Sex on Television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12500 words

Sex on Television - Essay Example Cope, and Erica Biely compare the findings of three such important studies with regard to the impact of sexual messages on television in their article "Sexual Messages on Television: Comparing Findings from Three Studies". According to them, mass media including television has an important influence on sexual socialization of young people with regard to their sexual beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. "While television is certainly not the only influence on sexual socialization, adolescents often report that they use portrayals in the media to learn sexual and romantic scripts and norms for sexual behavior. Indeed, four out of ten (40%) teens say they have gained ideas for how to talk to their boyfriend or girlfriend about sexual issues directly from media portrayals." (Kunkel, Cope, and Biely, 1999, p 230). Another important article which analyzes the influence of television on the sexual socialization of various types of individuals has been "Sexual Intercourse on Television: Do Saf e Sex Messages Matter" by Kirstie M. Farrar which maintains that "empirical research suggests that televised sexual messages affect sexual socialization not only among younger adolescents but among college-age emerging adults as well, suggesting that undergraduates are still forming their sexual scripts and thus are still vulnerable to media influence." (Farrar, 2006, p 635). Therefore, this paper undertakes a reflective analysis of these two articles to determine the pertinent influence of television on the sexual socialization of individuals. In their article "Sexual Messages on Television: Comparing Findings from Three Studies", Dale Kunkel, Kristie M. Cope, and Erica Biely compare the findings of three important studies with regard to the impact of sexual messages on television on the sexual socialization of individuals. They purport that there is a mounting body of evidence documenting the possible effects of sexual content on television which suggests the positive and negative aspects of sex on television. Thus, there are empirical research evidences indicating correlations between sex on television and the early initiation of sexual intercourse by adolescents, and connection between heavy television viewing and the negative attitudes toward remaining a virgin. According to the article which presents a summary of three independent studies of sexual content on television, media effects research clearly suggests that television portrayals contribute to sexual socialization. The authors of the article maintain that it is important to identify the prevailing patterns used for presenting sexual messages on television as television is an important source of information about sex. The findings of the study, which maintains that sexual content is a common aspect of the overall television landscape, have great implication with regard to determining the influence of sex on television on the sexual socialization of individuals. "Portrayals of talk about sex, as well as sexually-related behaviors, are a potential source of socialization for most young viewers. Although most sexual behaviors shown on television are relatively modest, intercourse is frequently included. Collectively, these sexual messages provide an opportunity for the television industry to communicate an important and realistic view of the true risks associated with