terribly unhappy and say that listening to Top 40 pop radio is occasionally a guilty pleasure of mine. Come on, we have to admit that at least some of the songs sound really cool! But that is the problem — sounding “cool” tricks people into loving the demeaning messages many of them are actually cramming into our brains.

1. "Animals" by Maroon 5

Whatever happened to Maroon 5, right? Not that “She Will Be Loved” is the standard for pop songs, especially ones that do not perpetuate unhealthy ideas ingrained in our youth via cultural outlets, but at least that’s better than what they are pushing now.

The band’s 2014 song “Animals” is enough to make me, and any other self-respecting woman (or sane human being), cringe. I can honestly put this song among some of those top-ranked on a hypothetical rape culture pedestal.

Yes, “Animals” plays into and reinforces rape culture so obviously and directly that if you didn’t notice it from the moment it emanated your speakers, I must call you consciously deaf. This song, from the very first lyric to the very end, is devastatingly drowning in rape culture propaganda.

Rape culture is the phenomenon of naturalizing the act of rape through cultural propaganda that supports and excuses it. As a result, it makes rape something that is not necessarily frowned upon, and we may, in some situations, go so far as to say contradicting it even becomes faux pas. In American rape culture, the sexual violence incited is typically promoted against women, as she becomes an objectified target.

Let’s put aside any of the verses for now and look solely at the chorus. Luckily, the song starts here, so you need only listen to the first ten seconds in order to be assured that throwing the boombox at the wall, or maybe even Adam Levine himself, is a justified reaction.

Maroon 5’s song begins with Levine saying he is “preying on you tonight.” If we think about it, prey typically does not have any other choice but to be preyed upon. Soon after this, he tells you “you may think that you can hide.” But don’t be fooled, there isn’t anything you can do, because your mere scent gives you away.

It is a hunt. Levine is the predator, woman the prey. The entire song is constructed around the idea that a woman is stalked meat for the singer. And there is absolutely no escaping his emphatically strong-willed pursuit, whether she wants him to follow her or not. In this regard, she loses her personal agency — her choice.

In fact, Levine seems to believe that the woman wants to be followed, despite her acting like she does not. In the first verse, he tells us “I love your lies, I’ll eat ‘em up,” dismissing that these lies may be truth after all. So classic of rape culture propaganda: the idea that even when woman says no, she means yes.

When thinking about her finding other fish in the sea, he tells her she can “pretend it’s meant to be.” The word “pretend” here insinuates that being with anyone else would never actually be reality, and re-emphasizes again that she secretly desires him. In the same few lines, he sings “but you can’t stay away from me,” creating a trap that too often becomes socially acceptable.

Really, his whole pursuing episode is the pathetic result of him not being able to let go or move on, his pitiable obsession with the realization that he may not be as good at hunting as he thought he was. He refers to an idea that they were previously together, but breakups happen.

Stalking someone is never excusable, just as rape is never acceptable.

I am not even going to get into the appalling music video. If you want something vomit-worthy for your day, watch this.

2. "You Don’t Own Me" by Grace

This song comes with a wave of women artists espousing Western “feminist values,” like Nicki Minaj embracing her sexuality and Meghan Trainor being “all about that bass” - her voluptuous womanly figure. Beyoncé recently released her visual album "Lemonade," and articles popped up discussing women’s anger. That is, the acceptance of women publicly expressing her anger without being labeled as “crazy.”

Grace’s 2015 song “You Don’t Own Me” is actually a remake of the 1963 hit by Lesley Gore. The song opens with the main chorus; the singer lets the listener, perhaps we can assume it is a male audience, know that “you don’t own me.” Gore’s hit was sometimes called a “feminist anthem.”

Grace remade the song and allowed G-Eazy to add his own little rap bits. This modernizes the song, but it is also what devalues some of the original message. Clearly, Gerald, as G-Eazy calls himself in the song, is just an ignorant and arrogant a*****e.

Gerald opens by saying he “can always have just what [he] wants.” His frustration in the song is actually that he cannot have the singer. His attitude of getting whatever he wants alone, when placed on a woman, takes us back to this hunt mentality of Levine in "Animals." It also gives us the impression that this object [his want] is probably expendable, as most wants. Once they are attained, they become something easily thrown away for the next desire.

In the same verse, Gerald says he would take her “shopping” and throws down some haute couture as bait, as if any and every woman loves shopping. But why not — this is a gendered activity, right? Turns out “she ain’t wit it though, all because she got her own dough.”

This kind of setup — portraying Gerald as an average sexist male — is intentional, as the song is contradicting the sort of mentality of buying a woman and flaunting her. The main message is that he does not own her, and also that she would not like to be put on display.

But honestly, we must not forget that women in the past were actually treated as property — she was owned. And part of the trap was the fact that she did not have her own dough — men were breadwinners. The opportunity for a woman to make her own living and support herself is a stepping stone to owning her own personhood. Because of that alone, it should not be degraded and mocked by Gerald in this song.

I know, I know — you probably think I’m missing the point. You think that her point in this song is to stand up for these issues. But look at G-Sleazy’s next verse. He begins by saying he “gets bored of basic.” Well then, “re-really, honestly” (to put it in own words), why doesn’t he grow up for real and find a woman he actually respects and appreciates?

He then asks her if she is alone and if she would sext him some dirty pictures. She says no. OK, but then she tells him to come over and see it for himself. It is clear that even if this guy came over and saw it for himself, he still would not respect her. Thus, Grace has just lowered her self-respecting façade to a mere body for him.

If he doesn’t own you, then don’t even let him in to begin with.

3. "Sorry" by Justin Bieber

Aw, poor Justin. This song does not need much explaining. Mainly, the chorus is the most problematic. Sure, Justin Bieber may have some good intent — he is apologizing for all those mistakes he made “maybe a couple hundred times.” It is just too bad he has to reaffirm every other second that he is “missing more than just your body.”

It is also too bad that perhaps he has to stress this fact because many women actually believe they are only valued for their body. It's too bad that when a man apologizes to a woman, or asks her for a second chance, she may seriously wonder if he only wants her back for the sex.

And it is also too bad that we have to hear him say this line a billion times before he finally shuts up.

To end this, I must share a story from South Bend’s local pop radio station, u93. As some may know, the host of the evening is Big Perm, and sometimes he asks listeners to call in and share their worst breakups. One night, after hearing some man’s breakup story, and also him reassuring the listeners that he is not a douchebag, Big Perm asks him if he could date any celebrity, who would he date. Man’s response: Selena Gomez. Why? “Oh, man, she just has the most amazing body I have ever seen!”

“Douchebag!” I thought, as I snorted and changed the station.