She’s not shy of flashing the flesh and indulging in some raunchy dance moves for her videos. But Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has hit out at the sexualisation of women in the music industry.

The 31-year-old singer insisted she would never do anything she didn’t want to, but told Stella magazine she felt there was pressure on female performers to appear sexy.

Cheryl said: “The music industry is dominated by men behind the scenes. And older men, too.

Cheryl's new single Only Human will be officially released later this month (Polydor Records)
Cheryl poses for her new single Only Human (Polydor Records)

“Sexy and all that is great to an extent, but you shouldn’t have to sexualise yourself to be selling music.

“I’m sure some women are naturally like that. They objectify themselves because they want to be like that. Which is fine. No judgment at all. But sometimes it’s just unnecessary.

“If you’re dressing sexy, there’s a way to do it. If you are going to be explicit with your lyrics, dress differently. It’s a bit much at the moment, I feel. And I get women who say, ‘Why should men objectify me? Why can’t I go naked?’ Yeah. Do whatever you want. I just feel some of it is insincere, which is a little bit sad.”

The X Factor judge auditioned for Pop Stars: The Rivals when she was 19.

She revealed: “It was a really difficult transition to go through. Coming into this industry and being an object. An ornament. You’re not a person any more. They forget you’ve got feelings. I really struggled with that adjustment.”

Girls Aloud perform at the Brits in 2009 (Yui Mok/PA)
Girls Aloud perform at the Brits in 2009 (Yui Mok/PA)

Cheryl admitted that some of the outfits she wore for Girls Aloud were not what she would have chosen herself.

She said: “Girls Aloud wore some short skirts and some outfits that were quite sexy, but we were singing ‘I’m just a love machine’ and ‘Something kinda ooh, jumping on my tutu’. It was fun, it was quirky, it wasn’t trying to be sexual. I would never do something I didn’t want to do, or get told that’s the ‘lane’ to be in at the moment.”