Silas 1

Heaven Silas
Dr Parker
English 113
12/2/16

The media that my generation follows, and that in most cases influences us are often
objectifying to women in some way. We often listen to music about sex, and this sometimes
shapes our idea of what is socially acceptable. I remember a time where I was talking to one of
my male friends and we were talking about me having a boyfriend, he made a comment about
how my boyfriend wasnt present at the time, so I said that it didnt matter because he was in my
heart, and he went on to say Well Im trying to be in your stomach. This comment proved to
me a lack of respect that my generation has for women; and comments like this are not
uncommon, nor are they hard to find, because we hear them often in media. Most of our
mainstream songs, are based on sex, and are in most cases disrespectful to women. There are
songs, and other media forms where women even objectify themselves. For example Trinas
song Look back at me is explicit in sexual language, and not only is objectifying to herself as a
woman, but makes it acceptable for men to view her and other women the way she presents
herself through lyrics. Slap it in my face, shove it down my throat is one of the extremely
sexual explicit lines in the song. I use this example, to show how easy it is for a womans body to
be portrayed as something that should not be valued even by a woman herself. Along with other
media examples such as rap music, we are presented with 50 Shades of Grey a movie that
promotes gender dominance and submissiveness. The glorifications of sex in media, and the
sexual portrayal of women can have negative impacts on its viewers and its participants. Overall
these glorifications can cause unspoken tensions about sex and sexual consent, there are also

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long standing biases in media that can promote dominance and cause people to feel pressured
into having sex, one gender often faces more problems being respected because of how they are
portrayed sexually in media and this also influences how they are treated in real life situations. I
believe that these type of films, and media publications make it acceptable to objectify womens
bodies and often develops the misogynistic and disrespectful mindsets of a considerable amount
of men as well as making it harder for women to feel empowered and respected themselves.
Using a gender studies approach, I argue that women are adversely affected by the
portrayal of sex in media. This portrayal allows women to look inferior to men, and is used to
objectify their bodies sexually. Because of the way women are portrayed in some media, women
in real life begin to feel backlash because of the sex demand that is implemented from media.
Because of this, there are many controversies that come about a womans sex life, whether they
are explicitly or implicitly stated, that put women in adverse situations. These situations have
brought about an intense normality of rape culture, and the idea of what should be considered
sexual consent. Also these portrayals of women affect the way that they view themselves, and
how they view their peers. These portrayals can lead them to believe that there is a standard on
how you should look, and how you should display yourself and this goes beyond media. Many
young girls model after what they see on television and magazines and because of this a certain
young lady can be shaped. According to Sifat Azad in his article Are Women in the Media Only
Portrayed As Sex Icons? He states that American teenagers spend an average of 10 hours and
45 minutes absorbing media in just one day; this includes the amount of time spent watching TV,
listening to music, watching movies, reading magazines and using the internet. The images
women particularly young girls are shown inevitably affects the way they are seen by
others and themselves. It is highly unlikely for females to excel and pursue leadership in a

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society where that reality is rarely visible. Along with this article I also argue that womens
portrayal in media, negatively affect teenagers views on sex, and it doesnt promote much
respect, when it comes to how girls are treated, and how guys go about having sex.
In discussions of the glorifications of sex in media, one controversial issue has been
whether or not womens portrayal in media negatively affects how they are treated in real life,
and if sex in media influences teenagers to act sexually. On the one hand, Rebecca Collins and
Steven Martino say there is an association between exposure to sex in the media and adolescent
sexual outcomes. Meaning that media, can have some affect on the way that adolescents react to
what they see. This is in contrast to those who do not believe the portrayal of sex in media has a
negative effect on teens. According to Kathryn C. Monahan and Laurence Steinberg outcomes
that are presumed to result from media exposure may actually be due to factors that differentially
predispose adolescents to have different degrees of media exposure and are themselves related to
sexual activity. They believe that media does not influence it , or encourage but simply shows
them something that they would have eventually become exposed to.
Sex is not shown as romantic in teen movies, this is a problem because this is where the
respect for sex is lost. Sex is viewed as a trend that most of the students are participating in and
these movies show a couple of teenagers or young adults having sex, usually to some form of
rock music, which usually turns into a comedy scene of some sort, and love is often missed. In
Sasha Belenkys article in the Huffington Post she quotes where a 16 year old girl said in an
interview We dont date; we just hook up. Because of these interpretations of sex people often
tend to think that being attractive is the only standard that should be set on having sex, and this
manipulates peoples understanding of love in relationships. Based off of what people see in
some media, the general understanding about sex is strictly for enjoyment, it is especially if for

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teenagers that their peers are sexually active. Some people feel as if theyre still virgins at a
certain age they wont be accepted and that they arent living up to society's expectations,
because a lot of people mix having sex up with being an adult. In many cases both males and
females, have the idea that sex will make them seem more mature, and that it is the next step in
their lives after a certain point. This is why the influence of media pressures people into sex,
because it shows them that it is okay that it isnt a big deal, and that it shouldnt be over thought.
Media shows you that its just sex. According to RAND Health studies Teens who watch a
lot of television with sexual content are more likely to initiate sexual intercourse in the following
year
The portrayal in media that sex should not be valued is a gateway for rape.
Based off of media portrayal young men begin to feel entitled to sex, and generally become
aggressive and this is where sexual assault and rape comes in to these situations. This new idea
of rape culture has come from the declaration of gender dominance, and now victim blaming has
become an incredible social normality in our society. Where many questions about what the
victim was wearing or doing to cause their rape are asked. I use the example of rape, because
male dominance in media goes far beyond just a popular jock, but it turns into a group of young
men who see this, imitate it, and force themselves to get what they want. These are longstanding
biases of media that justifies someone into pressuring others to have sex. As stated in a weebly
website on rape culture, .A recurring theme in media is the consistent portrayal of women as
objects of sexual desire when engaging in a relationship with a male. The irony of this
representation is that the very qualities women are encouraged to develop (beauty, sexiness,
passivity, and powerlessness) in order to meet cultural ideals of femininity contribute to their

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victimization shows that media portrayal does have effects on gender dominance, and has in
some way influenced sexual assault or rape.
Media does not portray getting to know someone as the goal to eventually get in a
relationship with that person, however is it is being used in a way that allows the two people to
become sexually active with each other. In most cases in media the boy is chasing the girl, based
off of her attractiveness. This media portrayal teaches young men to look for sex more than for a
relationship, and this also teaches girls to want to present themselves a certain way so that they
will be desirable by men. In most teen movies the shy, modest girl is portrayed as not as pretty,
she dresses plain which is actually covered up and often times it is stressed that she is a virgin.
The popular girl that everyone wants to sleep with (who is typically displayed as not a virgin)
usually wears more revealing clothing and easily gets away with it. This girl also rarely has
meaningful relationships, but its clear that she has a steady sex life. In most cases she uses her
looks and her sex appeal to make her meaningful in the movie. This teaches young women that
in order to be noticed, they should be sexy and make themselves attractive for boys attention.
Often times it can bring upon insecurities and misinterpretations for the viewers of these types of
films, and if sex wasnt so glorified, I believe that it could be overlooked.
Overall media is a huge part of our society, we look to it for just about everything, and it
has a major influence on its audiences whether the influence is negative or positive. The effects
that media has on people when it comes to sex is a much more controversial situation; because it
can often be debated, however it should not be overlooked that men and womens sexual
portrayal in media is a template for how they act in real life situations. Most men look to women
in media for their sexual preferences on womens appearance and many every day women do
not fit the criteria. Even the women in the media are often disrespected because of what they

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wear and the sexual objectifications that they give off. Men however are looked up to, and
modeled after by other men. Media portrayal has different effects on different age groups, as
mentioned before teenagers are far more influenced because there are certain sexualizations in
media that are targeted specifically for the teen audience. Movies such as Mean Girls, Not
Another Teen Movie, and Varsity Blues are amongst the many teen movies that promote sex.
With this being what teenagers are shown, and have developed an interest with they begin to take
after the behaviors of the characterizations portrayed in these movies. Teenage girls begin to use
their bodies to become desirable, teenage boys begin to only desire a girls body and the respect
between these situations is often lacked. If the media stopped glorifying the atrocities that sex
has to offer, and begins to show how important dating, and being in a steady relationship is
before having sex is, it would probably heavily minimize things like bullying, teen pregnancy,
sexual assault, rape, eating disorders, and many other problems that a lot of teens face every day.
The numbers for these incidents have drastically increased over the years from before when
media didnt glorify sex. Although sex is a great part of life, people should not have to feel
entitled to have some with someone solely based off of the social norm. People should know and
feel that they have a choice when it comes to any type of sexual encounter or sexual presentation,
and that whatever choice they make will be respected and valued, not based off of clothing,
social status, or gender. The glorifications of sex in media should not come with sexual
objectifications, sexual immoralities, genders normalizations, sexism, or sexualizing people,
male or female because of their physical appearance. Until this is no longer the norm for medias
portrayal for sex, people will continue to misinterpret the idea of what they should look like, how
they should treat others, and how they should allow themselves to be treated.

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Works Cited
Azad, Sifat. "Are Women in the Media Only Portrayed As Sex Icons? Statistics Show a
Massive Gender Imbalance Across Industries." Mic. N.p., 25 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
Belenky, Sasha. "What I'm Reading: Sex, Teens And Social Media." The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
Collins, R. L., Martino, S. C., Elliott, M. N., & Miu, A. (2011). Relationships between
adolescent sexual outcomes and exposure to sex in media: Robustness to propensity-based
analysis. Developmental Psychology, 47(2), 585-591. Retrieved from
https://login.ezproxy.hope.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/860077220?
accountid=11471

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Steinberg, Laurence, and Kathryn C. Monahan. "Adolescents' exposure to sexy media
does not hasten the initiation of sexual intercourse." Developmental psychology 47.2 (2011): 562.
"Rape Culture in Media." A History of Rape Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
"Site-wide Navigation." Media Influences on Teen Sexual Behavior | RAND. N.p., n.d.
Web. 11 Dec. 2016.