Some individuals hold the opinion that prudery is not only silly but also dangerous to the virtues and coherence of the U.S. community. Prudery divides the U.S. into two unnecessary categories that not only reduce societal coherence, but also reinforces the effects of other political and social divides that exist in the society (Marcotte 1). Prudery culminates in the eruption of sexual scandals that are insignificant in the public arena. Even so, these arguments can be easily countered by those presented by Henderson who uses empirical data to show that prudery in the U.S. has positive effects, which is contrary to popular belief (1). By comparing the statistics on teenage pregnancies, abortions, and HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the U.S. to those in selected countries in the Western …show more content…
For instance, the previous generation of musical idols such as Michael Jackson and Madonna did not express their interests in nudity and extreme sexual behavior in the public arenas as compared to the modern-age equivalents, such as Miley Cyrus who has been renowned for extreme sexual behavior in the public domain (Marcotte 1). Prudery has also affected the literal and writing industry through books such as the Twilight Trilogy that incorporates extreme sexual obscenity. These ideologies then trickle down to the young generation. In fact, recent studies indicate that 33 percent of the young U.S. citizens aged between 15 and 24 years have never had sex (Marcotte 1). While these figures were overly publicized in the mass media platforms in the U.S. as an unobjectionably good thing, it is critical to understand that the numbers are relatively high compared to other nations, especially in Western Europe. The perception of these numbers as an achievement when it falls short in the global arena is the result of sexual perversion in the U.S. society as a result of
“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)
[3] Since the 1950’s, a sexual revolution has spawned in America, accordingly downgrading previous anathemas in society, like pre-martial sex, masturbation, and homosexuality. For example, according to an article describing the sexual revolution, “In the 1950s, less than 25 percent of Americans thought premarital sex was acceptable; by the 1970s, more than 75 percent found it acceptable” (Stossel 74). Norman Podhoretz recounts how in the early 1950’s obtaining pornography was like trying to buy illegal drugs. But Playboy changed all of that, as it emerged as an “acceptable” form of pornography in 1953.
A moral panic is defined as a public panic over a matter that is considered to be threatening or shocking to the social order. One example of a significant matter that caused a moral panic in the public eye is homosexuality. The public discriminated against homosexuals, viewing them as sick, unnatural, immoral and a threat to society. Another example of a moral panic is America’s effort to protect its children from sex, which is discussed in the Harmful to Minors book by the author Judith Levine. This controversial argument by Levine explores why Americans demonize the topic of sex and keep their children away from it in fear that it will harm them, and in return Levine explains how protecting them away from sex actually ends up harming them.
Author, John H. Young, in his affirmative essay, “Our Department, or the Manners, Conduct and Dress Of Refined Society,” describes the rules of etiquette during the nineteenth century. Young’s excerpt uses academic tone to confirm that if a husband and wife follows the rules, they will have a successful marriage. John H. Young makes his argument about what to do to have a successful marriage by using repetition of words, diction, and syntax.
One of the most pressing problems facing America today is our moral crisis. This problem is one that is related to many other social dilemmas. It has a correlation to our rising crime rate, drug usage, and a trend towards sexual irresponsibility. It is imminent for Americans to find a cure for this moral disease lest we are bound for chaos. In order to solve this problem we must first, as with any problem, determine the causes. One of the causes is the overall tolerance of things that are immoral. Immorality can be defined as anything that deteriorates the decency, honorable or artistic merit, and overall purity of things. Today our society is one that accepts this trait. Tolerance of music and television that is morally questionable and an overall acceptance of a growing trend of sexual irresponsibility. That cause is the one that is possibly the most challenging one to remedy. The antidote includes a change of the current American attitude towards immorality. Another cause is the decline of the American family. The way to rid ourselves of this causing factor is to promote a more traditional family and encourage sexual responsibility. A third source of the destruction of America’s moral base is the media, It is becoming a crude exhibit of America’s worst ethics. The remedy for this component of the problem is to more strictly regulate and censor the media.
Pepper Schwartz opens Why is Everyone Afraid of Sex? with "In spite of the visibility of sex in the media and popular culture, despite a widespread acceptance of a variety of sexual practices, Americans still hold a deep-rooted fear of sex." (252) Schwartz then goes on to explain the surprising, but obvious truth. American society portrays a sexual attitude, but is actually hiding a fear of the activity. Schwartz does a great job of showing both sides of this argument. She mentions how sex seems to no longer be a completely taboo thing within the media and society today. Within television, magazines, articles, movies, etc, sexual themes are all over the place. Another factor is that premarital sex is becoming more and more acceptable these
American literature often examines people and motives. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, and in Arthur Miller’s dramatic classic, The Crucible, people and motives often depict patterns of Puritans struggling for life during a precarious time.
There are many things that influence our behavior from internal influences to social norms. Social norms are implicit or explicit rules that govern how we behave in society (Maluso, class notes). Social norms influence our behavior more than any of us realize but we all notice when a norm has been broken. Breaking a social norm is not an easy task and often leads us feeling uncomfortable whether we broke the norm ourselves or witnessed someone else breaking it. Sometimes however, you just have to break a norm to see what happens.
"Children are influenced by media–they learn by observing, imitating, and making behaviors their own" (APA, 2001, p.1224). Girl’s as young as 4-years sees Britney Spears music clip “Baby One More Time”, who at the time was a 17-year old girl/world pop icon at the time wearing a school uniform showing off her midriff, wearing a lot of makeup and a short skirt. Disney teen icons such as Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana taking personal photos of herself in “sexy” poses and sending it to her ‘older’ boyfriend and then having it all published all over the internet for the entire world to see. Boys also face sexualization too, as has been seen in Calvin Klein ads, where pubescent-looking boys pose provocatively with perfectly sculpted six-pack abs hawking teen fashion These pop culture celebrities both female and male are always in the media, for inappropriate actions and they’re meant to be role models for children. In fact most of these sexualized celebrities are still children themselves. The sad part is it’s not just sexualization being encouraged in the media other negative things such as violence, drug and alcohol use ...
In today’s society a person is shaped by family, friends, and past events, but in Aldous Huxley’s classic novel, Brave New World, there is no such thing as family, history and “true” friends. The government controls every aspect of an individual from their creation in the hatcheries to their conditioning for their thoughts and careers. In this brave new world the ideas of stability and community reign supreme, and the concept of individualism is foreign and suppressed, “Everyone belongs to everyone else, after all,” (47). Huxley perverses contemporary morals and concepts in Brave New World, thus distorting the ideas of materialistic pleasures, savagery versus society, and human relationships. These distortions contribute to the effectiveness of Brave New World, consequently creating a novel that leaves the reader questioning how and why.
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.
I can recall a time when the media was influencing my life and actions. The week after I graduated high school, my girlfriends and I took a trip to Cancun, Mexico, where the MTV beach house was located that summer. As I look back on the week of drunken partying and sexy guys, I can only wonder how I made it home alive. How could any young woman find this behavior acceptable? Every young woman there was flaunting their bodies to the young men around them. They were proud to be sexual objects. Where did they learn such debauchery? This is the kind of woman that is portrayed throughout MTV and various other aspects of the media. They have even coined the term “midriff”—the highly sexual character pitched at teenage girls that increasingly populates today’s television shows—in order to hook the teen customer. Teenage women increasingly look to the media to provide them with a ready-made identity predicated on today’s version of what’s “cool.” The media is always telling us that we are not thin enough, we’re not pretty enough, we don’t have the right friends, or we have the wrong friends… we’re losers unless we’re cool. We must follow their example and show as much skin as possible. The type of imagery depicted by MTV-- as well as people like Howard Stern, the famous “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and various Hip Hop songs—glorifies sex and the provocative woman.
One problem America faces with the abuse of censorship is students become misinformed about certain issues. Take for example, the topic of sex education. In the 1990’s, there was a program that was sponsored by the government called “Sex Respect.” This program informed high-school students that they must remain abstinent until marriage; otherwise they will harm themselves and other people. “…Pre-marital sex can lead to shotgun weddings, cervical cancer, poverty, substance abuse, a diminished ability to communicate, and death.”2 Not only did this program fail to accurately depict the nature of safe sex, but it censored the information that discussed condoms, birth control, and other preventative measures. While remaining abstinent is ideal, it is not the only option to remain healthy. This kind of extremism only serves to hurt the students in the end. In reality, there will be several students who will become sexually active. It would be better for them to know that there are other safe alternati...
The idea of waiting till marriage to have sex is no longer as effective with teens as it was in the past, due to the outcome of the “sexual revolution liberalizing social and moral attitudes toward sex” (Findley, Sarah, Chelsea Mageland, and Gabriella Pastor). For years the media has promoted sex in music, movies, television shows, and even with people. In the music industry we have many song with hidden sexual content that many teens listen to. For example, the song
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;