The Influence Of Sexual Content In The Media

The media plays a very big role in the lives of young adults today. Whether it is watching Access Hollywood, checking Perez Hilton’s blog religiously or watching fictitious TV shows and movies every night. All of the media in today’s society must add up to some influence on the teens of America. The media today mostly has lust and sex selling us products on television commercials or provocative ads in magazines, or the media just entertains us for hours on end. The media rarely has a positive influence, as it does not put sexual health messages in it’s television shows, movies, music lyrics, and magazines.

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.

Sexual activity among teens is on the rise as well. This statistic has been reported numerous times for the past 25 years. Many theorists believe the root of this stems from exposure to sex on television. Dr. Rebecca Collins and her associates conducted a survey of teens age 12-17. The researchers gathered a list of the 23 most popular television programs and rated them based on the program’s sexual content. Teens were then surveyed twice, one year apart, on their viewing habits of these specific 23 programs, their attitudes toward sex, as well as their own actual sexual activity. The results were astonishing. In her discussion, Dr. Collin revealed, “Predicted probabilities showed that watching the highest levels of sexual content effectively doubled the next-year likelihood of initiating intercourse and greatly increased the probability of advancing 1 level in noncoital activity. In other words, 12-year-olds who watched the highest levels of

Now a days whether it’s on a television screen, in a movie theater and or on social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, twitter or many blogs when you see a sexy image or pictures it’s usually the topic of discussion for days. We as a society either praise this image or talk down upon it. The media is one of many places that we look toward for our approval of our appearances. Sexualization is the act, result, or process of attributing sex to something turning it into a sexual object. Sexualization of the media refers to the way that sex has become more visible in the world today. Among our peers sexualization is most commonly seen as how he or she values themselves only based on their attractiveness a lot of people confuse this with being comfortable

Advertising is everywhere. Advertisements follow us at every location and manipulate our minds to believe the product is more reliable, trustworthy, irresistible, and even sensual. In recent decades advertisements have progressively become more erotic and have appealed more to our natural desires for relationships than to the need for the product itself. It is not uncommon to see a perfume advertisement with a naked woman holding her breasts, a denim commercial with a man and woman making love, or a fast food ad with young women prancing around in small bikinis. Despite this outward media on sex, society runs into the contradiction of sexual repression. With the increase of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among teens, many people are quick to blame the media for the “forbidden” acts that are taking places. However, as we observe the morals and practices of sexual repression it reveals the possibility that the contradiction between both events cause more harm to our culture. The contradiction between sex in the media and repression in society is making teenagers more susceptible to sexual confusion, unplanned teenage pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases. In order to reduce the damaging outcomes that are caused by media and abstinence programs, schools should incorporate more sexual education programs and promote contraceptive. Advertising companies should also get their minds out of the gutter and decrease the amount of sexual advertisements that are

The media thereby had affecting the lives of many and especially in the lives of adolescents, often to the erroneous instruction that they have at home about sexuality, “Children quickly pick up on parental attitudes that reflect discomfort with the topic. They can easily get the message that

The social learning theory was developed by psychologist, Albert Bandura in 1977. According to Bandura (2006) “the massive threats to human welfare are generally brought on by deliberate acts of principle rather than by unrestrained acts of impulse” (Bandura, 2006). Unlike theories by behaviorist such as Miller and Dollard (1941) and Skinner (1938), Bandura’s (1977) theory emphasized that behavior was influenced by environmental factors as well as psychological and cognitive factors (Wanberg, Timken, and Milkman, 2010). Research by Amir Abbassi and Dan Aslinia (2010) stated that “social learning theory is based on several assumptions which include vicariously learning aggression through observing” (Abbassi and Aslinia, 2010). The theory states that behavior is learned through the observation of others as through the direct experience of rewards and punishments (Fein, Kassin, and Markus, 2011). The general principle of the social learning theory declares that individuals can learn by observing the behavior of others and the outcomes of those behaviors (Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, 2012). Similarly, concluding from Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment (1961), Paul Levitt wrote individuals learn by observing others then replicating or modeling their behavior; “In short we imitate or become them by observational or vicarious learning; the

Bandura was a firm believer of social learning. Social learning is learning that takes place in a social context, and can occur just by observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of direct reinforcement and motor reproduction. Bandura, along with fellow colleagues, conducted the bobo doll experiment, in 1961 to 1963 to figure out why children act out aggressively. In this experiment, they noticed that the children will act violently after seeing an adult hitting the bobo doll. This is a direct effect of social learning.

In today’s society violence and sexual content and the media have become an issue. Over time media has been polluted with sex and violence and continues to affect millions of teens. Media nowadays includes television, books, magazines, newspapers, the internet, movies, video games, and so much more. Adolescence is a time of self-identification and personal growth. During this time, adolescence experience decreases in family influences and increases in peer influences, yet socializing factors typical of adulthood such as college, employment and relationships. Teens today believe what they see and hear in the media that comes from their celebrity idols and think that it is socially acceptable and because of that it makes them

The first study that was researched was sex and violence in the media influence teen behavior and there were three studies done which sex and television and teen pregnancy, websites and teen violence and video games and violence. The study done on sex and television and teen pregnancy asked the question from 2,003 s teens whose ages range from 12 to 17 years of age how often they watch television shows that have kissing and sexual acts within the program. About three years later the children were asked again and out of the 2,003 teens there were 744 that were sexually active and of those teens who watch the shows there were at least two to three times to become pregnant or get someone pregnant. The second study done was on websites and violence.

This article state that research has validity that teen uses social media as an avenue to display sexually suggestive pictures of one’s self. This section states that the press plays an important role as for how society have placed different roles called gender script on what is expected of male and females. Female’s active role is to be passive while male role projected to be the aggressor and seek for in sexual behaviors. This article credits reality television as a factor for adolescents. A blind study was done on Adolescents between the ages of 13-17-year-old adolescents. The results indicated by watching reality television that displayed sexual contents correlated with sexual self-presentation on social media when the adolescents that self-evaluated themselves in a sexual matter were more likely to post sexual images. This article concluded that mainstream television influenced sexual contents on social

In today’s society violence and sexual content and the media have become an issue. Over time media has been polluted with sex and violence and continues to affect millions of teens. Media nowadays includes television, books, magazines, newspapers, the internet, movies, video games, and so much more. Adolescence is a time of self-identification and personal growth. During this time, adolescence experience decreases in family influences and increases in peer influences, yet socializing factors typical of adulthood such as college, employment and relationships. Teens today believe what they see and hear in the media that comes from their celebrity idols and think that it is socially acceptable and because of that it makes

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.

Not only is TV causing adolescents to become more curious but it is also influencing ideas about what is normal and expected during sexual activity (Kittleson 74). Because the way sex is present on TV, adolescents depict it as an activity without risks or consequences. Adolescents become oblivious to unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and even sex addiction. It was until recent years that TV networks like MTV start airing reality shows about teenage girls becoming young parents. Shows such as Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant have a reverse effect on society because the teenage mothers of these shows are becoming celebrities off their pregnancies. This effect can leave adolescents confused about

An observation of the prevalent television programs and popular topics broadcasted in the media often depict teenagers with an air of promiscuity. Is teenage pregnancy really an uncontrolled epidemic, as depicted in shows such as “16 and Pregnant”? Are a vast majority of teenagers exchanging racy photos of their bodies with each other? If so, are teenagers acting out because of too much sex education? Or is the outbreak of hyper-sexualized activity linked to lack of formal knowledge regarding sex? These are valid questions when contemplating the teaching of sex in public high schools across the United States. Sex education should be incorporated into the public school’s curriculum because it would dismiss the myths that continue to circulate, may address the embarrassing questions thought of by many, and holds the teen more responsible for their choices.