It’s hip to be square—Huey Lewis’ new gospel—may have been announced prematurely. George Michael has a different message: “I can’t think of a better question for a 13- or 14-year-old child to be asking than ‘What does monogamy mean?'” Michael is a part-time child psychologist better known as a pop singer who was once the bigger half of a duo collectively known as Wham! (Exclamation point its.) Michael’s assets can be summed up by saying he is a white Michael Jackson who appeals mainly to 13- to 14-year-old girls.

Michael’s statement was used as a prologue to MTV’s “world premier” of the video for his “hit” song from Beverly Hills Cop II, “I Want Your Sex.” As MTV took pains to note in the mini-documentary that preceded the video, “Even MTV asked George to edit it.” Since they chose to run the video, their real sentiments must be close to the New York disc jockey who justified playing the single: “We play it because it is a hit. I’m not here to pass judgment on the content of a record.” Michael prefaces the video with a bit of personal philosophy: “In the past there were arguments for and against casual sex. Those arguments were based on morality. Now it’s a matter of life and death. This is not a song about casual sex.”

“Casual sex” is the newest equivalent of “recreational drugs,” a substitute for moral judgment. If morality is irrelevant, monogamy is equally meaningless. The word appears only once in the video which isn’t, as Michael claims, about casual sex, at least not in the sense of accidental or unplanned. It’s hot, calculated sex. There are two characters. A woman and Michael. The woman is gorgeous in a trashy sort of way. And she hasn’t seen 13 for quite some time. She cavorts about (a) under satin sheets and (b) in nightwear that does little to conceal her rolling backside. Michael bounces around with an ankh in his ear.

About three-quarters of the way through the video, the camera pans down the woman’s body. Michael scrawls “EXPLORE” on her thigh with red lipstick. Quick cut to her bare back, where he writes “MONOGAMY.” The message lasts only as long as it takes him to write it.

It could be noted that the word “explore” is far from being an injunction and that it is tentative at best. But consider the audio supporting the softporn video. In addition to Michael’s repeated, heavy-breathed declaration “I want your sex,” he sings at one point, “Not everybody does it, but everybody should.” Morality may be dead, but there are still Commandments. The final lines are “Have sex with me! Come on!” Nothing casual about that.

Some partisan of freedom of rock lyrics could point out that most all rock songs are essentially about it and that Michael is only more candid. But even if we don’t expect rock songs to promote chastity, they are not required to sell promiscuity to preteens—which is exactly what “I Want Your Sex” does. And George Michael is not alone. A few minutes before the premier of his video, that day’s no. 2 most-requested MTV video was shown: “Girls, Girls, Girls” by Motley Crüe—a video shot in a Utopian bordello filled with attractive women and incredibly ugly men (the boys in the band). And it’s not just the male performers who exploit the sexuality of women. Fleetwood Mac, which has a fair balance between men and women, is trying to make a comeback. Its first release is “Big Love,” which uses a woman’s heated panting as part of the back beat, and she’s not excited about the song. The band Heart, fronted by women, has had a tremendous resurgence. The steep rate of its rise has an inverse relation to the depth of Ann Wilson’s cleavage. In “Walk Like an Egyptian” the all-woman group The Bangles wear the kind of outfits that used to be seen only once a year on the “adult” midway at the county fair. And we shouldn’t forget Madonna, who has built a career by peddling herself. Most notable is her recent “Open Your Heart” video, in which she portrays a dancer in a peep show pandering to the tastes of a twisted clientele—as well as to a very young boy with whom she dances off into the distance.

The real bottom line is that AIDS may turn out to be an equal opportunity killer: 13 or 30, black or white, male or female, gay or straight, hip or square. When their audience (and colleagues) start dying off, George Michael, Prince, and Madonna will probably get together to perform “That’s What Friends Are For.” It’s good publicity.