Media, Sexuality And Teenagers

Media, Sexuality And adolescentsY give awayhs supporting in the 21st century spend inordinate nitty-grittys of quantify with the media. They caper with computer addresss who ar funny they viciously attack and destroy evil creatures as they play their preferred video haltings they disclose advertising for enduredy, bring forthup, and up to now strong drink they listen to rap lyrics ab appear sex and violence and they interact with battalion all over the world online. Needless(prenominal) to say, it is a completely contrary social world than the single their p atomic weigh 18nts and grandp arnts faced during minorhood and therefore, the frame media has on juvenileagers is overpowering. In constant contact with the media, teenageagers today argon faced with oft conflicting and confusing messages intimately how they atomic number 18 supposed to be provoke internally. piece of medical specialty adults, schools, and religious institutions are soundless reluctant to provide intimateity fosterage for adolescents, the mass media is non at all reticent, portraying sexual look as riveting, common in everyday life, emotionally and physically risk free. Undoubtedly, the sexuality presented in the media has had a significant effect on the expression of modern day teenagers, do the confusion among media and reality and the intuition that teens pretend on reality.Considering the effect media has on adolescents. First of all, it must be recognized that over duration, the amount of sexual bailiwick that is projectn in the media has castrate magnitude remarkably at a swift rate. Media and its leniency to what may or may non be shown or heard humankindly withdraw increased a great amount over the years. A body of work showed that Pornography is big business, gene evaluate $13 billion just in the U.S. in 2006 (IT Facts, 2007). Although sex magazines have greatly declined in circulation since the mid-1990s, that drop has been a great deal than equilibrate for by video sales and rentals, c equal and pay-per- stage set TV, and especially the explosive increase of Internet pornography, producing over 20% of the total r regularue in 2006. (Bryant 305) yet the media that is meant for children is cosmos tampered with and contaminated with randomness that or so children do not and should not know. The book, Children, Adolescents, and the Media states that On television each year, American children and teenagers view n earlyish 14,000 sexual references, innuendoes, and miens, few of which (less than 170) involve the use of let in get over, self-control, abstinence, or responsibility. (Strasburger 213) Adolescents today have too easy access to the variation of media and therefore, are more(prenominal) suasible to each inappropriate or sexual content than their parents. There are four major sources of media that children and teenagers are exposed to. These are the shows that they view on television, the m edicine, the games, and the Internet.When adolescents are exposed to this various media, they have a tendency to consider media and interact with it based on who they are or who they want to be at the moment. The assumptions of media uses are similar to gratifications theory, which suggests that media consumers come to the media with different needs and motives and that what they takings away from the media pass on depend on why they came to it. (Brown 9) more thanover, what those adolescents learn as well varies according to the adolescents sense of self-identity and lived experience. Since these teenagers are undergoing the crucial moment in their lives, formative their own ego and identity and extremely vulnerable to all this terrific amount of study from the media, what they choose to absorb from the media and what is sensational and stimulus in the media can be very influential. The exaggerated or distorted visualize of sex in the media is omnipresent and detrimental t o adolescents who are not fully prepared to distinguish between reality and situation that can moreover happen an unreal world, much(prenominal)(prenominal) as television show.One of the most influential media that affects teenagers is television. Many studies have documented televisions ability to transmit information and to shape attitudes. television set influences adolescents perception of social behavior and social reality. Television may offer teenagers a guideline for sexual behavior that they qualification not be able to observe anywhere else. Television displace much(prenominal) as Disney Channel, Nickelodeon or even Cartoon web have been intensified and marketed in a way so that aged(a) children would continue to watch these take. By doing this, the younger children who have initially evermore watched the shows are exposed to things that they shouldnt be experiencing. The most recent content abbreviation of television found that more than 75% of prime-time kids shows on the major networks take over sexual content, exclusively only 14% of incidents include any follow of the risks or responsibilities of sexual activity or the need for contraception. This figure rises to 27% for shows depicting or implying intercourse. (Kunkel, Eyal, Finnerty, Biely, Donnerstein) Television is definitely one of the sources of media which convey vituperate image of sex.Television has a tremendous impact on the behavior of children and teenagers over time by giving them improper knowledge of sex. The media and the amount of sexual and violent content that is allowed to be shown not only on childrens stations precisely on stations that are meant to be viewed as families have increased a lot. An example of this is just the commercials that are advertize on television. Even on channels such as Nickelodeon, advertisements that are shown are not necessarily appropriate for children. It is known that Nickelodeon guides children towards MTV by featuring artist s whose medical specialty and actions are inappropriate for young children in concerts and in Kids prize Awards. (McEntire) A major part of television is also music channels, such as MTV and many more. These channels are the most universally watched channels by teenagers both male and womanly. On these channels, there are not only reality shows in which they show characters as violent and show sex as accepted, but there are many music videos which show many images of sex and violence. An example of reality shows on music channels are The Real World and Laguna Beach on MTV, or shows such as Jersey Shore, in which the main character was a little girl who was known because of macrocosm a stripper and having pictures on MySpace with revealing clothes. On VH1 there are shows such as savor Flave in which a retired rapper is perused by many young women or I Love New York where a young, ignorant acting female is trying to be won over by many men. In these shows, there are many il reli shrations of promiscuous actions that were not necessarily sex, but may have led up to sex by what is shown in the show. However, music videos by themselves are a serious issue with the media. A surprising amount of illustrations of sex are shown in music videos, which were account in the article by McEntire that said, The average music video contains 93 sexual situations per hour. This includes eleven scenes actually depicting intercourse or ad-lib sex. (McEntire) These numbers are alarming, and to know that these are the programs that almost all teenagers view on a daily basis is upsetting.As Television has commence increasingly sexually explicit, Music plays a large part in the media affecting teenagers and their behavior. Many different types of music, such as Rap, Hip Hop, and sway music are mainly directing its sales to the younger multiplication of people. The lyrics of these songs portray sex and violence. In many of these songs, they downgrade the worth of women and p ush violence as it should be accepted. When the younger generation listens to these messages, as it is contend repeatedly they begin to believe that it is the way that they should act, and lose sight of reality. In these songs, they also encourage the use of illegal substances to the younger generation such as drugs or Alcohol. An article proves that As the popularity of music among youth grows, the number of teens who are congruous more violent, more sexually active and who are experimenting which drugs is steadily increasing. (Keshan) Teenagers who listen to large amount and genres of music are less kindredly to be affected by the messages portrayed in the music but those who mainly listen to one type of music are more likely to take in the message given out in this music. The particular genres of Rap, Hip-Hop and Rock and Roll have a large impact on the behavior of young females, especially those of the b deficiency and His panic races. A field of operation shows that Girls who watch 14 hours or more of rap music videos are more likely to engage in unsafe sex with multiple partners and get a STD. (McEntire)Just like most teenagers never take off their head phones playing their favorite music, video games are played by all ages of children, from little toddlers who are starting out learning letters or how to count to the honest-to-goodness teenagers who play games with more detail and different situations. Video games over time have gotten more violent with content that is not appropriate for teenagers. From games of pelt along and sports such as football or baseball, to games that involve shooting and cleanup as if it was normal. These games do not only affect the behavior of teens, but they desensitize the future generations and how they depict violence. Furthermore, the worst thing is that they include sexual images such as naked women and strippers roaming a town or even raping scene as a mission. These games provoke teenagers to have strong tr ust to try out those distorted sexual images in reality. Grand thieving Auto is a game that is popular among teenagers, especially boys. A study depicts that Grand Theft Auto Vice City, a video game rated M, was the best selling game among teens in 2002. In the game, players can pattern having sex with a prostitute and then killing her. (Greenspan) This is just one example of many ways that violence and sexuality can be shown in multiple different video games. These games are mainly marketed to males, between the ages of 13 and 17 who would be more likely to go out and ask for a game containing violence or cars. Although this game is label as M for mature, many parents wouldnt know or check for the rating of a video game when purchasing the game for their child.Although adolescents enjoy their pursuance playing video games, the largest source of information that teenagers spend most of their time doing would to be the internet. With search engines such as Google, it is possible to find any information that may want to be discovered, whether it is appropriate or not. However, this image to inappropriate content is not always by the free will of the person sitting behind the screen. According to a study shown in 2006 .increased proportions of youth internet users were en yielding unwanted exposures to sexual material and online harassment, but decrease proportions were receiving unwanted sexual solicitations (Online Victimization of Youth) which basically convey that while being on sites that they had business being on, ads and pop-ups that were not necessarily appropriate appeared on the screen. This is the case on many children sites, such as Nickelodeon.com or NickJr.com. These advertisement and pop-ups which are mostly slightly pornography and mortgage increase teenagers quirk and play them to explore those inappropriate sites.All these contents in television, music, game, and internet, enhancing adolescents lust and injecting wrong perception of s ex into teens affect the behavior of them and eventually lead to social catastrophe. A study manifests that Teens who see and hear a lot about sex in the media may be more than twice as likely to have early sexual intercourse as those who are rarely exposed to sexual content and 12 to 14-years archaic exposed to the most sexual content in movies, music m magazines, and on television were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse when re-interviewed two years later than their peers who had a lighter sexual media diet. (Lagorio) This has agitated the mindsets of young children, primarily in America.Teen pregnancies over the historical 10 years have been largely affected by the change in censorship in the media. As the amount of sexual content increased in the media, the amount of teen pregnancies or children having children has elevated proportionally. With the depiction of teenagers having children in shows such as The Secret Life of an American Teenager in which the m ain character is a girl who is pregnant, the idea of teenage girls getting pregnant is becoming more accepted and more common. This girl carrying a child in the television show is only depicted as a fifteen years old, and although she is carrying a child she still maintains a child-like innocence herself, which emphasizes the fact that she is only a child carrying some other chilled. This however, is not only the case in television shows. Many girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are turning out pregnant, although it is obvious that they arent fitting of supporting a child on their own. Since the statistic of young girls having babies has skyrocketed, many public school systems have felt the need to add Daycare Units into the schools so that they can promote the teenage mothers staying in school, and having free care for their child while they continue to get an education.This all comes back to the media, which is unmonitored for the most part, and promotes messages of sex, and bec oming caught in a sensual moment, which would result in a lack of protection because of no preparation. When sex is illustrated in many television shows, they make it as though the couple has sex without needing protection such as condoms. All these uncensored information from the media bring out a big social consequence in a long term.The media, at large, does have an effect on the beliefs and behaviors of teenagers over a long period of time. In a society that limits access to sexual information, teenagers will look to the media for answers to their questions. More important, the media may have a strong effect on teens without their even being aware of it, especially those whose parents do not instill in them a strong sense of family values. Although many adolescents try to get answers from the media about sex, unfortunately the media answers to these questions are usually not the healthy or immaculate answers. Hence, in order to prevent any further tragedy befalling to teenager s, quick solution has to be made.One of the possible solutions that would grant youth a healthier view of sex and sexuality is that widespread advertising of birth control in mainstream media. Advertising birth control represents one means of increasing teenagers access to it. Such advertising needs to address the risks of pregnancy, not merely the superficial difference that birth control pills can make. Unless invigorated products such as the morning-after pill are widely advertised, teenagers will not know about them or use them. Comparative studies between the united States and Europe make it clear that countries that promote the use of birth control via advertising, sex education classes, and programming are rewarded with lower rates of teen pregnancy. (Strasburger 254), yet the media remain resistant. Given that eight studies now prove that making birth control available to teenagers does not increase the risk of early sexual intercourse, there is no longer any excuse to i nfer access to it.Like advertising birth control, second solution would be having a greater responsibility and accountability of mainstream media for producing healthy and accurate messages about sex and sexuality. Entertainment industry executives need to realize that, their product is educating American children and teenagers, since media have become one of the most important sources for sexual information for young people today. Besides reforming mainstream media, middle and high schools should not depreciate the sex education and inform students the fallacy in the media. This would be resulted in teenagers being less likely to overestimate sexual activity among their peers and more aware of the truth about sex and sexual imagery in the media.Third key to protect teenagers from the frail information from media is to execute more and better counter advertising. Only the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy has engaged in long term efforts to counterprogram b y means of the media. Although no clear data exists about this organizations success, several successful efforts involving counter advertising against tobacco and illicit drugs with teens as the target audience by means of the media have been demonstrated.Fourth solution would be having a greater sensitivity of parents to the influence of the media on adolescents. Many parents often seem not to see the impact of media on their children and teenagers. The most important steps that parents can take are to set rules about TV viewing, monitor what shows are being watched, and keep TV sets out of the bedroom.The last possible solution is to train better research on getting statistics on the effect of the media. intimately more research needs to be funded, use a variety of methods and a variety of populations, and will need to take into account developmental, gender, and heathenish differences. School systems and parents need to grant access to researchers, and foundations need to fun d such efforts. Foundations need to recognize media research as a new and much needed priority. Society needs to accept the fact that teenagers should be able to give consent for such research on their own and that parents can be informed about ongoing studies explaining the research.Although it is apparent that the medias negative effect on teenagers is catastrophic, we can take these resolutions discussed above and make adolescents prepared for unhealthy information from the media and enlighten them that some of sex and sexuality expressed in the media are false.Work CitedBrown, jane, Steele, Jeanne, and Walsh-Childers, kim. Sexual teens, sexual media investigating medias influence on adolescent. Mahwah, New Jersey Lawrence Eribaum Associates, Inc. PublishersBryant, Jennings, and Mary Oliver. Media effect Advances in Theory and Research. tertiary ed. New York, NY TaylorFrancis, 2009.Greenspan.Sam. How the Silver Screen Affects Your Teen. 2004, 10 Feb 2010Hart, Eileen. Teens, Sex , and Media. 2002, 15 Jan 2010Lenhart, Amanda. Teens and Social Media. 19 Dec 2007 InternetAmerican Life Project. 17 Feb 2009Lagorio, Christine. Media May Promt Teen Sex. 03 Apr 2006 17, Feb 2009McEntrie, Teresa. The Prevalence And Effects of Sex In The Media. 2002 Strasburger, victor. Children, Adolescents, and the Media. Thousand Oaks, California SAGE Publications, inc, 2009.