Dr. Jack Steinbrink
English Composition I
September 25, 2013
Sex: America the Oppressed
Sex. In some form or another, it’s everywhere. At any given time, I can turn on my television and see someone or even something being sexualized. Whether it’s a product like a cheeseburger being eaten by two half-naked women, or that sexy cop who wears high heels every day when she is out on the beat, it is there. When I’m waiting in line at the grocery store, I can see it in the half dressed, photo shopped actors and actresses adorning the covers of magazines. Even though sex seems to be everywhere in our current popular culture, it still seems to be the biggest moral taboo for Americans.
In other countries, sex is not viewed in such a taboo way. For example, in the Netherlands, sex is a much more open subject. Unlike America, you can find men and women sunbathing at nude beaches with zero shame or embarrassment. Amsterdam is known for its red light district, where you can purchase sex without fear of prosecution. There is no battle in The Netherlands about educating their youth on sex and sexuality. They have a comprehensive sexuality education program in many of their schools. While Americans might assume all this openness about sex and sexuality could only lead to teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and other forms of debauchery, it is in fact quite the contrary. According to “Teenage Births in Rich Nations”, a report published by Unicef, the five countries with the lowest teenage birth rates are Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden – all with teen birth rates of fewer than 7 per 1,000. The report further notes that the United States teenage birth rate of 52.1 is the highest in the developed world. It seems the Netherlands is on to something. Being open about sex and allowing educators to teach what sex and sexuality means seems to be creating a more tolerant and comfortable sexual environment.
Maybe America’s refusal to embrace sex in a positive and healthy way is rooted in our religious foundations. After all, there are several versus in The Bible that damn you to hell when it comes to having or engaging in sex. One that comes to mind is from the book of Matthew. “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (5.30) According to this, if you masturbate, to avoid a one way ticket to hell you should cut off your hand. Ouch! That is a pretty violent consequence for such an innocent behavior.
In the American media, there is more negative emphasis placed on consensual sex than sexual violence. The movie “The House on the Left” is rated “R” for sadistic, brutal violence, including rape and murder. When I watched the rape scene in this movie, I cringed, turned my head, and couldn’t watch it all the way through without feeling uncomfortable. Let’s compare this to the film “Blue Valentine”. This movie initially received an NC-17 rating. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, this is why:
The characters played by Gosling and Williams try to save their crumbling marriage by spending a night away in a hotel. They get drunk and their problems intensify when he wants to have sex and she doesn 't, but will to get him off her back. That hurts his pride and the result is an upsetting scene that makes you squirm, but is an honest one that establishes clearly that this couple has nothing left and isn 't going to make it because love has turned into contempt.
The “upsetting scene” the MPAA is referring to is Gosling, the husband, performing oral sex on his wife, Williams. In this scene there is no nudity, and it is totally implied. So using this logic, you can bring a minor to a movie that depicts graphic rape, but a scene with no nudity showing a drunk couple being intimate and struggling to fix a broken marriage is not suitable for children under 17. This is an example of how the American media is desensitizing us to violence, but the perfectly natural act of sex is to be hidden behind a veil of shame. We are a nation that is so hung up on sex that it is more risqué to show a consensual act of intimacy between a husband and wife than a brutal rape and murder. What is the message here? If sex is forced upon you, then it’s okay, but a consensual act is shameful?
It’s not just the media that is teaching us these confusing lessons about sex and sexuality. It’s our state and local Government. Did you know that in Nebraska they do not have laws protecting mothers who want to breastfeed their children in public? This means as you are sitting on a bench breastfeeding your child, you could be asked to put away your breasts or leave because your breasts are making others feel uncomfortable. You would think the act of breastfeeding a child could only be interpreted as something perfectly natural, but these women are often approached and criticized for providing nourishment to their child. Americans are so over sexualized that a mother nursing her child is considered sexual and deemed indecent.
According to Merriam-Webster.com sex is “physical activity in which people touch each other 's bodies, kiss each other, etc.: physical activity that is related to and often includes sexual intercourse”, but that is just one way to define sex. Sex is more than just an act. Sex is also about perception, and America’s perceptions towards sex are twisted and distorted. It’s no wonder most teenagers don 't feel they can talk to their parents about sex. American society has shamed sex to the point where most think of it as dirty and immoral. It amazes me that the puritan morals and values of yesterday can still have such a strong grasp on current societal thinking. Progress is not made by reprimanding and preaching brimstone and fire, but rather, intelligently discussing the issues that affect us all. Sex always has and always will be one of the core aspects of the human race. Our society should address this issue, rather than shake its finger at it.
Works Cited
"A League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations: Innocenti Report Card No.3." http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/328. The United Nations Children’s Fund, 2001. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://www.unicef-irc.org>.
"OpenBible.info." OpenBible.info. Crossway Bibles, 2001. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://www.openbible.info>.
"Sex." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster, 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://Merriam-Webster.com>.
Cited: "A League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations: Innocenti Report Card No.3." http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/328. The United Nations Children’s Fund, 2001. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://www.unicef-irc.org>. "OpenBible.info." OpenBible.info. Crossway Bibles, 2001. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://www.openbible.info>. "Sex." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster, 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://Merriam-Webster.com>.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Education, religion and economic status are three factors that contribute to lower birth rates. Providing an education and shifting away from “blue collar” workers gives an opportunity to both men and women, thus providing an upwards movement in the economic status of that individual. With more opportunities to work, women tend to give birth at later ages. A religious belief is another factor to contribute to lower birth rates in some religions, as they values more a smaller family rather than a large family. In addition, some developed countries may offer free birth control through family planning services, therefore leading to childbearing at older ages. As less developed countries become more stable, these social conditions can be encourage to emerge as they would have developed countries as a reference point in order to have a more balanced population within their…
- 1325 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Let’s Talk About Sex (2009) is a documentary film directed by James Houston that describes how American attitudes toward teenage sexuality affect teenagers in today’s society. Sex has become a media means and marketing tool to influence people’s buying decisions. The misleading messages about sex in today’s media have confused teenagers with incorrect information and thus led to a sky-high numbers of teenage unintended pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), costing the nation more than 9 billion dollars each year. Yet, it seems to be apparent that educational institutions like schools and churches have not been successful in teaching sex education. The vicious cycle continues to worsen and has resulted in various societal issues. The director has interviewed some families in American and in Netherland, depicting a strong contrast in attitudes toward sexuality among the families. The Netherlanders holds a much more open attitude to human sexuality. The film engages the audience to think about this “forbidden” topic and challenges them to make a difference in protecting the adolescents.…
- 811 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
This topic in particular is of interest to me because, as a child of a teenage mother, I have always been concerned with the contributing factors, which can cause adolescent pregnancy. I think that adolescent fertility rate and GDP per capita are very key variables and that they could have a strong negative correlation. Also, I will be able to draw other conclusions from the variables I have selected, and will be able gain insight into additional topics from certain countries. An example of this would be if a particular country has an exceptionally low GDP per capita, and public spending on education as well as a low life expectancy, and high fertility rate it would not be completely unwarranted to assume that this is not a particularly wealthy country. In addition, by studying this issue, I will be able to evaluate how adolescent fertility rate relates to my other variables such as life expectancy, public spending on education, and total fertility rate.…
- 945 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Despite living in a society that is saturated with sexual media and conscious of the wide prevalence of premarital sex, there is still an unspoken insecurity that comes with addressing human sexuality. This is demonstrated by national policies that fund abstinence education instead of comprehensive sex education, laws that specifically outlaw sexual pleasure such as a ban on vibrators in 6 states, and continued queasiness about the topics of homosexuality and sexual identities beyond the established “norm”.…
- 292 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Why was sex education banned from many schools? The National Conference of State Legislatures states that, “22 states and the District of Columbia require public schools to teach about sex education, including HIV education”. Why only 22 states allow teaching students on sex education. When 15 to 24 represent 25 percent of the sexually active population, but acquire half of all new STIs, which amount to 9.5 million new cases a year. About 3.2 million adolescent females are infected with at least one of the most common STIs. Girls aged between 15 and 19 have the highest rate of Gonorrhea and the second highest rate of Chlamydia of any age group. In 2009, approximately 20 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses were young people age 13 to 24 (The National Conference of State Legislatures). Most parents didn’t allow sex education to be taught in…
- 1796 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
Gaining no education on how to have safe sex before marriage, these teens are left unguided, sometimes resulting in teen pregnancy. In source B, "Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S.", the graphs depict an uneasily high amount of teen pregnancies in regions where abstinence-only programs are practiced, in 2002-2005 72.2% of teenagers reported to have been pregnant due to not being taught about safe sex. These numbers are in normally high as compared to other countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands never going above 30%, and the U.S has done over twice that much. It shows the downfall of only being educated of only having sex until you are married. Not educating children on safe sex practices could lead to far more damaging outcomes than parents could think of such as teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted…
- 916 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
University of Massachusetts writes in her book “Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens and the Culture of Sex”. She compares the American and Dutch Teen pregnancy rates and concludes that the more open and the more realistic attitudes Dutch parents have toward teenage sex has…
- 830 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
References: Harris, G. (2007). Teenage Birth Rises for First Time Since '91. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/health/06birth…
- 626 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Steven Schlossman, a social and policy historian, had written, along with colleague Stephanie Wallach, an education and gender historian, a comprehensive look into the juvenile system and its relationship with women in the publication of “The Crime of Precocious Sexuality.” Scholassman and Wallach had noted that the turn of the 20th century had brought along not only the rapid industrialization of the country, but also a sharp change in the sexual customs and ideologies held by young women. This, they explain, alarmed the middle-class, white (natively born) people who claimed themselves as Progressives. In response to this upsurge in promiscuity, Progressives had created a number of paternalistic reforms that were aimed at curving, according…
- 200 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
The United States is often known as the land of opportunity, the birthplace of the American Dream, and the place to the start of a new life. But the United States doesn’t come without its flaws. America is also known for having the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the world. The cause of the high rate of teen pregnancy has baffled many politicians and educators alike and has been a problem for decades. But research suggests that the United States approach on sex educated is dated and ineffective. Instead of focusing on avoiding the topic of sex, Americans should embrace the topic and should be willing to freely talk about sex.…
- 1367 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
The two forms of sexual education taught in America are comprehensive (abstinence, safe sex, diseases) and abstinence-only (no sex till marriage). Abstinence-only sex education in the schools of the United States of America are bad for teenagers and won’t make a large difference in this country to a great extent because they don’t fully inform and aware students.…
- 625 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Even though teen births have decreased since the early 1990s, the US still has the highest teen birth rate among developed countries. The current research paper purpose is to lend support to the hypothesis by exploring the relationship between poverty and teen births among urban teens. Using data from Child development Supplement Codebook with selected variables from the 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2009-2013 CDS, I observed that being in poverty, and being a female increased the likelihood of having a teen birth.…
- 1516 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
When I think of the word “sex” I think of intimacy, privacy, and discretion. For most teenagers sex is just what is popular at the time. They don’t understand that it is not like any other fad. Now that sex has become popular it is the parents’ job to do something to change it. Children are taught how to interact with others and the difference of what is right and wrong by their parents from birth. If parents don’t teach their kids that no amount of popularity is worth the burden of a child at a young age then no one will. In Anna Quindlen’s essay “Sex Ed” she sat with six 16 year old girls at a family planning clinic in New York, the girls knew a lot about sex but were also pregnant. Where were their parents? Schools are wasting their money on sex ed classes. Do you really want a stranger to teach your child about sex anyway? It is important for our children to be educated about sexuality, but it is not the schools’ place to teach it.…
- 1110 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
I believe that our society in America will continue to talk about sex, especially through entertainment sources; and this is why it is important to talk about the importance of safe sex with teens to decrease the pregnancy rates throughout our…
- 185 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
how to engage in safe sex.3 What many Americans may not know is that in some places the dispute about how to teach sex education…
- 540 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays