Monday, April 6, 2009
Media
Chapter 22 brought up an interesting point that "There is evidence that teenagers are now self-labeling at earlier ages than they did in the past..." The author goes on to suggest that this might be because of "secular changes in our society which allow more discussion of homosexuality, more public and media presentations of gay and lesbian persona, and more visibility of gay and lesbian people in all walks of life." (p.338) This all seems very correct from my point of view but I think that the media plays the most important role. It is not likely that grandparents and parents have become extremely open in discussing homosexuality (unless their child had come out to them). Teachers and schools are opening up to the discussion but also, there are some restrictions. Therefore the next greatest influence on adolescence would be the media. On the one hand, media displays of homosexuality is good for adolescence dealing with this issue but on the other hand, media is becoming (in my opinion) far too open about sexuality in general, both homosexual and heterosexual. There are FAR too many television programs that seem to allow if not advocate sexual promiscuity. Ad campaigns show half naked men and women oozing sexuality. I feel that adolescents are becoming desensitized to sexuality. They are bombarded with it in every aspect of life. As I explained above, this might be good for homosexuals going through an "identity crisis", but for morals in general I'm not sure this type of media is best for society.
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I agree with you on this, and unfortunately I don't see a change in this type of media coming any time soon. This is where parents need to do their part in making sure that the television their children watch is appropriate. I never understood when I was younger how some of my friends said that they could just plop down in front of the TV and turn on whatever channel they wanted. Their parents wouldn't even check to see what they were watching. This would never have happened in my house until I was in middle school and by that time really only followed a few of my favorite shows (which were my moms favorite too). I think some parents say, "Well, nothing I can do abuot what my kid as at their friends house watching TV"...but really, there is! Talk to the parents of the friend and explain the types of things you do not want your child watching. I think more parents need to take responsibility for this.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media is becoming more open and expressive about sexuality. However, I have a few things to say about that....
ReplyDeleteFirst, I think we need to become more open about sexuality in this country but we need to do so in a positive way. That does not mean we need more half naked Paris Hilton's climbing around a car selling cheeseburgers (anyone remember that commercial?). It means we need to have more realistic encounters with sexuality taking place in the media. Simply put, I'm ok with a sex scene taking place on television so long as it is in a positive way. Lets face it, as animals we all have sexual urges and desires. Lets not suppress these urges for fear of offending somebody. Rather, lets focus them on something positive. Like a relationship between two people who are deeply in love and decide to express their love to one another physically.
Second, we focus so much more on violence in this country than we do sex. And when I say sex I actually mean the act of having intercourse, not Victoria's Secret models parading around on stage in underwear selling products. If you look at film in this country and the greatest American film makers all of them have done hugely popular movies based around violence. Never sex. The only time Spielberg has ever shown a nude person was during an execution scene in Schindler's List. The Godfather movies have no sex in them...just loads of violence. Quentin Tarantino is considered one of the leading American directors of our generation and does not have a sex scene in ANY of his big hit movies (both Kill Bills, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction). Correction, Pulp Fiction has a scene where Bruce Willis gets raped by another man...But do you see my point? We only use sex in this country to sell magazines and other products. Hardly ever do we address sex as being a real part of human reproduction and emotion!! IT's all about the violence...it's a shame. We demonize sex all the time yet tell girls it's OK to dress like a tramp. This is not the way to go about teaching children about sexuality.