The Canadian Perspective
Sexuality in the Media
For many years, the media have played a significant role in the provision of sex-related knowledge in society. Topics ranging such adolescent issues, gender equality, and women empowerment, advertisement, and changes in sexual orientations and sexual attitudes have been featured heavily in the media (Ferrante, 2010). Increased effects of globalization coupled with the rapid economic changes and growth in the social environment have contributed heavily to the diversity of changed perceptions regarding sexuality. Although sexuality is often streamlined to refer to certain aspects in society, a significant body of academic literature categorizes sexuality into a body of diverse perspectives (Ferrante, 2010). Equally, sociological research has also pointed out the advantages of understanding the variant sexuality experiences in society.
With the current ICT age, sexuality is manifested in different areas in the media channels such video games, the internet, television, magazines, and the music videos. In the majority of countries such as Canada, there is an increased concern regarding the level of depiction of sexual related content in the above media channels (Joanne, 2008). As such, media channels particularly the internets have remained increasingly unstudied thereby providing less information or statistics regarding its level of influence on the behavior of teens. Notwithstanding, the power of the media in influencing all age groups remains unparalleled even though the teens are the most affected in society (Joanne, 2008). Plainly, teens might be too young to critically decipher messages being promoted in different media channels because of the fact that they are in a certain stage in their life characterized by growth and development of sexuality. This includes but not limited to sexual attitudes, behaviors, and gender roles.
Arguably, the general principle that sex sells remains an inevitable concept in the marketing media because marketers promote their brands with an aura of sexuality in their adverts or promotions. For instance, a tendency of increased pressure on women to remain attractive is prevalent in the media and this can be explained by the presence of sexually attractive messages in most media adverts and TV commercials. According to statistics from the Canadian Media Action Media, female bodies are displayed provocatively in many adverts in order to capture the attention of uses. Interestingly, the woman body has been converted into an object that can be dismembered to particular segments such as breasts, hair, thighs, and buttocks depending on the level of attention the product requires. Commonly exposed body parts include mid rifts, behinds, thighs, and breasts. The question that the Canadian society needs to ask is whether or not the deliberate exposure of women’s’ bodies in these promotions liberating?
Conflict theory
Conflict theory argues that power forms the core or is the cause of all misunderstandings, and it is often characterized by the struggle between the opposing parties. Common causes of misunderstandings revolve around the realization of macro-sociological perspectives in society, particularly in situations where hostilities and resentments constitute a greater volume of elements in society (Kenneth, 2009). In this regards, fighting over scarce resources by different interest groups becomes the order in society. Each group tries to gain more interest than the other group. The resultant situation is characterized by competition among these groups and often puts the society in an off-balance situation and it never stops until the most dominant group eventually attains stability and control using power (Kenneth, 2009).
The origin of the conflict theory is traceable to the times of Karl Marx (1818-1883) who believed that human beings would always fight in order to realize their full potential. This occurred due to the desire of capitalist to control the means of production that eventually led to the formation social classes within the economy (Kenneth, 2009). The owners of the means of production were known as the Bourgeoisie while the workers were commonly referred to as the proletariat. This lead to the creation of class differences mainly influenced by the ownership of personal property. Other scholars who contributed to the growth of the conflict theory include Max Weber and George Simmel. Max Weber (1864-1920) argued that power played a central role controlling others and hence, distribution of power largely depended based on social conflict (Kenneth, 2009). Equally, Georg Simmel (1858-1918) developed his views by studying human relationships and social behavior and found out that there exist differences in the opinions and power within every group. According to Simmel, the level of social action within the society was dependent upon the level of hatred, love, conflict, and harmony in society (Kenneth, 2009).
Using the above explanations and points of view, conflicts in society can be defined as the struggle over claims and values aligned to scarce status, resources, and power in which the fighting parties aim at injuring, neutralizing, or eliminating their rivals (Kenneth, 2009). As such, increased conflicts between different groups become a normality and part of social life. To this purpose, conflict in society can be equated to part of relationships that performs a variety of functions. This includes but not limited to providing social change, stimulating creativity, and strengthening central power.
Sexuality in the Canadian Media
Youth Sexuality
Using the overview of how conflicts occur in society, the concept of sexuality in the Canadian media can be explained using the conflict theory. Many argue that the Canadian media does a huge disservice from the manner they portray sexuality in the media. This can be attributed to disparities in the manner in which several aspects relating to sexuality are covered in the media. For instance, whereas the media is quick to portray the attractiveness of the woman in social media, it generally unwilling to cover on issues to do with sex and relations even though majority of youths engages in sex. Murray (2010) argues that the volume of available information on youth sexuality in invariably low. Speaking of available information on youth sexuality, the Canadian media is often extremely critical and quick in providing negative information that falls under this category. Therefore, it can be claimed that an implicit level of biasness exists in the Canadian mainstream media that views youth and adolescent sexuality as a wrongful activity that must be halted. The decision by the media to adopt such an approach is influenced by the deep-rooted conservative approach of viewing aspects such as youth sexuality. In this case, conflicts between views of the media and how the society should view youth sexuality often arise.
Women Sexuality
As mentioned earlier, women are portrayed as sexual objects even though the subject of women sexuality is not new. While the idea of exposing body parts of women is aimed at generating marketing attention, a large portion of it viewed as relating to the generation of sexual pleasure from men (Murray, 2010). For instance, majority of magazines in the Canadian media portray women as objects of bringing attraction and sexual satisfaction to men. This form of misinformation has led many individuals to turning their attention to the media as a source of obtaining information relating to sexuality and sex in general.
Equally, the picture of the ideal woman is negatively represented in the media and this is done through over-representation or underrepresentation. For instance, there is a general notion that reinforces a picture of the ideal woman to fit certain descriptions. A thin woman is portrayed as being sexually attractive and physically desirable as compared to a fat woman. Equally, weight loss products are advertised alongside thin women or in most situations along topics relating to relationships. This form of portrayal shows that women are used as objects in settling certain conflicts within the society. For instance, instead of judging the beauty of a woman from her personality or level of intelligence, physical or sexual attractiveness is used as a measure for gauging such aspects (Murray, 2010).
Beauty
On matters of beauty, the media uses certain aspects to describe women’s beauty and the level of handsomeness on the part of men. For example, a beautiful woman is portrayed as young with certain breast size, or one with affiliations to certain sexual orientations, or one who dates particular men in social circles. On the other hand, a handsome man is portrayed as one who has good looks, an athletic body, fearless when it comes to initiating sex and worse still, a man can be judged by the number of women he has dated. For purposes of trying to fit the above descriptions or exaggerations, our men and women will go an extra mile in order to fulfill atleast one of the mentioned characteristics, even if it means undergoing a plastic surgery (Murray, 2010).
Relationships
According to the media, sex is portrayed as something that should be spontaneous in relationships and often, the mentioned of abstinence finds no room for discussion. There is little usage of contraceptives or sex control mechanisms during relationship topics. Sex is a passionate thing and a defining factor in many relationships. Many a couple is always advised to spend most of their time having sex in their relationships because it strengthens love and resolves differences in relationships.
Sexual Violence
Portraying women in the media as weaker objects has led to vulnerability of women to acts of violence in the name of romance. Picture a situation where a product is being promoted to attract the attention of women. Strong words such as irresistible to your smell or “apply the scent and the man will respond to your feeling like an animal,” suggests otherwise. Acts of violence are likely to ensue if the advances do not materialize as implied.
Conclusion
The effects of the media coupled with advancement of information and communication technology are indispensable factors that have brought significant influences in the contemporary world. In fact, the society is adjusting rapidly in order to accommodate conflicts from different societal factors. Significantly, the concept media portrayal of sexuality depending various levels that include beauty, relationships, women, youth, and sexual violence takes center stage as explained using examples. In all instances, different interest groups seem to be fighting over the control of their hidden interests.
Ferrante, J. (2010). Sociology: A Global Perspective. Southwestern: Cengage Learning.
Joanne, N. (2008). How Societies Work: Class, Power, and Change in a Canadian Context (4th
Edition).
Kenneth, A. (2009). Contemporary social and sociological theory: visualizing social worlds. Southwestern: Pine Forge Press.
Murray, J. (2010). "Sexuality: Policies, Beliefs, and
Practice", Tizard Learning Disability
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