sex and the media

726 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Medias negative influence on body image

In today’s media it is almost impossible to find a show that does not contain some sort of explicit sexual material. Over 70% of television shows include some sort of sexual content (http://lubbockonline.com/stories/111005/nat_111005043.shtml). Adolescents are starting to engage in sexual activities at earlier ages and they do not understand that the media does not accurately portray the risks and dangers associated with having sex. With this adolescents are also becoming more interested and curious to learn about sex and their bodies. The rise of access to the internet and ease of access to pornographic videos at home has been linked to the decline in sexual crimes (http://mises.org/daily/3080). With all of the positives and negative linked to sex and the media it is extremely hard to decide whether it is good or bad for society. Kids are beginning to engage in sexual activities at earlier ages with the average male losing his virginity at 16.9 years and the average female slightly later at 17.4 years (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37853719/ns/health-sexual_health/t/surprising-sex-statistics/#.U08yc_mwLYg). This number has been slowly declining throughout the years. Most people, especially adolescents, do not understand that the media does not accurately portray sex. The majority of sex shown on TV is between two unmarried people who have no true fear or knowledge of the potential dangers of sex. The risks of sexually transmitted infections (sti’s) are almost never mentioned along with the use of a condom on any TV show. If a character is, or becomes pregnant television again fails to show the extremity of the situation. Adolescents viewing these shows do not understand that what is shown are not real life situations. The... ... middle of paper ... ...s pro’s and con’s when analyzed and which side is greater all depends on how it is looked at. A large amount of issues caused by the media concerning adolescents could be prevented if the parents stepped in sooner and kept an eye on what their children were viewing and how they were interpreting the content. At the same time if sexual content did not exist in the media neither would the problems that arise from it. The ease of access to pornographic videos and images has been linked to lowering the amount of sexual crimes committed. This may not have been the ideal way to solve the terrible problem that is rape but it is proven to work and the crimes are decreasing as the internet and pornography industry develops. Ergo, one cannot simply say that sexual content in the media is a good or bad thing without exploring all of the pro’s and con’s associated with it.

Show More
Related

  • MTV’s Influence on Teens

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people find themselves thinking “what did they just say” or “That is so inappropriate” when watching TV. Especially when watching shows on MTV. There’s a controversy about whether shows on MTV such as “16 and Pregnant”, “Teen Mom”, and “Jersey Shore” glamorize or prevent destructive behaviors in teens.

    Read More

  • Media’s Sexualization of Children

    2321 Words  | 5 Pages

    One very disturbing trend in fashion, advertising, and particularly recently in the music industry is the sexualization of children, especially girls. They are constantly portrayed as sexual caricatures of adults. In some cases, young children are portrayed scanty-clad. In yet others, they are wearing such outfits and mimicking sexual poses. In other cases, a teenager or young adult is dressed in a way to make her appear younger. She may be wearing a cheerleader uniform, a school-girl uniform, she may be posing clutching a stuffed animal, or with dolls, etc. and she is often posed in a sexual fashion.

    Read More

  • How the Media is Affecting Teenage Girls

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this century there has been a lot of attention toward the media and how its affects young people. Joyce Garity, author of “Is Sex All That Matters,” and Steve Lopez, “A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter,” write about how media such as magazines, the internet, and television affects teenagers. Both authors talk about how the media is using sex and violence to sell products, thus leading teenagers to commit wrongful deeds, including lack of using birth control leading to unwanted pregnancy, imitating girls on the magazines, and cannot distinct between fantasy and reality. Both Garity and Lopez explains how the teenagers do not have individuality and lose their virginity at a young age; Garity uses personal experience to state the point about media pounding messages about sex and violence directly at young people.

    Read More

  • Influence Of Raunch Culture

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    “In 2005, out of 68% of TV shows that showed steamy sexual content, only 15% discussed risk and responsibility. And it’s not just movies and TV: Music, video games, and the Internet are also filled with sexually explicit, often-degrading messages that can shape kids’ attitudes about sex.” (greatschools.org)

    Read More

  • What Effect Does Media Have on Youth?

    2548 Words  | 6 Pages

    The media is often blamed for having a negative influence on adolescent life. Whether it is presented by means of television shows, magazines, advertisements, news, radio or any other means in which people communicate, the media displays an identity to these adolescents that society deems as sexual appeal and is characterized by sex, quality or state of being sexual. Media portrayals add to confusion on personal image, and can affect ones outlook on competition and violence (Federman, 1998). The media influences adolescents’ psychological and physical development during their cognitive development stage when it’s exposed to them (Schmidt, 2008). This is the stage when the adolescent is most vulnerable and sensitive to the surrounding in which they are growing and willingly absorbing information. If explicit behaviors arise often it can be influenced by explicit media exposure.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Sex in the Media on Society

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    by Clark, "Sex, Violence"). With more ratings as well as more money, media executives are showcasing more obscenity and indecency than ever before and is having negative effects on teens. The media is oversaturated with sex and delivers the wrong message to the younger audience observing it, who spend about 3 hours of everyday glued to the television (Friedman).... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • Sexuality in TV SHOWS

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    Watching television programs with a high level of sexual content can shape the patterns of sexual behavior of a teenager. According to Brown (Brown, Greenberg, & Buerkel-Rothfuss, 1993) many teenagers are not able to receive useful information about sex from their parents, this is the reason they usually use the alternative way to find this information through the media. A Kaiser Family research from 1996 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1996; 1998) shows that a quarter of all the young people have told that they have learned a lot about pregnancy from television shows and 40 percent of them have gotten ideas how to talk about sexual issues. In these modern times media is holding the power to influence the audience and most of all the youngest audience which is developing their view about sex.

    Read More

  • The Negative Impact of Pornography on Behavior

    1562 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sexually explicit material affects everyone. Unfortunately, this is not an easy problem to solve. There are several things that must be done to protect the individual, marriage, and youth from the abuse of pornographic material. Firstly, social norms should be changed so that individuals are not as tolerant of sexually offensive material on the Internet, and the public should be informed about the risks of pornography consumption. Furthermore, the government should enforce laws that already exist on age limits to viewing pornographic material and keep this content restricted. Moreover, parenting methods should change so that parents can talk to their children about the hazards of pornography before they are exposed to it. In conclusion, though pornography may never be eliminated, society should become more aware of the effects and consequences to exposure.

    Read More

  • Tv Is A Hazard Of Mtv

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...e becoming more and more common everyday with the movies with people getting drunk and smoking weed making it look like it’s the best thing ever and that only cool people does it makes teenagers expertise that leading to a new addiction. Exposing sex on TV is not only affecting the children but it’s affecting the teenagers making them curious about life and trying to experience new stuff leading to a teen pregnancy or sometimes diseases. All these are serious problems that USA has in society today but since TV has become an everyday thing for every American family that all these different issues do not really seem to be relevant because all these problems are a part of society. If people want to look for a solution to solve the violence, the young sex, and the profanity in the teenager’s first people need to solve the number one problem that no one thinks of The TV.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Two And A Half Men

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today’s media is a significantly prominent source of our delivery of information, and by most individuals their views of particular subjects are influenced by the media. It is through the media that we learn most of what we know about or believe in regards to politics and world and local affairs. It is a common and significant aspect in our lives, with many forms of media from which the public form their views. In particular, adolescent exposure to sexual content through television and other such electronic media forms is of growing concern, where its potential effects on their sexual attitudes and beliefs may be harmful. Sexual content can affect any demographic, however adolescents are most vulnerable. The group may be

    Read More

  • Summary: How Has Technology Affecting Adolescents

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    Two research studies have been conducted from 2003-2004 and their findings report that teen exposure to sexual content on television has a direct correlation to how the teen will act more sexually in a social setting (RAND Corporation 2004). These studies support the idea that technology has allowed for a more widespread distribution of the idea of sexual intercourse and the things that are associated with it such as kissing and other types of sexual intercourse. This idea may seem very negative but the studies also report that shows that talk about and portray the risks of sex can have a positive on teens by educating them. Other researchers such as Ellen Wartella and Nancy Jennings have branched off into the relationship between children and computers. In their article titled, Children and Computers: New Technology-Old Concerns the two researchers conclude, ”Because new media involves much greater potential for interactivity compared with earlier media, it also holds more promise for enriched learning experiences” (Wartella, Jennings 2000). The research done by Jennings and Wartella states that the development of technology for educational purposes is very beneficial to adolescents because it helps with development, this suggests

    Read More

  • Lebanese Media and Sexuality

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mass media has a huge influence on sexuality and opens windows on sex, there is a huge concern regarding sexual contents in television, internet and media in general, in the absence of improper sexual education in school, youth tend to derive partial information and misinformation about sex by themselves. Such sources include Hollywood movies, pornography and also TV show. The media is the fastest way of spreading information to the public, subsequently films are becoming more and more explicit, children these days are exposed to pornography, According to journalism professor and media critic Jane Brown, the media is piquing teen i...

    Read More

  • Abstinence In Teens

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    Us News and World Report reported a study by Kaiser which stated “that some teens reported they learned helpful information about safe sex and how to refuse from TV shows, this isn't the norm. Most teens are surrounded by sexual gyrations on MTV; provocative

    Read More

  • Effects Of Pornography

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pornography, as a growing industry in the 21st century, has a negative impact on youth’s perception of the formation of self-respecting, generous, sexual and romantic relationships. A central developmental task for youth and young adults is learning to establish romantic and sexual relationships. However, access to explicit sexual content may compromise one’s ability to establish and maintain healthy intimate relationships. The exposure of youth, defined as those between the ages of thirteen to seventeen, to pornographic images is detrimental to the normal social, emotional, and moral development of those individuals. This is because the false depictions

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay : Sexual Education

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    The glamorous side of sex is everywhere; music, tv shows, movies and social media. To a mature adult, it is easy to ignore the sexual messages in those outlets. However, to a teenager, going through mental and physical changes and peer pressure, it is extremely easy to fall for what is shown to “cool.” Everyone has fallen for half truths to be cool in their teenage life. It just so happens that teen pregnancies and STDs are not one of those things that one can simply walk away from. Babies and STDs leave a lasting effect on everyone involved. The National Conference of State Legislatures states:

    Read More

More about sex and the media

Open Document