Literature review.
The media has changed significantly over the past decades. Technology has modified our abilities to expand our communication network, and it allows companies to spread their commercials over many different continents. Research done by Roberts (1993) shows that adolescent and children are often very influenced by media that involves sexual or violent conduct. This research is based on media involving children and adolescents, however this does not eliminate the effect media has on adults (Singer & Singer, 2001, p. 269).
Over the past decades, media has constructed and manipulated women into being the main form of sexual pleasure for the male viewer. Pleasure in looking, scopophilia, is one of many possible types of pleasure that media presents. Scopophilia does not only present looking as a source of pleasure, but also the pleasure in being looked upon. Freud explains in his book, the three essays on the theory of sexuality (1905) that one of the main instincts of sexuality is scopophilia, and that scopophilia should be isolated as an independent source of pleasure because it does not depend on the erotogenic zones. Freud further demonstrates that “he associated scopophilia with taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze” (Mulvey, 1975, p. 16.). As such, the theory of scopophilia does not only involve pleasure in being looked at and the pleasure in looking, but also the pleasure of looking at someone as an object. Freud ties scopophilia to the curiosity children show considering the human body and other people’s genitals. The media pleases the primitive lust of looking, while developing a narcissistic form of scopophilia in the audience (KILDE.
Because of the sexual imbal...
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...m in the context of contemporary culture, 1993
Valerie Steele: Fetish: Fashion, Sex & Power, 1996: http://books.google.com/books?hl=no&lr=&id=lt3fIz2GClcC&oi=fnd&pg=PT13&dq=fetishistic+imagery+phallic+substitute&ots=VI78aYaa49&sig=wfOaMse0VhTdjdmCRHjNePlYHBs#v=snippet&q=fetishistic%20imagery&f=false
The handbook of Gender, Sex and Media, Karen Ross, 2011, retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.hpu.edu/lib/hpu/docDetail.action?docID=10560688
Howard Lavine, 1999, retrieved from: http://bama.ua.edu/~sprentic/672%20Lavine%20et%20al.%201999.pdf
Singer & Singer: http://books.google.com/books?hl=no&lr=&id=moifZwJHunsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA269&dq=evolution+of+sex+in+the+media&ots=whj59xojfN&sig=DTJ3OgedYAZhcm-wNl94bzXvJ3c#v=onepage&q&f=false
Jane Gaines, Women and representation, retrieved from http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC29folder/WomenRepnGaines.html
Sexuality has often been confused with pornography. It has been trivialised as something that is a denigration and denial of true feeling by sensationalising genuine expressivism.
Scopophilia is taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze by allowing the spectator to look into a secret diegetic world, a projection of desire onto the former. For example, Peeping Tom (1960) stimulates a direct connection with the audience between eye and phallus, through the form of a camera wielded by protagonist and serial killer Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm). He is equip...
They all agree that media has certain impacts on adolescent attitudes and behaviors, however, they express more concerns about how much adolescents are actually aware of this. In order to prove this, they asked a group of people coming from the urban and rural communities of Southwest Michigan to participate in interviews and discussion about adolescent sexual behaviors. These participants were divided in groups with young girls, boys, their mothers and fathers, “The average age was 15 for girls and 16 for boys. Parents’ ages ranged from 41 to 51 with the average age being 46 for mothers and 48 for fathers.” They were asked to rank and discuss the influential factors such as parents, peers and media. The purpose of this experiment is to identify the extent of how adolescents and their parents think about media’s influence without being prompted. The results from groups were compared and surprisingly, the adolescents did not seem to think that media has such huge impact on their sexual behaviors, which was opposite to what their parents believed as they showed significant concerns about how media influences their children. However, most of the girls in the focus group tried to minimize the media’s influence, “several
Sexual objectification refers to the way in which a person sexually reduces another by treating them as a mere sex object (Halwani). Sexual objectification is rarely referred to as a benign topic, though throughout this evaluation, an enlightened, thou broad range of opinions are discussed emphasising the ambiguity of the term in relation to the morality of sexual objectification. Halwani’s definition only embraces ‘treatment’ and or the ‘behavioural’ aspects of sexual objectification, nevertheless Halwani recognises that the process by which someone is sexually objectified occurs most frequently throughout the following scenarios: During casual sex, as the parties desire nothing more than the others body party, essentially their sexual parts. When we look at naked pictures of people and become intrigued by their sexual aspects. Engaging in pornography, as the material already objectifies it’s actors as models (Halwani). Perving on a person’s bodily features such a “her booty” as he or she walks by. Catcalling, by reducing the person solely to their physical appearances and lastly, fantasising about someone, as it objectifies them solely on their physical appearances and can in turn symbolise men or women holistically (Halwani, 2010, pp 186). Allowing for a broader discussion in relation to when sexual objectification is morally permissible (if ever), idea’s constructed by Immanuel Kant, Martha Nussbaum and David Soble are broadly evaluated in order to construct when sexual objectification is permissible.
Kubrick’s Gaze In Laura Mulvey’s article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” she uses the concept of scopophilia, or pleasure obtained through looking at things, to discuss the portrayal of women in film as passive sexual objects, while inferring that it is the active male “gaze” that objectifies them. Mulvey’s ideas are extremely relevant to Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut, in which the themes of sexuality and voyeurism are abundant. Gender roles are very clearly defined in Eyes Wide Shut. Men control the “gaze” and obtain scopophilic pleasure by looking at women.
Strasburger, V., & Donnerstein, E. (1999). Children, Adolescents, and the Media: Issues and Solutions. Pediatrics, 103(1), 129-139.
When women’s desires are less worthy of concern or not worthy of concern at all, it becomes evident that the hookup culture promotes women being used as a tool or a means to an end for male satisfaction. According to the Kantian moral theory, the culture is immoral because the woman is no longer being respected. The ambiguity of the hookup culture couple with societal effects of inegalitarian porn, according to Eaton’s “A Sensible Anti-Porn Feminist” and power imbalances in the sexes creates a culture that fosters rape. Women are placed in predicaments where they have to give in to pushy, coercive behavior by men who want to go further than the women intends to. Even if a woman feels liberated by participating in the hookup culture, that doesn’t mean she wants to go all the way, with every partner, every time. The objectification of women and rape are two serious and harmful effects of the hookup culture.
The term “fetishism” first came to light in 1887. Psychologist Alfred Binet first presented the terminology to explain those that feel sexually attracted to inanimate objects. As the years passed, other psychologists such as Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Sigmund Freud made adjustments to the word until it encompassed all overwhelming urges to use an object or part of the body that is normally considered nonsexual to reach sexual fulfillment. (Sexual Fetishism, 2003, Metacalf, Luke, Nationmaster.com) Until the time of the sexual revolution, fetishes where thought of as abnormal or deviant behaviors and mental illnesses. However, in more recent years the more acceptable “paraphilia” has been used to label those who have peculiar sexual desires. (Crooks & Baur, (2013). Our Sexuality (12 Edition) Page 488)
The media is known for displaying a large quantity of violence and sex on television, possibly desensitizing situations that should not be taken lightly in real life. Two previous studies show sexual attitudes portraying entertainment television tend to correlate to attitudes, beliefs, and actions of people in real life. According to a study, television suggests that sexual encounters take place between young, attractive individuals, overemphasizing heterosexuality, and ignoring the fact that major risks are included in such impulsive actions. In "dialogue, characterizations, storylines and themes, television presents adolescents with numerous verbal and visual examples of how dating, intimacy, relationships and sex are handled" (Ward 237). Therefore, television is to blame for promiscuity, especially at a young age. In a second study, people watching television with a lot of sexual content also made incorrect assumptions on frequency of sexual behaviors in real life. Research was analyzed that showed "a correlation between sexual content on television and sexual activity...other researchers, however, find no such relationship" (Taylor 130). However, both studies have many grey areas, and the topic needs further investigation.
The media was not meant to be a social institution, it was meant for entertaining, informing and mainly profit. Media has rapidly grown through movies, television, radio, and more recently, the Internet. Media is not a new to making an impression on minors. Society looks to the media as it would family or any other social institution, for rules and societal values. With the majority of video games and television shows that revolve around extreme violence it is hard for them not to have an influence on children. “ In exposure to violent video games, juveniles have an active role. Video games require players to decide and perform in the games. Thus, juveniles make active decisions to participate in violent activity when playing these video games” (Bernstein) This decision making could potentially lead to children modeling these actions in real life
The media has become one of the main sources where people obtain their information from. This information can be taken in knowingly, or through subliminal messages. The media includes magazines, videos, commercials, television shows, and movies. Since, media has major influence over the public; violence being portrayed in the media is causing problems. Violence against women in the media has been happening for decades. The violence has been taking shape in many forms, as in emotional and physical violence. The types of emotional violence portrayed in the media include sexualizing, degrading, and treating women as less than human. The types of physical violence used in the media include hitting, slapping, kicking, sexual assault, and strangling. For a social advocacy project, a PowerPoint and letter were made, describing how media has been using the violence of music to sell products using research and theory from a psychology of women class.
Feminist theory was derived from the social movement of feminism where political women fight for the right of females in general and argue in depth about the unequality we face today. In the aspect of cinema, feminists notice the fictitious representations of females and also, machismo. In 1974, a book written by Molly Haskell "From Reverence to Rape: The treatment of Women in Movies" argues about how women almost always play only passive roles while men are always awarded with active, heroic roles. Moreover, how women are portrayed in movies are very important as it plays a big role to the audience on how to look at a woman and how to treat her in real life due to the illusionism that cinema offers. These images of women created in the cinema shapes what an ideal woman is. This can be further explained through an article 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' written by a feminist named Laura Mulvey in 1975. She uses psychoanalysis theories by Sigmund Freud to analyze 'Scopophilia' which is the desire to see. This explains how the audience is hooked to the screen when a sexy woman is present. In a bigger picture, where Scopophilia derives from, 'Voyeurism' is also known as feeling visual pleasure when looking at another. Narcissism on the other hand means identifying one's self with the role played. It is not hard to notice that in classical cinema, men often play the active role while the women are always the object of desire for the male leads, displayed as a sexual object and frequently the damsels in distress. Therefore, the obvious imbalance of power in classical cinema shows how men are accountable to moving the narratives along. Subconsciously, narcissism occurs in the audience as they ...
The influence of mass media has changed the behavior of sections of society. Brown (2002) assert that the increase use of media has increasingly led youths to adopt overtly sexual behaviour. He writes;
“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (Thinkexist, 2010). The mass media, including news, movies, magazines, music, or other entertainment source has become a part of daily life for many people. As the quote mentions mass media and its power are capable of influencing people’s mind and behavior. Contents in the media introduced to young people make it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as a result stimulating confusion and blind imitation. The mass media plays an important role in the increase of violence, sexual activity, and risky behaviors among teenagers.
Media technologies are becoming an important aspect of today’s society. Each and every day, people interact with media of many different forms. Media is commonly defined as being a channel of communication. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that media is made up of completely unbiased information and that the media companies do not impose their own control upon the information being supplied to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it is obvious to assume that it has affects on people. According to the text book Media Now, "media effects are changes in knowledge, attitude, or behavior that result from exposure to the mass media," (386). This leaves us with many unanswered questions about media and its influences. This paper will look at how the effects of media are determined and explore the main affects on today’s society - violence, prejudice, and sexual behavior.