Johnson Leonardi Pasadena City College Professor David Truby June 26, 2014
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Introduction With the advancement of technology and the availability of the internet today, people can access information with convenience and ease. One of the biggest contributors of information in the media industries today includes magazines (e-magazines or physical), TV broadcasts and online news websites. As the media industry strives, people are constantly looking for more news in a faster pace. This demand pushes the media industry to spread out and find more variety of news they can offer to consumers. One of the biggest factors whether the news is worth covering about is equivalent to how much controversy it has in the topic. Thus, one of the varieties that media companies have to cover is probably the most controversial topic in the public today, sex. Before, sex was considered inappropriate to talk about in the public as the topic is very sensitive. However, as the media covers sex in the news, TV shows or magazines, people start to talk about sex more openly. As much as the media tries to contain the topic exclusivity among adults, adolescents will be curious and find their ways to gain access to information regarding sex. With the development of sexual tension among adolescents today, youths have developed their sexual deviancy at young age that will push them to perform sexual activity with one another or even worse cases such as criminal acts such as rape. With their development of sexual deviancy, adolescents will try to perform sex with one another while they are not financially or mentally ready for the consequence which is pregnancy. Consumers today are not aware that exposure from sexual content in the media towards adolescents will change their psychological aptitude regarding sexual activity and will push their curiosity to perform sex which develops their sexual deviancy in a young age. There are things that the media industry do such as censorship to prevent adolescents to access sexual contents; is Leonardi 3
it effective? Then again, the public would question the act of sex itself, is it really a morally wrong thing to do to have sex in a young age? This has been a question that has been debated for a long time, and I would attempt to answer this in my paper with the retrospect of the consequences instead of asking the essence of rightness and wrongness of sexual acts in young age. As the media glorifies sexual activity and deviancy, adolescents will potentially increase unwanted pregnancy and developing sexual deviancy in young age and, potentially, criminality in the future. Literature Review Problem With the growth of technology, information spreads at a faster pace, pushing the media to gather news faster. With the lack of news variety, the media industry has to cover a wider variety of information. The Western media industry has constructed sex as something that is healthy and open minded. Sex is glorified and having sex is portrayed as part of having a good life (Boynton & Callaghan p. 334). However, the coverage of the sex industry does not consider choice of individuals rather it is something that the media just arbitrarily decide to cover to make the articles more interesting (Boynton & Callaghan 2013 p. 334). The sex industry has a wide variety of topics such as sensual images, sex advices, pornographic content and etc. The progress of media allows the public to access information quickly; therefore, media has to keep up with the people as they demand more information in a shorter period of time. With the easy accessibility of media, statistics show that adolescents are part of the biggest consumers in media. Adolescents are active consumers of messages broadcast on radio and television, printed in magazines, distributed on the Internet, and presented in video games. As Leonardi 4
technology has advanced, access to these varying types of media has become common in U.S. households: 98% have at least one television, 70% have more than one television, 70% have cable, and 51% of households with children have a computer (Werner-Wilson et al, 2004, p. 303). As people demand more information, media has to be more aggressive with gathering information and also expanding the variety of information portrayed to the public. This has led the media to expand their coverage to the world of sex that could potentially lead the public towards more sexual deviancy and unexpected pregnancy. According to my research, The majority of sex coverage gives greater status to the West, and constructs sex as something for the young, healthy, independently wealthy, urban living, open-minded, usually monogamous and heterosexual (with the occasional foray into threesomes or swinging), who are interested in improving their sex lives (Callaghan & Boynton, 2006, p. 334). This has shown that the media is covering sex as something that is acceptable and the majority has seemed to enjoy this specific topic. Journalists generally do not value sex as a topic, whilst those working within the eld of sex do not hold the media in high regard. The public, however, rely heavily on the media for sex advice. After friends, family and formal sex education, the media is a staple public sex information source (Callaghan & Boynton, 2006, p. 334). This shows that the public do rely on sex advices more from the media leading them to be influenced more towards the sex coverage of the media. With the expansion of technology, the media expanded their coverage to the sex industry. With their expansion to the sex industry, a wider variety of audience will be able to access that information. This results in adolescents who have access to the information with the possible increase of sexual deviancy and unwanted pregnancy. Research shows that over the majority of adult sex offenders began their sexual deviancy before the age of 16 (DiGiorgio Miller, 2007 Leonardi 5
p.111) It is also found that with their sample size, over 29% of pedophiles attain their sexual deviancy prior to the age of 20. (DiGiorgio Miller, 2007 P.111) Sexual deviancy is a problem as it might lead adolescents to potentially turn into a criminal. However, unwanted pregnancy is also a big problem for adolescents to encounter. Unwanted pregnancy can lead adolescents to make hard choices such as going through the whole pregnancy which would potentially harm the mothers or the infants livelihood or undergo abortion where they will potentially suffer psychological and physical trauma. Unwanted pregnancy occurs the most in teens who have sexual intercourse at a younger age (Chandra et al, 2008 p. 1048) Media also plays a part in unwanted pregnancy due to the lack of emphasis on people using contraception which occurs in over 10% - 15% of programs containing sexual content (Chandra et al, 2008 p.1048) Sexual content exposure plays a big part in unwanted pregnancy, as study shows that youth that have high exposure of sexual content are most likely to cause unwanted pregnancy in comparison with those who have low exposure to sexual content (Chandra et al, 2008 p.1052) Solutions To fix this problem of exposed sexual media coverage, we can turn to a well-known method that has been used many times before: censorship. When television first appeared in the mid-1900s, there was much controversy over which contents were suitable to show in an American home. Since television was fairly new at this point in time, many of its shows were not peer-reviewed or examined before they went on air. The result of poor filtering of the media industry can be viewed from the early television shows. Many of televisions early shows were based on the vaudeville style variety shows. Vaudeville humor was not shy in addressing sexual Leonardi 6
topics that included homosexual gags and routines, and were based on racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes (McCracken, 2013, p. 356). People usually think of their homes as a place more closely tied with their personal lives and their personal selves. When these sexual references and crude comedies were being shown on television, many people deemed them unclean and improper to show within their homes, because the home is thought of as a sacred and safe place for ones families. Although the Vaudeville shows were popular to watch in theaters and live plays, certain subjects and types of jokes were unacceptable for a broadcast medium that would enter peoples homes (McCracken, 2013, p.356). Since these variety shows were improvised or made-up on the spot, the CAD often had trouble with comedians ignoring the CADs requests or adding unapproved material (McCracken, 2013, p.360). Because of the complaints from viewers and watchers of the shows, the television companies had to revise the content that was being shown to the audience otherwise, they would lose money due to the loss of viewers watching their materials. Since they were losing profit, these companies decided to take on a different approach to television, and started censoring their topics. The company NBC was one of the first television broadcast companies to implement this change. Censorship became really popular during this time, because television companies had to rewrite and reproduce all their shows to make sure that they were in line with the audiences values and standards. Many other companies also based their censorship policies on these guidelines. As of today, these censorship policies have evolved and have become fairly strict. There are government regulations to abide by and any violation of these rules can result in a lawsuit or in a worst case scenario, jail time and government intervention. Because of the uproar from the audience, companies realized that what was often suitable for outside entertainment was not tolerated in peoples homes. Inside a persons home, they wish to feel relaxed, safe, and Leonardi 7
welcomed: a place where they could be protective of their children. Television companies had to learn that what people wished to see outside was not always welcomed inside the home atmosphere, due to the home having a different aura or mood compared to entertainment outside of homes. However, times are changing and what was once deemed unacceptable is now becoming more and more accepted into society. Therefore, with less available access to sexual materials, censorship is an acclaimed process proven to work against unwanted pregnancy and sexual deviancy. Another solution to the problem of sexual deviancy is in fact a completely opposite approach to censorship. This method is called selection, which is to choose things that society deems better for society and praising them to implement cultural norms, while ignoring the things that the community deems unsuitable to learn. While historically censorship has worked as expectedsuppressing books and ideas or limiting their circulationit now often ensures wider access to said books and ideas, thanks to the counter discourse of anticensorship. Despite differences in aim and attitude, prizing and censorship frequently achieve the same end result of greater publicity and symbolic capital (Kidd, 2009, p.199). Kidd argues that both selection prizing and censorship work in favor of the unwanted media, because attention is being focused on those messages, whether it is positive or negative. True, negative attention will most likely disgust viewers into avoiding those undesirable topics; however, any type of attention, even ill- favored attention, alerts the public to notice that information. Therefore, as a result, it becomes infamous and people will know of it whether they like it or not. By using prizing, the attention will be forced onto things that the community presumes is more beneficial to society, and the things society does not want us to know will be swept under the rug. On the other hand, by openly ignoring things we dislike and not making a big deal of them, prizing attract less attention Leonardi 8
to those ideas, which results in other people ignoring them due to ignorance or conformation to social standards. It is a type of reverse psychology, and uses peoples emotional attachment against them. This process of social engineering is based on the human desire to feel accepted, and because of this, we usually want to accept things that others have accepted before us. Therefore, by putting the hype on ideas and social norms that we want others to focus on, it essentially persuades society into wanting and accepting the same ideals and values, and distracts them from noticing unwanted information, like sexual content. Obstacles Although censorship and selection prizing both are useful procedures in avoiding and decreasing sexual deviancy in media, obstacles have continuously hindered prevention methods. Recently in the past few years, our society has been leaning towards encouraging children to have sex by handing out condoms in classrooms, and claiming that teenage sex is actually beneficial (Williams 1). Because of these messages, sexual activity in teenagers has risen and the nations teen birth rate rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006, which was the first increase in 14 years, and births to unmarried mothers hit a record high (Williams , 2007, p.1). If adults are supporting sexual activity of teens, not only will this distort the views of young adults on sex, but it will also lead them to thinking that sex is safer than it really is. With all our modern technology of abortions, birth control pills, and other pregnancy fail-safe methods, sex is now seen as something less threatening or serious; we have all these safety nets in case something goes wrong. With this mindset that getting pregnant isnt that troublesome, more and more teens are now falling into the trap of their sexual desires. Leonardi 9
Another obstacle to this problem is that kids are not getting enough sexual education. Keeping kids in the dark about sex is no answer. It is ignorance rather than knowledge which leads to unwanted pregnancies and sexual diseases. It is intrinsically linked to poverty, social disadvantage and poor education (Feldman, 2004, p.2). Sexual education has been deemed unsightly and inappropriate to teach in the classrooms; however this can backfire as teens are curious and attempt to figure out these things for themselves. With sexual education in the classrooms, many early pregnancies can be prevented. Although sexual education in schools works well as a prevention method in some parts of the world, for many others, sex education in schools is simply not working. Adolescents who are not used to discussion of intimate matters, or who have been brought up to think of sex as wicked or dirty, are the very ones most likely to balk at earnest attempts to inform them about something so alien to the confines of the classroom. And that's why the magazines play such a crucial role (Feldman, 2004, p.3). Different countries have different cultures, and some parents and schools are less open to discussing these topics with their kids and students. However, there are many ways to gain information, and without proper education, many teens will turn to the Internet to ask questions. If parents do not wish for strangers on the Internet to influence their children in a way that is different from their own values, it is extremely important for them to teach their kids themselves. Although education is one of the most powerful tools used in preventing teen pregnancy, the consequences and side effects that it brings should not be experienced first-hand by children at a young age. Instead, both adults and teenagers should take precautions to educate themselves about the consequences of teen pregnancy and sexual deviancy.
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Argument As the media industry grows, people are able to attain more information in a shorter period of time. This growth allows the media to reach out towards a wider variety of audience with ease. However, with a wider variety of audience, the media industry has to be able to appeal to the public interest. This need has led the media industry to expand their coverage towards the sex industry. However, their expansion to the sex industry will potentially expose adolescents to sexual contents in the media. Adolescents ability to access sexual contents through media will potentially increase the risk of adolescents being sexual deviants or having unwanted pregnancy. The media has addressed to this problem by increasing censorship and restricting adolescents to access sexual contents. However, censorship can sometimes backfire as rather than restricting them, censorship emphasizes the censored areas arousing curiosity among adolescents. Media causes adolescents to gain access to sexual contents pushing them towards early sex. One of the countermeasures to prevent unwanted pregnancy is handing out condoms in schools. Handing out condoms encourages students to practice safe sex to prevent unwanted pregnancy. However, this action implies that its okay to have sex at a young age leading, students to develop sexual curiosity and potentially develop a sexual deviance in the future. As the media glorifies sexual activity and deviancy, adolescents will potentially increase unwanted pregnancy and develop sexual deviancy and, potentially criminality. Therefore, my argument is that the media should limit the amount of sexual exposure and educate the public regarding how having sex as adolescents could impact their future and, potentially, the rest of their lives. It is hard to agree whether having sex as adolescents is morally right or wrong. However I will argue that the notion of having sex as adolescent itself as harmful as it could impact the adolescents future. With the increased sexual tension among adolescents caused by the media, it Leonardi 11
is hard to prevent sexual content from youth, as the media is everywhere. This exposure causes youths to have sexual activity resulting in an increase of unwanted pregnancy. Society has taken action to increase awareness among teenagers to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Schools give out condoms to youths and educate them that having unprotected sex are bad. But the problem is, what about the notion of having sex as an adolescent itself? What media and society has failed to do is increasing the awareness that having sex while youre not ready (financially and mentally) could potentially risk your future. The notion of their having sex is already a risk and taking a risk while you are not ready to take responsibility is harmful; this is what the media and society has failed to educate youths today. My argument focuses on the standard of exposure that the media is giving out to the public. I believe that only the media has a standard or awareness of sexual content coverage. The media has shaped societys view regarding sex, allowing adolescents to have sex before they are financially and mentally ready. With a standard of exposure, the media will be able to control the amount of information it gives to the society. However, this standard will deem to be too late, as the societys mindset has been shaped by the current sexual content of the media. The amount of sexual content should slowly yet surely dissipate from the media. This decrease will stop the media from glorifying sexual activities and slowly shift from sexual content, allowing society to pay less attention to sexual activities and leaving the adolescents less influenced by these activities. However, some disagree with my argument, claiming the competition among media companies is really strong, pushing media companies to have wider and alluring programs or information to provide the public. The lack of sexual content, will more the media less interesting, giving another media company an opportunity to dominate the industry. This Leonardi 12
competition will cause media companies to face a dilemma; pull out sexual contents and potentially result to the downfall of the company or try to be part of the competition. This dilemma raises a question, is sexual content the only redeeming value in media and does it determine whether it media is interesting? The fundamental of any kind of business in the world is providing people something different and giving consumers a choice. However, providing a consumer with something more is what makes a business successful. Media companies have a choice what to focus on, and by being different doesnt mean that they will be unsuccessful. Therefore, companies should realign their focus and pull away from sexual content and think of something else that will attract customers, making them a successful media company. Pulling away from sexual coverage will allow media companies to have more funds and manpower to allocate their focus on giving their audience a specialty that serves as their biggest competitive advantage over the market. We know that sexual content is unnecessary and without it, the media industry will still strive and still do great in attracting people. Media should be educated regarding their responsibilities in the societys mindset, as they are the frontlines of setting a standard of morals of the people. The reduction of sexual content exposure to adolescents will lead to less sexual deviancy and unwanted pregnancy. Another solution is having the government intervene with the media industry and make a standard of exposure of sexual content. I believe that the government should intervene with this problem as it involves the mindset of the nation as a whole. With the increase of sexual deviancy, adolescents have a high potential developing into deviancy leading to a high crime rate among youths. Also with the increase of unwanted pregnancy, more unskilled workers will look for jobs, causing this nation to have more unskilled workers, reducing or stalling growth in both Leonardi 13
individual companies and economy as a whole. If the mindset of society has been tainted, the government will have to lead and take control of this situation that creates high crime rates or increases in unwanted pregnancy and potentially slows growth in the economy. The disadvantage of these standards is that the people will probably be enraged regarding the deferred information from the public. However, after a while, the public outrage subsides by itself. If it doesnt, the public should be educated about how sexual contents in the media will harm the adolescents and the future of this nation. I believe that freedom of speech is important part of this nation, but I believe that the well-being of the people is more important than having freedom of speech. The governments intervention with the media will slowly reduce the sexual content. With this, I pray that this amazing nation will move forward and progress even further without worrying about what our next generation is exposed to. Conclusion As the media lowers their coverage regarding sexual contents people will be less exposed to sexual contents, lowering sexual tension among adolescents. However, media companies are really aggressive regarding their coverage of sexual content and integrating sexual content into TV shows, advertisements and etc. Sexual contents will lead to an increased sexual tension, which will lead towards a downfall of this nation with high sexual deviancy or crime rate and high levels of unwanted pregnancies. I believe that this problem should be addressed with haste as the more that this is left alone; the more aggressive the media companies will be to a point where societys mindset cannot be changed. Leonardi 14
I believe that my research paper has addressed most of the research question I started with. However, there are still some areas in the study that require more study upon. I come from Indonesia and the media industry does not include sexual content in the media. My country has a Muslim government and it has a strong disposition regarding sexual content in the media. Therefore, any sexual content that is released to the public is banned. With no sexual content in the media, it does not have any study regarding the sexual deviance rate of the public. It is very important that someone would look into how banning sexual content in the media impacts the people making a strong correlation between sexual content in the media with the sexual deviancy of the people exposed. Reference Page Boynton, P., & Callaghan, W. (2006). Understanding media coverage of sex: a practical discussion paper for sexologists and journalists. Sexual & Relationship Therapy, 21(3), 333-346. Doi: 10.1080/14681990600798770 Chandra, A., Martino, S. C., Collins, R. L., Elliott, M. N., Berry, S. H., Kanouse, D. E., & Miu, A. (2008). Does watching sex on television predict teen pregnancy? Findings from a national longitudinal survey of youth. Pediatrics, 122(5), 1047-1054. doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3066 DiGiorgio-Miller, J. (2007). Emotional variables and deviant sexual fantasies in adolescent sex offenders. Journal Of Psychiatry & Law, 35(2), 109-124. Feldman, S. (2004). Why Im glad my daughter had underage sex. Humanist, 64(6), 7-10. Fischer, R. L. (2002). Getting the word out: evaluating the effectiveness of a pregnancy prevention campaign for pre-teens. Journal Of Community Practice, 10(3), 1-22. Leonardi 15
Kidd, K. (2009). Not censorship but selection: censorship and/as prizing. Children's Literature In Education, 40(3), 197-216. doi:10.1007/s10583-008-9078-4 McCracken, C. (2013). Regulating swish: early television censorship. Media History, 19(3), 354- 368. doi:10.1080/13688804.2013.817839 Nowatzki, J., & Morry, M. M. (2009). Womens intentions regarding, and acceptance of, self- sexualizing behavior. Psychology Of Women Quarterly, 33(1), 95-107. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.01477.x Samson, L., & Grabe, M. (2012). Media use and the sexual propensities of emerging adults. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56(2), 280-298. doi:10.1080/08838151.2012.678512 Sharon, J. (n.d). Does 'Juno' show strength or glorify teen pregnancy?. USA Today. Vandenbosch, L., Vervloessem, D., & Eggermont, S. (2013). I might get your hear racing in my skin-tight jeans: Sexualization on music entertainment television. Communication Studies, 64(2), 178-194. doi:10.1080/10510974.2012.755640 Weldon, T. (2009). Sex and the news media. State News (Council Of State Governments), 52(7), 17-19. Werner-Wilson, R., Fitzharris, J., & Morrissey, K. M. (2004). Adolescent and parent perceptions of media influence on adolescent sexuality. Adolescence, 39(154), 303-313. Williams, A. (2007, December 13). Teen sex: there are no positives. New York Amsterdam News. p. 13.