Abstract
The media has a marked influence on the sexual behavior of teenagers today. Nowadays many youth use media as a reference rather than talking to their parents. Media platforms like television portray sex as glamorous and realistic. This paper will discuss media effects on teenage sexual behavior and how to minimize them as well as some positive aspects that media can portray on youth. It argues that media literacy can aid in reducing dangerous sexual experimentation among teenagers.
The media has had a marked influence on the sexual behavior of teenagers for decades. Nowadays many youth use the media as a reference rather than talking to their parents. Media, like a television portray sex as glamorous and realistic. Through social networking sites, the media is now capable of reaching teenagers everywhere with all kinds of sexual content. This paper will discuss the effects of teen exposure to sex in the media and how to minimize the effects as well as provide some positive aspects that media can portray on youth.
It is critical to understand what exactly sexual content in the media. Sexual content can refer to anything from kissing or other action. We are consumed by mass media every day in our lives, it is our main communication. Media isn't inherently positive or negative; however, teens should have a healthy balance between exposure to media and other, intellectually and physically stimulating activities (Ballam & Granello, 2011). If young people imitate their peers, and idols in the media, they will imitate their sexual behavior as well. Sex is very prevalent in the media: TV, magazines, movies, advertisements, because it sells. Teenagers are not informed of the consequences that can exist, such as teen pregnancy. If educators and parents took action to educate teenagers on sex they would know the reality of being sexually active.
In 2014, watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), accounting for more than half of leisure time, on average, for those age 15 and over. (American Time Use Survey, 2015, June 24). The rise of new media in the form of internet related platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter has populated the media landscape is too much and easy to access sexual content. Unlike television, smartphones are more difficult to monitor and teenagers access sexual content deliberately or even without searching for it (Collins, Martino & Shaw, 2011). The new media is difficult to regulate but parents and educators can manage to regulate through constant monitoring of teenagers and talking to them about the dangers of social media.
Ballam and Granello observe that the statistics regarding teen pregnancy, sex related decision making and sexually transmitted diseases are shocking and perplexing. They cite the National campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy report that found out that three out of ten teenagers in the United States become pregnant before reaching the age of 20 (Ballam & Granello 2011). This is attributed to the media’s lack of information that helps aids in teenage decision making on issues relating to sex and sexuality. The media bombard television and the internet with sex but offers little on when it is acceptable for teenagers to engage in sexual activity, what being grown up is about and what consequences are there if one is not careful in their sexual activity. There is also an extra element in that the media sends messages to teenagers that conflict with the sexual education teenagers receive at home and in schools (Ballam & Grenallo, 2011).
It is reported that seven out of ten television shows are full of content that contains explicit sexual activity such as kissing, touching and outright intercourse (Strasburger 2005; Ballam and Granello 2011). In the end teenagers are exposed to pornography, promiscuity and casual sex at an early age leading to dangerous experimentation. This conflict can be solve by media literacy which means that teenagers must be taught that not all they see on social media is desirable or worth following. Instead of teaching just sexual education, educators and parents can also teach media literacy. This way teenagers can find ways to solve the conflict between what the media portrays and what they hear from the classroom.
In conclusion, the media can be a great forum to aid teenagers in their process of growing up in particular their knowledge about sex. The current trajectory of the media influencing early sexual experimentation leading to teenage pregnancy and an outbreak of sexually transmitted infections can be reversed by teaching teenagers how to interact with the media in its many forms.
References
Ballam, S. M. & Granello, P. F. (2011). Confronting Sex in the Media: Implications and
Counseling Recommendations. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 19 (4): 421-426.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015, June 24). America time use survey. BLS. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf
Collins, R. L., Martino, C. & Shaw, R. (2011). Influence of new media on adolescent sexual
health: Evidence and opportunities. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/11/adolescentsexualactivity/newmedialitrev/index.shtml
