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Public Media Influences Sexual Behavior to Teen Sex

Darryl Clark

English IV-A2 Ms. Jones 3/29/2014

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Outline

Thesis: Sexual Behavior in adolescents has been a major concern in Todays news. Nearly all of todays youth are performing sexual activities due to public media. An extensive amount of research has been devoted to understanding what gives teens sexual urges and behavior that are being displayed in the youth community. Its been identified that media interest plays a severe role in both parts. The exposure of sexual content through TV and other types of media has an effect on teens attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. I. Television exposes sexual content to teens A. Sexual content affect behavior in teens life. B. Most adult cartoon TV shows influence the teenage community C. Teens admire reality shows with sexual content II. Ways media changes mind through messages. A. Media restricting minds in music B. Media introduces sex through heart felt messages III. Effects of social media have on teenagers A. Social media turns for the worst. (Teen Sex) B. Worries of sex trafficking in social media. C. Lack of parental guidance eases sexual media

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Public Media Influence Sexual Behavior to Teen Sex

Sexual behavior in adolescents has been a major concern in todays news. Nearly all of todays youth are performing in sexual activities due to public media. An extensive amount of research has been devoted to understanding what gives teens the sexual urges and behavior that are being displayed in the youth community. It has been identified that media interest plays that media interest plays a severe role in both parts. The exposure of sexual content through TV and other types of media has an effect on teens attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. The growths of sexual talk and behavior in teens are patterns of exactly what they have seen or heard. Although sexual content in the media can affect any age group, teens are more liable to adopt the mentality due to their cognitive skills that allows them to critically analyze messages from the media to make decisions about the future. Teens use the media as a source of information about sex, drug, AIDS, and violence as well as to learn how to behave in relationships. As we all know, television is a main source for sexual innuendos and cues. Shows such as Family Guy, The Boondocks, and South Park have a clear influence on the teenage community. 72% of teens think watching TV with a lot of sexual content influences their peers behavior (Sexual Behavior). Such shows

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not only contain vulgar language, but also use references to racy topics such as the gay/lesbian community, sexual intercourse and racial issues. Teens are using these topics and intertwining them with their own live. Many teens are being thrown into sexual issues that in most cases they are not ready for. In addition, teens are being heavily influenced by reality shows such as The Bachelor, Jersey Shore, and Love and Hip Hop. The reality shows make teens believe that behaving in sexually explicit ways will bring you a certain degree of fame and popularity. Shows like Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant glamorize having a child and the responsibility that comes with it. Teens on the show are often portraying a fake lifestyle and have a totally different life going on outside of the show. Another form of media reconstructing the minds of our youth is music. Many songs of today contain violence, rap music with gang violence and drug usage, and a plethora of sexual innuendos. Songs such as Blurred lines, Drunk in Love, and Bad all explain sexual situations yet the average middle school student can recite each verse with no delay. An author of an NBC news article Dirty Song Lyrics Can Prompt Early Teen Sex explains it perfectly stating There is major disconnect between what mainstream media portray (casual sex with no consequences) and what children and teenagers need (Gilbert).

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Teenagers are being given the wrong messages about what love is and what risks such a pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and rape comes with sex. Another shocking fact from Common Sense media says that On average, music videos contain 93% sexual situations per hour, including 11 hard core scenes depicting behavior like intercourse and oral sex. Teenagers have the ability to perform abstract though due to them being in the formal- operational stage (Zimbardo 2010) and thus their imagination wanders. Their cognitive skills and hormones make them the perfect target for the medias attractive hold. One of the most major influences on teen sex is social media. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Instagram, etc. have teenagers in a virtual whirlwind of sex and its harmful effects. The soaring use of social networks, online games, smart phones, and web cameras has translated into more opportunities for potential offenders to engage with children, says USA today (Acohido). Teens are watching other teenagers posting pictures, videos, and personal information and feel that they may attain the same, if not better popularity. Instead of understanding that what they post is considered illegal and a form of child pornography, they take it for a fun game. Teenagers dont realize that not only is their reputation shattered because pictures and videos can be shared with the click of a button.

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These pictures can be viewed all over the world to become the next child molesters favorite. Sex trafficking is also a worry for the teenage community today. Sex trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. Many predators promise young women fame and fortune over the internet and young women are placed in life threatening situations. Predators lurk on social media sites such as Kik, Facebook, and Instagram to find their young, nave victim. Parental figures must be the guiding force in what their children do. Experts have done research and found that The average American youth spends one third of each day exposed to media, and the majority of that exposure occurs outside of parental oversight(Sex in Media). Sexual media influences are in everything from cartoons to Skittle commercials. Parents must be alert and understand the dangers that lure the fragile and easily controlled mind of a teenager. In conclusion, I have a firm belief that the media has a strong and firm control over the minds of our teenagers. The media has twisted the minds of our teenager with sexual television shows, music videos, and social media networks. The world in which we live has been changed by media. We must be able to educate our youth and to help them understand the

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difference between what the glamour of media is. The strong, cruel reality is that we need to be mature and smart about sexuality. With this in mind, we can be happy and healthy individuals in society.

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Works Cited

Acohido, Byron. "Sex predators target children using social media - USATODAY.com."USATODAY.COM. N.p., 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. Larson, John. "Dirty song lyrics can prompt early teen sex Health - Sexual health | NBC News." msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. "Media Influences on Teen Sexual Behavior | RAND." RAND Corporation Provides Objective Research Services and Public Policy Analysis | RAND. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. "Sexual Behavior: What Teens Learn From Media - Media Matters." GreatSchools. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Zimbardo, Philip G. Psychology: Ap* Edition with Discovery Psychology. Boston, Mass: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. Print.