Issues in the portrayal of sexuality

The crux of the problem Sexuality is a source of great cultural conflict – Religious doctrine Secularization – Social change Age at marriage Gender role change Technology – Unwed pregnancy Abortion Unwed mothers/fathers

Source: Guttmacher Institute

Major issues for television Amount of sexuality – Is it appropriate to the medium? To the content? Explicitness Appropriate portrayal of risks and consequences?

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Jane D. Brown, Kelly Ladin L'Engle, Carol J. Pardun, Guang Guo, Kristin Kenneavy and Christine Jackson Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior Pediatrics 2006;117;

Major issues in portrayals Commitment/relationship – Portrayal of sex within marriage? – Portrayal of sex in monogamous, committed relationship? – Portrayal of casual sex/pickups, one-night-stands?

Across the broadcast networks, references to adultery outnumbered references to marital sex 2:1. The Family Hour contained the highest frequency of references to non-married sex as opposed to references to sex in marriage, by a ratio of 3.9:1. During the 9:00 and 10:00 hours, the references to non-marital versus marital sex averaged 2.5:1. PTC Study

Age Portrayal of underage sexuality – Teens in love – Sexualization of young girls

APA analysis of the sexualization of girls “There are several components to sexualization, and these set it apart from healthy sexuality. Sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.”

“From Bratz Dolls to padded bras to Ashlee Simpson to sex bracelets, tween girls are being taught, at a very early age, that sex appeal is very powerful. Explaining the reason she buys sexy clothes, twelve year old Amanda says, like it's a good thing, "You get more attention. And strange guys come up to you and try and get you to go to nightclubs." Amanda's friend, Natasha adds, "A lot of guys stare." That stare, perhaps, comes from rectifying the sensations that occur when seeing a sexy "woman" with the stunning realization the girl is just twelve.”

PTC study of sexualization of girls in television portrayals Underage female characters are shown participating in a higher percentage of sexual depictions compared to adults (47% and 29% respectively). Only 5% of the underage female characters communicated any form of dislike for being sexualized (excluding scenes depicting healthy sexuality).

86% of all the sexualized female characters depicted in the underage and young adult category for the entire database were presented as only being of high school age Seventy-five percent of shows that included sexualized underage female characters were shows that did not have an “S” descriptor to warn parents about the sexual content

Based upon the American Psychological Association definition of “healthy” vs. “unhealthy” sexuality, the study findings show that 93% of the sexual incidents involving underage female characters occurred within a context that qualified as “unhealthy”

98% of the sexual incidents involving underage female characters occurred outside of any form of a committed relationship. 73% of the underage sexualized incidents were presented in a humorous manner or as a punch line to a joke.

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Violence Rough sex Rape/Coercion Sexual Harassment – Workplace talk

A telephone poll by Louis Harris and Associates on 782 U.S. workers revealed: – 31% of the female workers reported they had been harassed at work – 7% of the male workers reported they had been harassed at work – 62% of targets took no action – 100% of women reported the harasser was a man – 59% of men reported the harasser was a woman

Of the women who had been harassed: – 43% were harassed by a supervisor – 27% were harassed by an employee senior to them – 19% were harassed by a coworker at their level – 8% were harassed by a junior employee Harassment was much more likely for women in supervisory roles

Heteronormativity GLBT portrayals Explicitness

Issues in portrayals Unusual sex practices

Although the networks shied away from talking about sex in the context of marriage, they did not shy away from discussions of masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, manual stimulation, sex toys, bondage or kinky or fetishistic sex - there were 74 such references during the study period.

Visual references to voyeurism (a third party present, watching or taping while sex takes place), transvestites/transsexuals, threesomes, kinky sex, bondage and sado- masochism, and prostitution outnumbered visual references to sex in marriage by a ratio of 2.7:1 PTC Study