Sexual Media Portrayal And Its Influence

Select a topic that interests you. Introduction. Media has great influence over the way people live their lives. The question is, do media or culture influence sexual orientation?

Interestingly, statistics show that the mothers’ side of the family has a greater influence on gender orientation rather than the fathers. Also noted that over 65% of the candidates who identified as homosexual, their mothers either had none or only one live brother. (4) Comparing myself to this, my mother only has one brother!

Many believe the children are solely responsible for their carelessness that results in early pregnancy. Looking at this problem more broadly, one can see all of the social changes that influence teen pregnancy. For example, the media promotes sex and relationships. According to the RAND Health researcher, Jeffrey Wasserman, children ages 12-18 who saw the most sex on television were twice as likely to initiate intercourse within the next year as to those who saw the least amount of sex in the media (2017). Many television shows and movies contain sexual scenes, but most of them don’t explain the risks of sexual activity. Moreover, teen pregnancy has become more widely accepted. While many still believe it’s wrong, this problem has become unfortunate but acceptable. With shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, the mass media even rewards these teenages for their early pregnancies. The acceptance of early pregnancy has increased, but people are still embarrassed to talk about sex to children and teenagers. Teen pregnancy can be prevented, and it starts with a change in

* For teens, television is a major source of information about sex. A survey conducted in 1997 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 per cent of young teens, ages 13-15, rated entertainment media as their top source of information on sexuality and sex health. This should concern parents because although two-thirds of TV shows contain sexual content, only one in ten includes any reference to safe sex or the consequences of unprotected sex.

Through these two structures, the article does more than just present a problem and a solution, but she also presents the causes and effects of that problem, making a more evolved and informative article. She identifies the problem as the media portraying teen sex or sex in general as being consequence free, one solution she mentions is to have the media and the society combine forces to campaign against teen sex. Teen-age pregnancies are somewhat indirectly caused by the media’s lack of reality when promoting sex. Goodman’s article is successfully written using both of these structures however, to make her point resolute, her rhetorical appeals need to be more prevalent and more defined.

Sexuality is a fundamental aspect to culture and to individual identity. Sexuality is not static; the norms regarding sexuality changes over time and is relative to culture. In the modern age, the methods and means for media expression have multiplied to new, great heights. The opportunity to consume media is omnipresent in many cultures of the 21st century. The media has affected sexuality over the course of the past two decades specifically. The paper considers the spectrum and quality of affects media has had and continues to have upon sexuality in cultures around the world. Media does affect sexuality, yet the consumers have the power to affect the media; media representation of sexuality and it affects, then are an expression of tension, conflict, or the struggle for balance between the unspoken laws of culture and the influence of the few media companies who own most of the world's media.

Welcome to WST 371: a 7 week online course. This course will examine how women and sexuality have been depicted in American popular culture from the 1950’s to current day. We will utilize themes and images from various formats, including movies, television, and popular books as well as analyzing different products and stores in considering what ideas and images about sexuality are being marketed and sold. We will consider questions such as: Have popular images of sexuality for women changed over time? If so, what has allowed these changes to occur? How do these popularly constructed ideas about sexuality affect attitudes concerning issues of romance and relationships, danger and violence or sexuality and sexual orientation? Is sexuality

Sexuality and sex in America is a complicated subject in that there is little consensus on the topic of sex in, and the American media sends many mixed messages regarding sex and sexuality to everyone, not just to adolescents. Americans are aware of sex primarily through advertising (print media, commercials, etc.) as sex is used to sell anything and everything. The media also bombards Americans with sexuality and sex on television and in films. The sexuality of teenagers is not a straightforward issue in America either. Many parents do not discuss sex or sexuality with their children. There have been ongoing debates as to whether sexuality should be taught as part of school curricula because there are such a great deal of adolescents participating in reckless and/or dangerous sexual behaviors, largely because they are grossly uneducated about sex. The paper will reference the film Juno and other texts as a meditation on the relationship between adolescent sexuality and the media.

Are Men and Women Equally Sexualized in the Media? The media is a form of communication that people use all around the world in order to find out new information and keep up to date on worldly events. There are many different forms of media, including: the radio, television, internet and magazine. For the most part the general public are used to the norm of seeing sexual images in the media, however, what they do not see is how the media sexualizes both men and women to a great extent.

From a young age, girls are put under pressure to be sexually appealing for those around her. But women, being people who still have biological needs and desires to be fulfilled, have rarely been offered a direct but safe pathway into sexual self-discovery other than through experience, which carries the risks of sexual assault, unwanted pregnancy, and STI acquisition. Men have an entire industry dedicated to fulfilling their sexual desires—the porn industry’s treatment of women is nothing to bat an eye at. Off screen, girls grow up being treated as sexual objects from a young age, surrounded by sexy women in advertising, movies, and TV. Having to deal with others’ “schoolgirl” fantasies and the idea of being “jailbait” make it hard for a woman at the apex of puberty to safely explore her developing sexuality. Girls also grow up with a ridiculous double standard telling them to avoid being sexy while avoiding prudishness: to dress conservatively if they don’t want to get assaulted, but to show some skin because nobody likes a bore. Speaking from experience, it gets tiring being told to be two things at once in order to please somebody else, and media has a powerful effect on how women see themselves, as stated by Katie Barnes in her piece, On The Importance Of Media Representation

Another way that young people may be influenced or educated about risk taking behaviours is through television programmes. Al-Sayed and Gunter (2012) found that television programmes over a 4 week period presented many opportunities for teenagers to learn lessons about sexual experiences through what is shown on television. Also, it has been found that male characters on television programmes are often proud of their sexual activity, with no conversation or regard for the risk of their behaviour or the consequences (Batchelor, Kitzinger and Burtney, 2004). This is important as Batchelor, Kitzinger and Burtney suggest that males are portrayed as more responsible for their sexual behaviour than women, who are not expected to be proud of their sexual behaviour. This may be influential at a time when young people are starting to become sexually active. It has been found that television is a key source for young people aged 14-18 to obtain their information about alcohol (Atkinson et al, 2011).

Research has greatly indicated and proven that media exposure has an impact on the normative perceptions of substance use and relationship behaviors among adolescents. Studies have shown that media content and patterns of usage are considerably related to adolescent perception of gender roles, romantic relationships, and sexual behavior. Repeated contact or subjection to sexualize subject matter on television or different forms of media has been related to individuals perceived normative gender roles (Herrett- Skjellum & Allen, 1996). Negative and socially impaired beliefs about relationships, for example such as ‘‘fate brings soul-mates together, disagreement is destructive to a relationship, partners should be able to sense each other’s thoughts and feelings’’ (Holmes, 2007). Also with persistent disclosure to sexually explicit content related with more positive attitudes or norms toward “uncommitted sexual exploration” as well (Brown and Bobkowski, 2011).

During this semester, I’ve shaped my understanding of sex and sexuality through readings and discussions presented in class. Moreover, I’ve notice how the media is the major influence on our development as humans nowadays and that things are being expressed and experienced at younger ages, than ever before. Children and teenagers are discovering their sexuality at early ages. Thanks to the freedom that social media offer them; they have better access to express their personal identity rather than to limit themselves to their biological sex and society’s role expectations. Also, I think that the media has been a helpful tool to change society’s narrow point of view over gender roles, gender identity and sex. Today people feel comfortable to talk about their sexual orientation and sex in public. Homosexuality, transgender people and sex are not a taboo anymore and have become more common.

There is a great debate on whether or not mass media has an influence on teenage pregnancy. A study done by the RAND Corporation shows that teens are twice as likely to have sex or engage in sexual acts if they see similar sexual behavior in the media. Many objects in the media that involve sex target teens. Reality TV shows and teen dramas often portray the "cool kids" as the ones who are having sex (Chandra).Today’s teens are highly influenced by what they see in the media and this can change their behavior and choices. Some will argue that the media doesn’t influence teenagers, but how can we be sure of that? Today, the media portray teen pregnancy in movies, television shows, magazines, music, news reports, and books. The problems

According to a poll of 10 to 16 year olds done by the advocacy group Children Now, "77 percent say that there is too much premarital sex on T.V., while 62 percent say sex on T.V. and in movies influences kids to have sex when they are too young" (Clark, "Sex, Violence"). The influences of the media is felt everywhere and especially in terms of human sexuality. Everything from TV commercials to the newspaper has some form of sex in it, usually to keep the audience interested. In modern society, the changing times as well as media executives wanting more ratings(and therefore money) have lead to teenagers more willing to try sexual acts at a younger age and the country being more openminded about sexual issues.