Sex in the Media and a Young Generation

Matt Andrus

English 121

Forgue

Sexualized Media and a Young Generation

            I decided to read an article discussing children and the role television and television’s projection of sexuality on a younger generation.  The article was written by Enid Gruber and Joel W Grube from the Department of Psychiatry and Bio behavioral Sciences of the University of California Los Angeles.  The article covers different studies taken from broadcast medias and health care professionals, the process was rigorous and the systemic data collected was extensive and they primarily used Medline and the psychological and media literature. 

            Adolescents look upon the media as a source of information and learn in many ways what is accepted and not accepted from the images that the media pushes in front of their eyes.  Unfortunately, sex sells, and movies and commercials are so sexualized because CEO’s and mainstream media knows this.  It is just too bad that the younger generation must fall victim to this very grown up marketing scheme.  Sexual intercourse in the media, especially among adolescents, is portrayed as harmless and often times without consequence and this has caused the numbers to increase greatly with sex among adolescents. 

            A proposition is given to the general public to really be able to be open with your children about sexuality and what is being broadcasted over national television.  It is good when parents can address the issues right off the bat, for it is easy for curious teens or preteens will act upon what appears to be just a fun activity with no consequence.

            The article is from March of 2000 and that is nearly over a decade ago, which means that the methods for recording results from this article have likely become much more efficient and effective and the numbers have likely changed and seeing where the media has come since 2000, it can’t be too positive.  I pulled the article from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.  They have many references to professional organizations but they have a much greater credibility from other health and psychological organizations than media organizations. 

            I changed my research question because I wanted to do something different than I had done before, and I decided on seeking out the effects that the media has on young adults specifically sexually.  The article provided good information and did answer questions, but it was very dated and for my paper I will most likely pursue a much more current article.

Work Cited

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070813/