1 / 63

Sexuality and the media

This article delves into the unusual relationship between sexuality and the media in American culture. It examines why sexuality is less accepted than violence, the negative effects of sexual content, and the belief in the "innocence" of children. The prevalence and influence of the mass media on youth's understanding of sexuality is also explored.

pvirginia
Download Presentation

Sexuality and the media

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Sexuality and the media

  2. An unusual part of American culture • Sexuality is less accepted than violence

  3. Why? • Negative effects of sex • However, violence certainly has its negative effects • “Puritan” morality • More apparent than real • Belief in the ‘innocence’ of children

  4. “A TV network censored a sequence of John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, which showed a mare giving birth, but broadcast the rather hideous sequence from The Godfather showing a beheaded horse.”

  5. “We now arrive at what turns out to be—possibly through a kind of default—the most pervasive and consistent influence upon youth in the area of sexuality—the mass media.” • Internet campus

  6. “Each year, a typical teen-ager views nearly 15,000 sexual references, innuendoes and jokes on television, of which fewer than 170 deal with abstinence, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy.” (CNN)

  7. Television exposes children to adult behaviors, like sex. But it usually does not show the risks and results of early sexual activity. On TV, sexual activity is shown as normal, fun, exciting, and without any risks. Your child may copy what she sees on TV in order to feel more grown up. • (American Academy of Pediatrics)

  8. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute

  9. % who have had sex at 15 to 19 years

  10. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute

  11. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute

  12. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute

  13. Teen pregnancy outcomes

  14. Teen sources of sex information:(Time/CNN poll, 1998) • Friends 45% • TV 29% • Parents 7% • Sex Educ 3%

  15. Number of sex partners in past 12 months (adult %)

  16. Frequency of sex in past 12 months (adult)

  17. How often think about sex Source: Michael, Gagnon, Laumann, and Kolata

  18. Percentage purchasing autoerotic materials in past 12 months

  19. The nature of sex on TV • Not explicit • Innuendos are rampant • Often occurs in humorous context

  20. Who’s doing it? • References to premarital and extramarital sexual encounters outnumbered references to sex between spouses by at least 6:1 (Greenberg & Hofshire, 2000) • In soap operas, as high as 24:1 for unmarried v. married partners (Lowry & Towles, 1989) • 32:1 in R-rated movies with teens (Greenberg et al., 1993) • Nudity occurred in all R-rated films in sample, with female nudity outnumbering male nudity 4:1

  21. Trends • 35% increase in sexual content in soap operas between 1985 & 1994 • (Greenberg & D’Alessio, 1985; Greenberg & Busselle, 1996) • Also, more themes of negative consequences of sex, rejection of sexual advances, and portrayals of rape

  22. Arousal • Men are typically more aroused than women are, especially in response to sexually violent or dehumanizing materials • (Harris and Scott, 2002) • Sexual violence may be especially arousing to sex offenders and other violence-prone men and even to “normal” men if the victim is portrayed as being aroused by the assault

  23. Men and women differ in their response to sexual film • Men and women usually differ in the intensity of their self-reported sexual arousal to sexual film clips, with women reporting lower levels. Also, men and women commonly report different emotional reactions to the presentation of sexual stimuli: Men report more positive and women more negative feelings.

  24. Men and women were presented with 20 short film clips depicting heterosexual interactions. Half of the clips were previously selected by women; the other half by men.

More Related