¶ … portrayal of sexual activity in numerous forms is quite common on television, movies, in advertising, magazines, video games, novels, and billboards. Sex sells in modern society, and often not only condone promiscuity, but also glorify it. Indeed, this is fine for adults who have the cognitive ability to separate reality from fantasy, to understand that media shows images, not always consequences, and to understand that unlike television, sexual activity is not all there is to relationships.
Children and youth, however, are also subjected to daily viewing of sexual behavior -- often whether they like it or not. In addition, certainly, as puberty begins, adolescents are in a questioning mode about their own sexuality, which is most definitely influenced by outside images. For instance, in the majority of the media, one rarely sees condom use or even discussions about safe sex; similarly, birth control, abstinence, and alternative lifestyles are more common as themes, but rarely explore the depth and seriousness of the issue. In many ways, this preponderance of sexual activity and imagery requires a rethinking of the paradigm of sex education for youth. Educating young people in a professional and truthful manner will likely improve their ability to make choices, not as some say increase their own sexual experimentation -- that will happen as it has for millennia. In fact, as the articles in this review will confirm, not talking about sexuality will not make it less real, will not prevent pregnancy or disease, and will not cause youth to have less sex. America must join the world, particularly Europe, and appreciate that sexuality is part of being human, and arming youth with more information provides a support mechanism to decrease STDs and pregnancy.
In Teaching Human Sexuality in Junior High School: An Interdisciplinary Approach, the authors posit that young men and women are sexual beings by the time they reach Middle School. For millennia, individuals who were 12-16 were married, raised families, fought in wars, and were considered adults. It was not until after World War II, increased educational requirements and more urbanization that changed the standard of marriage and sexual activity to something only allowed when...
Similarly, women today feel the need to appear beautiful and perfect all the time in order to be a part of a class in society. According to what Kilbourne suggests, women use their bodies as masks or objects that need to be taken care of all the time and kept in perfect shape and condition. The media and the advertisements program their minds to think that their appearance is
Other determining factors influencing long-term affects of abuse to a child include: Whether the child's mother is supportive and child can confide in her. Whether the child's experiences success at school Whether the child has nurturing relationships with peers. (Ibid.) Childhood intimacy problems and sexual abuse, interacting with family background, contribute the child's developing self-esteem and sense or "world" mastery being disrupted. These deficits, in turn, increase the probability of a child experiencing
Virginity Origin of the Topic The most common origin of virginity is derived from Christianity. Christianity teaches that sex before marriage is wrong. Sex should only occur between a man and a woman who are married. Sex outside of marriage is considered an abomination to God. The Bible states that when a man leaves home, he should cleave unto his wife and they shall become one flesh. Impact on Male and Female Sexuality Phone
According to Tamara Kreinin, president of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S., "Manipulating facts about condoms is using a scare tactic to try and get kids not to be sexually active" (Morse, 2002). One of the consequences of a lack of full and complete information to youth actually causes self-imposed ignorance of their own safety. If adolescents do not get the proper education on protecting themselves from
Premature Sexualisation Public hysteria or "sex panic" involving the "sexualisation" of children may be getting a decent outing in Australia at the present moment, but it is certainly nothing new: fifty years ago it was Elvis Presley's hips that portended imminent moral collapse, two hundred and fifty and a dance craze called the "waltz" was considered immodest and the "emo kids" of the late eighteenth century were committing suicide after
But what makes up a positive portrayal of homosexuality in the media? Ellen and Will are both examples from prime-time television, the kind described by Calzo as "laughable, one dimensional figures." Are such one dimensional representations of homosexuals capable of altering a public's perception of homosexuality in a positive way? If so, what is to be said of the erotically-charged representations shown by cable and premium networks, such as Showtime,
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