What's Love Got To Do With It Analysis

Lindsey Baggott
Instructional Analysis and Design
Dr. Boehmer
11/18/2013
“What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
The Portrayal of Sexual Themes in U.S. Popular Culture and its Effect on Sexual Development, Morals, and Attitudes towards Sex in Adolescents A large chunk of American culture is undoubtedly defined by its technology. Television shows, music, Internet innovations, and movies are all essential components of a culture that is recognized as solely American. And, as technology grows, the broadcasted messages these shows contain can reach more people than ever before, transcending both cultural and national borders in order to reach anybody with a computer, a television, a smart phone, or a local library. It has been noted, however,
that over the last 30 years or so media has been broadcasting a message that is questionable in the eyes of its viewers.
Since the 1990’s, media has been developing a sexualized nature. In fact, according to Strasburger and Donnerstein, teenagers nowadays view 15,000 sexual references, innuendoes and jokes on television in any given year. That amounts to more than eight displayed sexual incidents per hour; which is more than four times what a youth would have encountered in 1976 (Strasburger and Donnerstein 129). Taking into consideration the frequency of these occurrences, as well as technology’s effect on cultural norms, it is safe to assume that mainstream popular culture has been deeply affected by this sexualized content, along with its consumers. Adolescents, specifically, are at risk within this new sexualized culture because its presence is helping to shape their identity along with their sexual and social development.
For years, academics have noticed an increasing trend of unsafe sexual behavior among adolescents. Statistics from these studies are no less than disturbing, revealing 15 million new cases of STIs in the U.S, 25% of which were among adolescents (Somers and Tynan 15). It may be seen as even more disturbing that, in 2003, 47% of high school students were found to be sexually active, 14% of them had been sexually active with more than one sexual partner, and 37% or them did not use condoms (15). Upon reading these statistics, one may feel an overwhelming sense of “why?” Well, luckily, these studies have begun to put this issue into perspective. According to Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Kunkel the increasing sexuality seen in adolescents can be seen as a direct correlation with the changing American culture; after all, sexual behavior has always been influenced by culture, and TV has become an integral part of today’s culture (280).
The question remains: exactly how much exposure to sexuality are adolescents receiving and what effects does this exposure have? The average day in the life of an adolescent may go as follows: the alarm sounds around 7:00 in the morning. The adolescent is tired from staying up late talking to a guy/girl on an online chat rooms last night. The adolescent turns on a popular music radio station to wake up to. They get ready and rush to the bus right before it pulls away from the stop. The teen passes the time listening to “fun” music on an iPod before spending all day in a boring school environment. The adolescent trudges through classes until lunchtime, where he/she can sit with friends and discuss all their favorite TV shows, movies, and songs, as well as any chat room endeavors. The rest of the school day passes by in a blur until the adolescent can pull his/her iPod out of his/her pocket on the bus ride home. The adolescent then has at least seven hours to eat, do homework, and, for the most part, watch television, until he/she finally passes out in preparation for another day. The moral of this story is this: adolescents are literally submerged in a sea of sexuality just by living their life as any normal teen would. For example, the teen in the story above listened to popular music at least three times during his/her daily routine. Studies show, however, that there are extremely high amounts of sexually-charged images in mainstream and nonmainstream pop music, much of which contains sexually suggestive, if not openly provocative lyrics (ter Bogt, Rutger, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 846).
The other major medium through which adolescents are receiving these sexual messages is television. In an analysis completed by Vadenbosch and Eggermont, it was discovered that 28% of American reality programs are sexually oriented and the amount of sexual programs rises to 41% during prime time (563). In fact, in television specifically targeted towards adolescents, such as reality television, music videos, etc., which the average adolescent, such as the one above, receives at least 5 hours of a day, 83% of the content was deemed to be sexual (Epstein and Ward 113). Although TV and music are probably the most popularly discussed within this issue, these sexually driven messages can appear everywhere: billboards, movies, magazines, internet pages, etc., each one offering abundant messages, models, and examples concerning sexuality (Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Kunkel 280).
Why is this increased sexuality in media such a harbinger of doom in the adolescent world? The answer to that lies partially within the realm of adolescent cognitive development. It has been proven that adolescence is a time when children are developmentally predisposed to engagement in risk behaviors, an increase in sexual curiosity and interest, an increased reliance on peer culture, while alienating parental guidance, as well as a perceived sense of invulnerability (Baumgartner, Valkenburg, and Jochen 1226-9). All three of these developmental traits promote the vulnerability of adolescents to sexual messages and sexual promiscuity. When this developmental stage then meets the cultural influence of mass media, in which the use of sexual themes has not only become more frequent, but more explicit (ter Bogt, Rutger, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 846) it becomes increasingly more apparent why adolescent sexuality is growing at the pace it currently is.
Another reason why adolescents are more susceptible to sexualized media than other age group is because of their newly-found reliance on peer-groups and media for information regarding their new social lives. During childhood, a child’s main source of information is established in their parents or guardians, and it is not until the tender transition from childhood to early adolescence that peer-groups begin to push parental advice to the wayside, a movement springing from adolescents’ first impulse for independence. This independence from parental advice leads to adolescents finding information about life and embracing personality/moral molding role-models within peer-groups and popular media. Instead of parents, as it once was, now “media has been identified as an important source of knowledge for the physical, social, and emotional aspects of dating, romance, and sex” (845). Especially in the realm of sex-education, modeling and instructing from parents may fall short of adolescents’ needs. Therefore, not only do adolescents turn to peers in order to satisfy their natural curiosity about sex, they also turn to the media. Both of these mediums provide ample examples of sexual situations (844), and both affect perceived norms regarding sex, and thus, sexual behavior (Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Kunkel 287).
Through the media, teens are constantly seeing displays of sexual women and men having casual sexual encounters on a regular basis. To an early adolescent, who is not yet mentally equipped to handle these scenes, they give the impression that sex is not only casual, it is also very, very common. The perceived commonality of sex therefore affects teens’ observations concerning normative sexual behavior (280). Teens watching TV and movies see other teen characters just like them having casual sex without experiencing negative consequences. After seeing this scene multiple times, teens become dissatisfied with their virginity and want to become like the “average” teenager, as shown on their favorite TV show/movie (280). As a result of this perceived cultural norm, teens may feel embarrassed if they have not had sex, because, as the media says, all the cool teens have done it. This attitude is then projected on the teen’s peer-group, who may or may not have engaged in sexual intercourse, causing either a perceived peer-pressure situation (all these people have probably done it, so I should too) or an intentional peer-pressure situation where interpersonal pressure is actually taking place. This amount of pressure is a lot for the teen to handle, especially at such a vulnerable time in social development, and all of it is centered around a perceived cultural norm propagated by teen-focused popular media.
How is all this exposure affecting the sexual health and growth of adolescents?
According to Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Kunkel, “A key period of sexual exploration and development occurs during adolescence. During this time, individuals begin to consider which sexual behaviors are enjoyable, moral, and appropriate for their age group” (280). This poses a problem when adolescents intertwine this sexual exploration with the often commercialized view of sexual activity shown in popular media. In the media’s eyes, sex is casual, common, and fun. (Epstein and Ward 120). And if sex is so casual, common, and fun, why wouldn’t the average teenager take it lightly? That’s exactly what has happened. The correlation between exposure to sexual content and the intention of adolescents to have sex is undeniable (ter Bogt, Rutger, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 844) and it is posing a definite risk to the sexual and mental health of young
people.
The effect of youth’s early engagement in sexual activity on physical health is what most commentators focus on. It is true that, of those who begin having sexual intercourse at a younger age, unplanned pregnancies and STIs run rampant (Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Kunkel 280). These risks no doubt prompt a major social and health issue, but the equally important mental and emotional health of adolescents is less frequently mentioned in studies. The high exposure to sexual material through media is causing a sort of “sexual aging” among youth. In one study, it was proven that “12 year olds who watched the highest levels of [sexual] content among youths their age appeared much like youths 2 to 3 years older who watched the lowest levels of sexual content among their peers.” (Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Kunkel 287). With the desire of the adolescent age focusing upon the raising of social stature through “grown-up” acts such as cussing, driving, and drinking, it is only natural that this new “grown-up” preoccupation would trickle down to adolescents, who are already dealing with a slew of other age-related issues.
Probably one of the most significant struggles of the adolescent age is the everlasting quest for identity. Identity is something that is extremely personal; it involves self-purpose, beliefs, morals, sexuality, personality, interests, and culture. In a more modern sense, as well, with customization and communication carrying such a large role in social media and technology, these new advancements have proven to be “extensions of who [adolescents] are and how they connect with others” (Tolman 746). It has already been established that sexuality is carving its way into the nation’s culture through technology, so what can that mean for the identities being formed by today’s youth?
Studies show that adolescents are simply not cognitively equipped to handle the interpretation of media images as tied to reality. This leads to differences in how media messages are processed and utilized by these adolescents, often culminating in them being more greatly influenced by the messages, than would an adult who has been through normal personality and moral development (Werner-Wilson, Fitzharris, and Morrissey 305). This is due to the social cognitive theory, which postulates that people tend to learn from and imitate other people (ter Bogt, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 844). Therefore, for adolescents who have not undergone much cognitive development without being hindered by sexual imagery and themes, sexuality is quickly becoming a role model for appropriate social behavior.
One outcome of this situation has proven to be the mindset of adolescents to think of their peers and themselves in relation to new gender roles perpetuated through media. Roles models as perpetuated through media are attractive and have high status in society. They are typically wealthy and materialistic, and can afford to live a lavish lifestyle with designer clothes and over-the-top homes. They are always attractive, meaning possessing a slender frame, long legs, tanned skin, and plenty of make-up for women, or possessing rippling muscles, manly bone structure, and tall height for men, and they are always accompanied by other attractive people. Women, in the role model position, typically care greatly about physical appearance and show their shape freely in their expensive clothes, while male role models are often shown ogling over women, “rating them” on their appearance, and discussing them with extremely denigrating terms. Sexual encounters, which, in this case, can range from sexual innuendoes/jokes to explicit sexual content, as said before, remain almost constant in this environment and these role models not only appear to benefit from displaying these attitudes and behaviors, but rarely suffer any negative consequences (ter Bogt, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 845).
In digging deeper into stereotypical representations, one will find that they are perpetuated in nearly every type of media. There are talk shows containing “gender-appropriate” hosts and content, music videos, displaying scantily dressed women dancing provocatively (Vandenbosch and Eggermont 566), popular music songs, that contain large amounts of sexual references and stereotypical portrayals of males and females in lyrics and album covers (ter Bogt, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman 846). This constant onslaught of imagery focused around sexually-enabled persons leads adolescents to believe their world is one in which “permissive sex is the norm;” and “for men sexual obsession is normal and sexual prowess [is] an asset for women. (844-846).
These stereotypical representations can adversely affect what would otherwise be healthy adolescent sexuality. The unrealistic depictions of sexuality as represented in media is causing a divide between realistic and healthy attitudes towards sex and the media’s portrayal of sex as casual, fun, and frequent. As a result, adolescents are developing their “social and sexual self in ways that are congruent with prevailing gender roles” (Tolman 746). For young girls, these gender roles lead to a dissatisfaction with their appearance, which can lead to low self-esteem and worth, poor body image, and an overwhelming desire to fix these things through “ventriloquizing” the norms of femininity, as opposed to expressing a more authentic self (748). For young boys, if adhering to the prevailing gender roles, they will be under the impression that their sexual urges are uncontrollable and should be expressed often, that women are obligated to remain sexually motivated within a relationship, and that woman deserve to be objectified or mocked based on appearance. Based on men’s attitudes, young women feel as though it is their obligation to be sexually attractive to the opposite sex and satisfy men’s sexual urges in order to maintain a relationship (751). And, for both genders, there remains the view of sexuality as a recreational activity, an attitude which severely underplays the risks that are present in this act (Hawk, Vanwesenbeeck, de Graaf, and Bakker 353). These ideals perpetuated by modern gender stereotypes go on to shape these adolescents’ adult sexuality, meaning that women will continue to feel inadequate and compensate as sexual objects for men and men will continue to feel obligated to maintain their sexual prowess through the solicitation of multiple, casual sex partners, neither of which can be defined as healthy sexual attitudes.
When thinking about adolescents, one normally summons an image of the archetypal teenager: moody and brooding, rebellious, and socially awkward, and possessing a face full of acne. While this is a gross stereotype, this image truly can be definitive of the arduous and defining stage that adolescents have to trudge through in order to enter into the adult world. When adding to this difficult stage the uncertainty surrounding perceived sexuality, the pressure to conform to stereotypes propagated by “cultural norms,” in addition to the developmental struggles that go along with it, this arduous stage becomes almost unbearable. Unfortunately, there is no real way to stop the media from promoting sexuality to young adolescents, but in this age of multitudinous limited information regarding healthful sexual practices, there is ultimately a need for sexual education for adolescents, as well as for parents. If the onslaught of sexual images cannot be controlled, at least those images can be labeled as unrealistic and unsafe for the sake of early adolescents, thus taking away some of the media’s overwhelming control and a lot of adolescents overwhelming confusion.

Works Cited
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