Media and sexuality

1. Media and sexuality

2. Why the concern with sex? • Well, pregnancy, obviously. • Why not promote birth control, then? • Religiously-based morality that states that sex is wrong. • America is significantly more conservative in regard to sex than are most western countries.

3. Control of sex • The government as well as a number of cultural institutions (including the Church) have taken steps to control sexuality in the society • Especially teen sexuality

4. However, depictions of sexuality are quite common in popular culture • Content analysis states that 82% of television shows include sexuality of some sort • Source: Fisher et al., Sex on American Television

5. What is TV sex like? • L. Monique Ward reviewed the literature and came up with six consistent findings.

6. Portrayals of sex are not graphic • “Television’s sexual content is not typically graphic, but is instead dominated by either verbal innuendo or less explicit physical acts of flirting, kissing, hugging, and erotic touching” • Primetime, especially Sitcoms: verbal suggestiveness or innuendo • Double-entendres • Soap operas: passionate kissing and erotic touching and verbal mentions of “having an affair” or “going to bed”

7. The bulk of sexual action and language occurs outside marriage • As low as 2:1 to as high as 24:1 • Soap operas: 285 references to unmarried sexual intercourse and 12 to married sexual intercourse • However, a “norm of exclusivity” was found in one study of soap operas that 83% of kisses occurred in married or exclusive committed relationship (no more than two partners in a year)

8. Lack of discussion and depiction of sexual planning and consequences • 0 to 5% of sexual acts and statements include mention of pregnancy or STD prevention • Yet few sexual encounters result in pregnancy or disease • “Although physical consequences of sexual acts are seldom noted, emotional consequences (i.e. betrayal, pain, embarrassment) are frequently highlighted.”

9. The nature and prevalence of sexual content vary by genre • Soap operas have more sexual references than primetime • However, primetime has more varied sexual activity, more premarital sex, and greater explicitness • Talk shows are ‘teeming’ with very explicit discussion

10. Videos • 44-76% have sexual imagery • More implied than overt • 42% of rap videos featured fondling, 42% featured characters in hot pants, 58% featured females dancing sexually • Higher levels of sex in rap, rhythm and blues and pop; lower in country or classic rock

11. A strong difference in the degree to which women’s and men’s bodies are sexualized • Women are far more likely to be sexualized, objectified, used for decoration • Revealing clothing • Used to dance around and decorate videos • 37% of women wore revealing clothing • 4% of men • R-rated movies: female to male nudity 4:1 • Primetime sexual harrassment • 33% demeaning (bimbo) • 32% sexual comments, typically women’s bodies (especially breasts) • 13% ‘body language’ (typically leering)

12. Modest to large increases in the frequency of sexual references over the past decades • 1.04 to 1.72 sexual incidents or references per hour in the 1970s to 9.66 to 15.8 times per hour in the 1990s