A glistening scantily clad Beyonce gyrates and rolls around in the sand, while a panel of contributors comment about her blatant display of sexuality. Interviews are incomplete without questioning celebrities how they feel they are influencing youth, and the example they are setting for the younger generation. Studies are produced showing a relationship between sex in the media and the attitudes of adolescents, yet the relationship is not clinically understood, recommendations are made. Doctors, columnists, psychologists and laymen alike point the finger at the entertainment industry, recommending parents block, censor and protect their girls from this plague of promiscuity. The injustice is not that sex and promiscuity has become prominent in the media, but rather, that through a lack of understanding we continue to perpetuate archaic gender stereotypes.
“ I feel guilty when I want to look beautiful” admits 20 year old Julie, “every time I go out shopping and I buy something I feel pretty, or god forbid, sexy, in I feel like I am just degrading myself. At the end of the day I don’t want to be seen as ‘that girl’.” Julie is among the ranks of girls who rather than turning to promiscuity as a result of the media, rejects her sexuality and femininity for fear of belittling herself. The issue that Julie addresses is one that is not often televised when it comes to the issue of sex and the media. Julie’s fear centers around becoming “that girl”: a sexually expressive, promiscuous woman compensates for a lack of intelligence with sex appeal.
Julie’s dilemma is not new; women have faced the same issue since the time of Christ. Are they virtuous, good and holy like Mary the mother of Jesus, or are they promiscuous, dirty and sinful like Mary Magdalene? Are they the Whore or the Madonna? For centuries we have taught women that intelligence and virtue are not synonymous with sexuality and free expression of femininity.
In 2007 the message is not sent through scriptures and priests but through the new voice of reason: the media. According to the New Journal of Medicine, “teenaged viewers see 143 incidents of sexual behavior on network television at prime time each week, with portrayals of three to four times as many sexual activities occurring between unmarried partners as between spouses. As much as 80% of all movies shown on network or cable television stations have sexual content. An analysis of music videos indicates that 60% portray sexual feelings and impulses,” But, could it be that it is not exposing youth sex in the media that creates the greatest damage, but it is the reaction that follows that is most damaging?
While peackocks display feathers and penguins create bugle calls; women dance, dress, and flirt seductively to attract a mate. The desire to be beautiful, sexually appealing and alluring is something that is innate to any species that intends to survive. Named one of the basic needs in Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, sex is a huge psychological motivator. Not only does sex motivate but it sells, and in a society where money equals security it is not surprising that the media capitalizes upon the power of biology.
And when media sells sex, instead of encouraging understanding and education we force censorship, installing v chips to steer our children away from indecent material. We watch and air programs on TV were critics scoff at artists who dance provocatively in music videos, we write articles about how outrageous sex in media has become. Yet very rarely do we choose to use these media conditions for educational purposes, or to empower women in their sexuality. As we choose to denounce sex in the media we teach our girls that their sexuality is dirty and shameful. This, only conflicts with the realities of the world they live in and their natural desires which only breeds further confusion.
By not teaching our girls to understand all aspects of themselves, we create an environment in which they are either ashamed of their developing sex drives, or overindulge in its temptations. We continue to teach that there are two routes, the virtuous and the un-virtuous. And it is this that is the greatest tragedy. Because we lack the ability to become open-minded we rob our girls of developing into empowered intellectuals who are fully realized sexually, able to both indulge and censor themselves within reason.
It is not sex that we should be battling, or the desire to be sexy or even the exposure of our youth to sex. What we should be fighting is ignorance, and we should empower our girls to discover their sexuality in a healthy way. We should teach them that they can be sexy and intelligent, appealing and independent, strong and beautiful, and that all of these virtues are synonymous with becoming a fully realized woman. We should teach our girls that they can be both the Whore and the Madonna, and they need not be ashamed of either aspect of who they are.
By Barbora Simek
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