Media and sexuality

Why the concern with sex? Well, pregnancy, obviously. –Why not promote birth control, then? Religiously-based morality that states that sex is wrong. –America is significantly more conservative in regard to sex than are most western countries.

Control of sex The government as well as a number of cultural institutions (including the Church) have taken steps to control sexuality in the society –Especially teen sexuality

However, depictions of sexuality are quite common in popular culture Content analysis states that 82% of television shows include sexuality of some sort –Source: Fisher et al., Sex on American Television

What is TV sex like? L. Monique Ward reviewed the literature and came up with six consistent findings.

Portrayals of sex are not graphic “Television’s sexual content is not typically graphic, but is instead dominated by either verbal innuendo or less explicit physical acts of flirting, kissing, hugging, and erotic touching” –Primetime, especially Sitcoms: verbal suggestiveness or innuendo Double-entendres –Soap operas: passionate kissing and erotic touching and verbal mentions of “having an affair” or “going to bed”

The bulk of sexual action and language occurs outside marriage As low as 2:1 to as high as 24:1 Soap operas: 285 references to unmarried sexual intercourse and 12 to married sexual intercourse However, a “norm of exclusivity” was found in one study of soap operas that 83% of kisses occurred in married or exclusive committed relationship (no more than two partners in a year)

Lack of discussion and depiction of sexual planning and consequences 0 to 5% of sexual acts and statements include mention of pregnancy or STD prevention –Yet few sexual encounters result in pregnancy or disease “Although physical consequences of sexual acts are seldom noted, emotional consequences (i.e. betrayal, pain, embarrassment) are frequently highlighted.”

The nature and prevalence of sexual content vary by genre Soap operas have more sexual references than primetime However, primetime has more varied sexual activity, more premarital sex, and greater explicitness Talk shows are ‘teeming’ with very explicit discussion

Videos –44-76% have sexual imagery –More implied than overt –42% of rap videos featured fondling, 42% featured characters in hot pants, 58% featured females dancing sexually Higher levels of sex in rap, rhythm and blues and pop; lower in country or classic rock

A strong difference in the degree to which women’s and men’s bodies are sexualized Women are far more likely to be sexualized, objectified, used for decoration –Revealing clothing –Used to dance around and decorate videos 37% of women wore revealing clothing 4% of men –R-rated movies: female to male nudity 4:1 –Primetime sexual harrassment 33% demeaning (bimbo) 32% sexual comments, typically women’s bodies (especially breasts) 13% ‘body language’ (typically leering)

Modest to large increases in the frequency of sexual references over the past decades 1.04 to 1.72 sexual incidents or references per hour in the 1970s to 9.66 to 15.8 times per hour in the 1990s