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Ashia Neal Professor Caruso English 1102-020 24 July 2012 The Exposure of Sex in the Media As the internet becomes an integral tool in school, business, and personal time the television out ranks viewers due to more couch or leisure time. The importance of this topic is that parents, guardians, and employers have more control to monitor what is seen from the internet. As for television, you watch whats on at that time. According to A.C Nielsen Co. people watch over four hours of TV a day which is equivalent to almost two months a year. What I am saying is that a lot of our time and energy is being put into one thing and what are we getting out of this? The perceptions people get are usually influenced by their environment, and their surroundings. If your environment includes watching television for more than four hours a day, the influence you receive is it negative or positive? In Kirstie M. Farrar article she begins to argue does it matter, does it make a difference and are people listening to the message that is being portrayed good or bad? According to Kunkel(2003) more than 70% of television dramas contain sexual contents college students compared to any other age group are still exposed to a great deal of sexual content (Farrar, par. 3). Okay television presents lots of sex, sex sells, we get it but what about its safety? In 2003 Paige Albiniak says that television was doing a better job of emphasizing safe sex (Kaiser, par. 1). This generation that has come watches tons of television we have discovered and now that the media is doing a great job of immersing safe sex being sexier into the media-whether its abstinence or protection, that is all good (Albiniak, par. 3).

Comment [J1]: Reviewed by your favorite person in class. Jacob Eldridge

Comment [J2]: Insert comma I think, not positive. Like 94 percent sure

Comment [J3]: Should say most people, not everyone watches tv

Comment [J4]: Like ending this on a question!!

Comment [J5]: Insert comma

Comment [J6]: This should be the moved to the beginning of the sentence Comment [J7]: This mark should be a comma

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The media has influenced many people in different areas. According to my research in particular, the media has affected the thoughts and views to the exposure of sex. Sex is everywhere and everyone says that sex sells. In theory sex does sell, but what is the message the directors are selling to all viewers? The Kaiser Family believes that TV is doing a better job of emphasizing safe sex. Prior to my research my thoughts were that TV sales sex in a negative way of never emphasizing the safety aspect. It is important that we are all learning how to be safe to avoid unwanted pregnancies, diseases, and maybe even some mental effects. The picture I always seen was that sex is fun, nothing is wrong with it, and nothing can happen to you. I have never seen sex on television and the encouragement of a condom or other contraceptives. Now we have television shows that praise even teens with children. When the show first aired there were lots of pregnant teens who some did graduate high school and lived the life once becoming famous from the reality show. The show didnt until later show the side effects abortion, adoption, and miscarriage.
Comment [J11]: Which reality shows? Also specific examples would be super helpful here Comment [J10]: with Comment [J9]: Sells Comment [J8]: This comma goes after research

The media has been allowed to put whatever they can profit from on television even if over half of the population does not agree with such. Is this affecting the teens, adults, men or women? What has and is happening with the media changing lives daily, as all have their own lifestyle. Many television programs like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawsons Creek, Felicity, The OC, Clueless, and Moesha have portrayals of teenagers and young adults involved in sexual relationships (Kunkel, 2). Kunkel believes that the effects can be broken down into three categories: learning about sex and sexuality; shaping attitudes towards sexual activity; and influencing sexual behavior decisions. First young people can learn from the sexual topics and gain more information pertaining to sexual health topics like condoms or the morning after pill. Second young peoples attitude and beliefs can be influenced by television. Third, (Brown

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&Newcomer, 1991) one correlational study found a positive association between viewing sex on TV and adolescent sexual behavior (Kunkel, 3). Although sex is a part of popular culture and is almost everywhere in todays media; television, twitter, Facebook, and other advertisements it does portray both a negative and positive effect. Depending on the person(s) watching and depending on what they take away from the show they have in some way been conformed. The weight of the positive versus the negative still may not seem to balance out but there is change in the immersion of how to be safe. There are significantly more condom commercials, plan B commercials, and other ways to be safe during sex. These companies have started to lay out plans of how to put out more contraceptive commercials in order to compete with the amount of sex that sells.
Comment [J14]: Great paper , honestly the only thing would be lengthen it, possibly with examples of those 10 year old kids on mtv getting prego? Comment [J13]: comma Comment [J12]: I believe you left out everyones personal favorite. Myspace ;p

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Work Cited Albiniak, Paige. "More Sex On TV, But Safer, Too." Broadcasting & Cable 133.6 (2003): 12. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 July 2012. A.C Nielson Co. Television and Health, Television Statistics. Internet Resources to Accompany the Sourcebook for Teaching Science (2007).Web. 27 July 1012 Farrar, Kirstie M. "Sexual Intercourse On Television: Do Safe Sex Messages Matter?." Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 50.4 (2006): 635-650. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 July 2012. Finnerty-Myers, Keli. "Understanding The Dynamics Behind The Relationship Between Exposure To Negative Consequences Of Risky Sex On Entertainment Television And Emerging Adults' SafeSex Attitudes And Intentions." Mass Communication & Society 14.6 (2011): 743-764. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 July 2012. Hospital, LPC. "Safer Sex Guidelines." Safer Sex Guidelines. Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital, 2012. Web. 13 July 2012. Victoria Rideout, et al. "Sexual Socialization Messages On Entertainment Television: Comparing Content Trends 1997-2002." Media Psychology 9.3 (2007): 595-622. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 July 2012