Response to Paper 1:
The problem of sexual violence has several reasons rooted in human psychology and norms of society. They refer to the themes of hypermasculinity, sexual attraction through behavior, and stereotypes that society has about the female behavior towards sex. One should note that expected female behavior towards sex differs, and not all women like gentle sex; some of them prefer aggressive porn videos and rough sex and like to feel physical dominance of their partner. It may cause misunderstandings; for instance, a man who got accustomed to rough sex and specific kind of women meets a woman who prefers gentle sexual attitude. As the result, he can accept her real non-admission of his violent behavior for acting, and it can bring unpleasant consequences.
Moreover, the interesting question is the role of the porn industry in the sexual violence. In porn, the images of sex differ. While the female-oriented porn helps women to accept and reveal their sexuality due to its soft and delicate images of sexual contacts and male behavior towards females, the other porn videos often contain abuse, disgraceful, or rape scenes with the open male dominance over women. They focus on the classical showing of dominant hypermasculinity and submissive femininity. However, the role of such videos in real sexual violence is vague. Most people have hidden sexual desires and preferences, and porn aims to satisfy them. One cannot be sure that after watching porn, people will start to put their desires into practice.
Response to Paper 2:
The question of media portrayals of heteronormativity is one of the most challenging questions in mass media. For years, human behavior and male and female stereotypes had been determined by traditional roles of men and women, their rights, and place in society, but the beginning of the twenty-first century symbolized the beginning of changes. The modern world with feminism and postfeminism, male and female homosexuality, and other gender issues, continuously develops, but unfortunately, mass media fails to accept and implement these developments in time.
In the modern mass media, we still continue to see the classical images of women who use their beauty and bodies to attract men. Thus, the modern mass media still continues to use gender-based approach to social relations. Furthermore, despite the modern equality of men and women, mass media continues to provoke different behavior towards men and women who are in the same social and career positions. For instance, while the businessman is a man who causes respect and has a lot of women, the businesswoman is usually alone and stands condemned for her ‘manlike’ behavior. The gender-free approach could become a good solution to the problem of heteronormativity. While the USA and the world move towards the society free from gender stereotypes, the mass media should do the same being a tool that allows fastening the achievement of the major purpose.
