Sex in the Media
Gone are the days when the media hid from talking about sex. It is currently the biggest source of sex education for young people. Sex is used to market in every medium of mainstream media. And for this reason, it’s critical to comprehend why sex education is more necessary than ever.
The teaching of topics pertaining to human sexuality, such as emotional relationships and responsibilities, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, age of consent, reproductive health, reproductive rights, safe sex, and birth control, is known as “sex education.” I doubt these topics were ever covered in classrooms. The majority of kids are exposed to sex through peers or media. The media doesn’t give us the most accurate, suitable, or even realistic view of events as 21st-century citizens.
A child’s perception of sex is tarnished by media exposure, which also fosters the notion that it is evil and filthy. Young adults base their concept of sex in a world that is far from reality because of the comfortable taboo that surrounds sex in our society. Many factors make the connection between sex and the media quite problematic
ISSUES WITH THE REPRESENTATION
Unrealistic Expectations
The main issue with the representation of sex is that it is difficult to achieve in all types of popular media. In many movies and television shows, there is little to no foreplay, which in real life would result in awkward situations. The men’s and women’s bodies in the scenarios are fashioned to appear classic. Many even undergo operations to achieve their appearance, which frequently results in unsatisfactory experiences in the actual world.
It is astounding and deceiving how much media depicts people climaxing simultaneously, or perhaps more than once, and with ease. Such flawless depictions of sex wind up creating very negative expectations in the minds of the audience. They limit one’s first perceptions of what sex should be and so disable one from developing their own ways to obtain pleasure; instead, it often makes you feel bad and inadequate for not matching the expectation you had.
Double Standards
The majority of media to which we are exposed nowadays, particularly those that depict sex, is the domain of men. Women’s sexuality is frequently portrayed as being dependent on and inferior to that of men. Through the rating of films, it can be seen how men who are sexualized, are rated R like Black Swan. When comparing ratings of films, it becomes clear how plain it is that the media accepts men having sex and mocks women who do the same. This dichotomy encourages the notion that women shouldn’t have a sexual desire and that sex is only healthy and necessary for men. In fact, it is wrong for women to even consider having sex or to desire it. Without our knowledge, the idea that males are more sexual than women has been indoctrinated in everyone by the media. Women must therefore conceal and control their sexuality.
Psychological Harm
Several hazardous and demeaning things may seem very normal to us and could potentially impact our mental health when there is an abundance of pornographic content freely available for people to access from an alarmingly young age with no control over it. Regular porn watchers among young individuals had significantly lower levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Addiction to porn is also linked to mental ailments like sadness, anxiety, and rage. It is crucial to understand that a person has a porn addiction when it interferes with their capacity to function normally or find pleasure elsewhere.
The smoldering sex we witness on our screens is a combination of ideal lighting, writing, cosmetics, and operations, but they are ultimately planned, scripted, and devoid of truth. Individuals develop a damaged sense of self and live self-conscious lives outside of the bedroom. The normalization of abuse and violence in the name of sex is another part of this. Films like 365 Days and fifty shades of Grey encourage negative behaviors and even present them as desirable.
Objectification of Women
Women are being objectified everywhere. Naturally, the media also has a big part to play in this. The media portrays women as tools for “getting males off” when it comes to sex. They are frequently reduced to only their appearance, and what’s worse is that it works. The majority of advertising strategies sexually objectify women. Media basically employs provocative language and frequently concentrates on specific female body parts to appeal to male customers. This may appear to be doing away with the taboo surrounding female sexuality, but it actually imprisons women even more. It supports the notion that women exclusively engage in sexual activity to entice and gratify men and have no other motives.
CONCLUSION
It doesn’t take a detective to deduce that due to the excessive and erroneous portrayal of sex in the mainstream media, there will be a lack of understanding of the range of sex. There is a paucity of the portrayal of the many sexual orientations that exist today. People are forced to accept certain sexualities as the standard and everything else as deviant because of the portrayal, or lack thereof. They stop the growth of their subjective identities and their acceptance of themselves by attempting to fit within the incredibly heteronormative boxes. When consent and safe sexual practices are openly disregarded, it fosters the idea that they are irrelevant and pointless, which results in negative attitudes among males and prevents women from speaking out against wrongdoing. One of the reasons why many women feel forced to have sex and many men push themselves on women as their right is the outright lack of permission, especially those involving married women.
Our lives depend on sex, therefore we must ensure that it is not taboo and cultivate a positive perception of it. This merely highlights the value of sex education once again. The way to a healthier sex life is to educate ourselves about sex, its significance and meaning, and our likes and dislikes. We are left with a false and unreachable pseudo-sexuality created by the
media, which obscures our own individual sexuality. It’s time to reject the shaming and the imposed ideas about sex and to accept and explore our sexuality with confidence. If we don’t want to continue living in a culture where sex is considered dirty and immoral, sex education and the elimination of the sex taboo are important and paramount.
Unfortunately, until that time, we’ll have to keep switching the channel whenever a sex scene appears.
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