STAR record producer and DJ Calvin Harris has been named as one of the many artists who "routinely sexualise and demean women" in their music videos.

Fellow pop stars Robin Thicke, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have also been criticised by anti-racism and sexism campaign group Rewind and Reframe for the ­proliferation of sexual images.

Rewind and Reframe, formed in early 2013 with the goal of making explicit music videos subject to age ratings, is seeking a pledge from the music industry, including artists and music companies, to stop making music videos which represent women as sex objects.

Its constituent members — the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Imkaan and Object — have written to the Prime Minister David Cameron and music industry chiefs to air their concerns.

Harris, who was recently named as the fourth highest-earning celebrity under 30 in a Forbes rich list, caused a furious online debate over the raunchy nature of the promotional video for his latest release, Thinking About You.

The Dumfries-born DJ was also criticised over similar content in videos for the songs Sweet Nothing and Drinkin' For The Bottle.

Sarah Green, from End Violence Against Women, said: "We would appeal to artists like Calvin Harris to seriously think about their video's content and the kind of messages they are sending out. There are elements in the Drinkin' from the Bottle video which are extremely dehumanising."

"Women are used as props and are blatantly objectified using pornographic film techniques.

An online petition is calling for the Prime Minister to put age ratings on music videos, whether they are sold in shops or viewed online.

Music video website Vevo has been criticised by the campaigners as having vague terms and conditions that make it difficult to complain about sexist or racist material.

Scots Singer Annie Lennox has also lent her weight to the cause, arguing performers were pushing a "tidal wave of sexualised imagery" on young audiences.

On her Facebook site, the singer wrote: "I have to say that I'm disturbed and dismayed by the recent spate of overtly sexualised performances and videos.

"It seems obvious that certain record companies are peddling highly styled pornography with musical accompaniment.

"As if the tidal wave of ­sexualised imagery wasn't already bombarding impressionable young girls enough, it's depressing to see how these performers are so eager to push this new level of low."

She added: "If a performing artist has an audience of impressionable young fans and they want to present a soft-porn video or highly sexualised live performance, then it needs to qualify as such and be X-rated.

"I'm talking from the ­perspective of the parents of those young fans. Boundaries need to be put in place so that young kids aren't barraged by market forces exploiting the 'normalisation' of explicit sex in underage entertainment."

Explicit content has long been a source of conflict between the music industry and campaigners.

The debate was brought to the fore following the provocative live performance of Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke earlier this year that reignited the "twerking" trend.

Recently, the video for Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines was banned from airplay at a number of student unions over the song's controversial content.

Harris was unavailable for comment.