The Meaning of Sex

The meaning of sex over the years has quickly transformed from being an intimate action that is performed when two individuals are in love into now being a word that is associated with describing a  “no strings attached relationship” otherwise known as sex without commitment or emotion for the other individual. With there being over twelve movies that instantly come to mind in regards to having a storyline involving friends with benefits, it is safe to say that individuals, more specially the target audience, adolescents, are believing that casual sex is the new trend. With a majority of these movies containing multiple sex scenes that show reoccurring premarital and non relational sex interactions that don’t include any sort of protection or condom usage, it is not a surprise that youth in the United States have the highest rates of STDs.

This serves to be a large problem within society, because not only are these movies not portraying positive messages about true love, but they also are justifying unprotected sex through multiple sex scenes. Instead, if movies simply made an effort to focus more so on the negative consequences that come with having multiple partners or having unprotected sex with an individual than according to social cognitive theory, these negative reinforcements would discourage these observed behaviors and there would be a good chance that the United States would hopefully no longer be recognized as having the highest rates of STDs.

Within this specific movie trailer for “Friends with Benefits” it is clear that not only are the characters engaging in unprotected sex, but also they make it look as though they enjoy it more than having sex in a relationship. They only focus on the positive aspects that are associated with sex and the pleasure that comes from sexual intercourse even without affection existing for either of the partners. Therefore this media example as well as many out there that are related to friends with benefits or no strings attached, defines sexual socialization as being totally acceptable to go against everything that was ever taught in health classes and instead engage in unprotected sex. As Eyal and Kunkel say in their article “ The Effects of Sex In Television Drama Shows on Emerging Adults’ Sexual Attitudes and Moral Judgments’” “many portrayals of sexual intercourse on television are seen to result in positive consequences or in no clear consequences for the characters involved in this activity is likely related to enhanced sexual activity.” This study and this video trailer make it clear that sexual socialization could be very different if it wasn’t for the acceptance of these movies that portrayal only the positive aspects of unprotected sex. Yes, although there might be television shows such as “Sixteen and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” these shows don’t truly show the negative consequences of unprotected and casual sex except for the fact that these individuals have children but enjoyed their relations with their significant others and are still with that person. It would be more impactful in my opinion if some of these friends with benefits movies focused also on the negative consequences that can occur because individuals are more likely to listen to well known and respect celebrities than the stereotypical individuals on television who talk about why causal sex is bad. 

                                                                 Works Cited

Eyal, K., & Kunkel, D. (2008). The effects of sex in television drama shows on emerging adults' 

     sexual attitudes and moral judgments. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(2), 161-  

     181. doi: 10.1080/08838150801991757

Romantic Idealization in Media for Men

The movie Don Jon states "Romantic comedies are for women what porn is for men." This is an interesting statement to make. It keys on the interests of men and women and classifies them in a very gendered fashion. It relies on the assumption that girls take pleasure in the lofty romantic ideals presented in romantic comedy type movies the same way men take pleasure in the idealization of women in porn. This idea keys on the idea presented by the study done by Hurst, Brown, and L'Engle that found adolescent boys are obsessed with sex and sexual performance in particular. (Hurst, Borwon, L'Engle, 2008)
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a16690/down-with-romcoms/. This is a link to a cosmopolitan article about why boys hate being dragged to romantic comedies. This article details the unrealistic portrayals of romantic relationships and the hardships these unrealistic portrayals force onto guys i general. The article notes that romantic comedy actors are way better looking than average men and that the men in romantic comedies set unrealistic goals for real life men to aspire to. This article coupled with the sentiment of the quotation from Don Jon point to a cultural understanding that men are threatened by media portrayals of romantic relationships because they feel like they have to up their game to compete with the idealized romantic sentiments displayed by actors. This is interesting to compare with the findings of Aubrey and Taylor in The Role of Lad Magazines in Priming Men’s Chronic and Temporary Appearance-Related Schemata: An Investigation of Longitudinal and Experimental Findings that showed men who viewed objectified women in magazines felt a higher need to conform to idealized body types for men to be able to obtain women of he same standard. (Aubrey, Taylor, 2009)
Altogether, these media examples combined with the findings of Aubrey and Taylor as well as  Hurst, Borwn, and L'Engle point to a media culture that places heavy pressure on men to conform to idelaized romantic and body representations.


Aubrey, J. S., & Taylor, L. D. (2009). The Role of Lad Magazines in Priming Men’s Chronic and Temporary Appearance‐Related Schemata: An Investigation of Longitudinal and Experimental Findings. Human Communication Research,35(1), 28-58.
Hust, S. J., Brown, J. D., & L'Engle, K. L. (2008). Boys will be boys and girls better be prepared: An analysis of the rare sexual health messages in young adolescents' media. Mass communication & society, 11(1), 3-23.

Boyz 2 Men: Themes of Lad Magazine Beyond

Aubrey & Taylor's 2009 study, "The Role of Lad Magazines in Priming Men’s Chronic and Temporary Appearance-Related Schemata: An Investigation of Longitudinal and Experimental Findings," explores the effects of the content of Lad Mags on college age heterosexual men. They find experimental evidence that the content in Lad Mags is related to greater attention paid to one's body, increases in anxiety about their appearance and decreases in romantic confidence. Notable themes in these magazines related to these effects are sexually idealized women and fashionable, well-groomed men. Aubrey & Taylor also note that "images of men conforming to a muscular ideal are conspicuously absent from these magazines." I am curious to see if these themes exist in two popular (non-health) magazines targeted to adult men, implying similar effects in an older male audience. I look at the websites for GQ and Esquire.

Immediately apparent while scrolling through the home page of Gentleman's Quarterly is the same conspicuous lack of muscular men found in Lad Mags. The majority of features revolve around what clothes to wear and celebrities providing advice on topics like how to dress or "win at the office." Moving into specific subsections, it's clear that the magazine puts most of its emphasis on "style" aka fashion or grooming, which Aubrey & Taylor found to make men less likely to exercise for appearance-related reasons. Where GQ shows considerable likeness to Lad Mags is its Women section. Just like the articles described in Aubrey & Taylor's analysis, this section features (usually) celebrity women in sexualized poses wearing varying amounts of clothing. These articles feature typically short interviews asking the women questions about themselves, ways to impress them or what they're wearing; the majority of emphasis is placed on the woman and her body. Such representations in Lad Mags were found to increase college men's anxiety and concern for their appearance while decreasing their romantic confidence. The rest of the website features entertainment and political commentary and videos containing similar content to the articles.

At first glance, Esquire seems to feature much of the same content as GQ. However, upon looking a little closer, Esquire seems to promote masculine ideals in a different, potentially more threatening way than GQ and Lad Mags. As you can see in the screenshot of the homepage, one feature covers the top 25 toughest guys on TV, while another describes a mother's will to keep fighting ISIS after they beheaded her son. This appears to indicate a different conception of masculinity which privileges the tough, hardened man and places less emphasis on personal refinement. While I was browsing the site, I encountered a pop-up encouraging me to subscribe to Esquire's expert-curated Ultimate Sex Guide. While Aubrey & Taylor find that Lad Mags emphasize sexual variety and frequency of sex, Esquire seems here to reinforce the expectation of considerable sexual experience and sexual dominance/leadership required to fulfill a masculine role. This conception of male sexuality would seem to fit squarely in the male sexuality script as defined by Kim et al. (2007). Esquire's Women section is also different from GQ and Lad Mags in that it places even less emphasis on the featured women's thoughts and articles often forego the interview in favor of more pictures of  sexualized women. This would presumably increase the negative effects of these images on men because it removes any human attributes from these women and simply positions them as objects to obtain.

It seems that Aubrey & Taylor's analysis would apply to more media than just Lad Mags because of the commonality found in these men's magazines. The effects however, may be less pronounced in older men, but this would of course require specific study. 

References

1. Aubrey, J.S., & Taylor, L. D. (2009). The role of lad magazines in priming men's chronic and temporary appearance-related schemata: An investigation of longitudinal and experimental findings. Human Communication Research, 35(1), 28-58. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2008.01337.x
2. Kim, J., Sorsoli, C.L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B.A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D.L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157. do: 10.1080/00224490701263660

Lesbian Relationships within Friends

Friends (1994-2004) tackles many interesting and difficult topics throughout its ten seasons. One of the most interesting topics is lesbianism – and even more interesting is how the television show approaches lesbian relationship and interactions.

I will draw from two separate lesbian encounters through this post. The first is the most consistent lesbian relationship in the show – Carol and Susan. Carol is Ross’s (one of the main six characters) ex wife who left him because she was a lesbian and had fallen in love with Susan. Carol and Susan are in a committed, long-term relationship. The second lesbian encounter on the show that I draw from only occurs in one episode. During this episode, Rachel tries to convince Phoebe that she made out with one of her sorority sisters during college.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RELUKTye-1A

Holz Ivory discusses that real life lesbian relationships “are more likely than heterosexual couples to negotiate a balance involving fair distribution of household labor” and thus have less rigid sex roles than common stereotypes would suggest (Holz Ivory, et al., 2009, pg. 172). She finds, however, that the sex role stereotypes are being upheld in entertainment media and that “lesbians are portrayed as either butch or femme” (Holz Ivory, et al., 2009, pg.175). Friends starkly contrasts the common entertainment media lesbian relationship stereotype by portraying Carol and Susan as equal partners with no outstanding gender roles. They are merely two women – neither butch nor femme – in a relationship. Friends was far ahead of its time in depicting this lesbian relationship so realistically.

In the second instance of a lesbian encounter, Friends maintains its realistic portrayal of lesbian relationships. Rachel and her sorority sister are both feminine and thus do not adhere to the media stereotype that one partner must be the “man” and the other the “woman.” While this isn’t a consistent lesbian relationship, it adds to the overall bank of lesbian portrayals in the media and helps combat the stereotypical nature of homosexual relationships.

As Holz Ivory (2009) discusses, this more realistic depiction of lesbian relationships helps to create a more inclusive idea of homosexuality. Gay men or lesbian women watching this media can hopefully find a broad range of depictions to draw their own identities from rather than only seeing that they and their partners should fit in to the gendered stereotype.

On the flip side, one could argue that Friends only shows one type of lesbian relationship and doesn't tackle any butch lesbian topics. I think that while this argument is very valid, it's important to create a more inclusive entertainment media and portraying a type of lesbian relationship that strays from the normal entertainment media portrayals is helping the cause, nonetheless.

Holz, A., & Gibson, R. (2005). Gendered relationships on television: Comparing portrayals of heterosexual and same-sex couples.

The Gendered Relationships of Mad Men

Mad Men, set in New York City in the 1960s, follows the professional and personal lives of the employees of Sterling Cooper, a small advertising firm on Madison Avenue. The main character, Donald Draper, is no stranger to womanizing, infidelity, and dishonesty. In the beginning of the series, Don is married to Betty, a stay-at-home housewife, who takes care of their two children.  In later seasons, Betty and Don get divorced due to Betty's boredom and unhappiness in their marriage, and Don's absence (emotionally and physically).  Don eventually remarries his secretary -- a much younger woman, Megan.  Throughout the series, Don is continuously unfaithful to his wives, almost always having another woman on the side.  Unlike the other men in the series, he doesn't engage in "one night stands" with multiple other women.  Instead, he maintains one woman for a long time and then moves on to another mistress.

The episode that I am examining here ("Man with a Plan") is from Season 6.  At this time, Don is married to Megan, but is sleeping with another woman, Sylvia.  Sylvia is also married and lives in the same apartment building as Don and Megan.  In fact, Megan and Don are good friends with Sylvia and her husband, making the situation even more difficult and calling for further "sneaking around."

The episode begins with Sylvia calling Don at work telling him to "Come over here now."  She also adds, "I need you. Nothing else will do." He says that he has work to do but finally tells her that he will meet her at a hotel at 12:30.

In the next scene we see her, Don knocks on the door to Sylvia's hotel room. Immediately when she opens the door he begins kissing her and lays her down on the bed.

The scene fades out, signaling that they are going to have sex.  This scene is a relatively normal one for Don and his mistresses, until Don tells Sylvia afterwards that he wants her to "Crawl on her hands and knees until she finds" his shoes. With a surprised expression, Sylvia does so.  He then says, "I want you to get undressed and get back into bed." Expecting that he will join her, she does so. He does not.  He leaves the room telling her not to move.

Throughout the day, Don calls her giving her instructions about how she "will wait there" for him, "not knowing when he is coming back," and is clearly told not to answer the phone again.  In the beginning, she seems to enjoy his dominance,  finding it to be a fun game.  He has a dress from Saks delivered to her.

When he finally returns, she asks "Where are we going?" To which he responds that they aren't going anywhere and "Why would you think you're going anywhere? You are for me. You exist in this room for my pleasure. Don't ask any more questions. Take off your dress." When he leaves again this time, Don takes her book with him so she doesn't have anything to do while he is gone other than think of him.

The final time that Don returns to the room, Sylvia is done with the game, telling him "I think it's time to go home." He tells her that "It's over when I say its over." What's interesting is that instead of becoming angry, Don pleads with her to stay. He becomes vulnerable, not wanting her to leave him.

There is obviously a lot going on in this episode. The big thing that I kept thinking about was the portrayal of traditional masculine/feminine gendered roles.  Specifically the notion of men as "dominant" characters and the woman as "submissive." This episode perfectly captures what Ivory talked about in her study, "Gendered Relationships on Television: Portrayals of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples."  In the article, she talks about how women are traditionally "seen as passive, nurturant, and dependent, and men are seen as aggressive, competitive, and independent" (Ivory, 2009).  She also discusses how "maleness" is all about "authority, status, competence, and influence, and femaleness signals lack of authority, low status, incompetence, and little power and influence" (Ivory, 2009).  This Mad Men episode obviously follows this idea and these stereotypes of men and women.  Don is portrayed as the one who has a life and is busy and is in a high position of power at work.  He is the one who is independent of Sylvia, who waits around for him all day in a hotel room.

Although, I find it interesting that at the end of the episode the role reverses.  Sylvia takes a stand against him and says that she is done with whatever game he is playing.  It turns the situation around in that he is begging for her to stay, showing just how "independent" he actually feels.  But this is just one scene out of a 47-minute episode.  This is consistent with findings in Ivory's study that male partners tend to exhibit a significantly higher level of dominant behaviors per scene than female characters do (Ivory, 2009).

I believe that overall, this episode of Mad Men reinforces the traditional stereotypes of women as a literal "side piece" to men in high positions of power, status, and influence.  As Don even says, Sylvia is there for his pleasure and enjoyment only.  She is dressed provocatively, is obviously (up until the end) unauthoritative, and when she does talk about something other than him, it is about her son and husband.  On the other hand, Don embodies characteristics of dominance, power, and (up until the end) independence.  

Citations:

1. Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: Portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12(2), 170-192. doi: 10.1080/15205430802169607 

2. Man with a Plan [Television series episode]. (2013, May 12). In Mad Men. New York: AMC.

A High Standard of Beauty

            When flipping through a magazine such as Vogue or Cosmopolitan, it is easy to notice the plethora of flawless women. Whether a beauty add for a makeup company or an article discussing the latest award show trends, there typically lies a common theme in the way that women are portrayed; tall, thin, typically white, and ultimately gorgeous. All in all, these women are portrayed as perfect and importance is placed on how sexually attractive she appears. According to Ferguson in Variation in the Application of the ‘Promiscuous Female’ Stereotype and the Nature of the Application Domain: Influences on Sexual Harassment Judgements after Exposure to the Jerry Springer Show, “there is evidence that exposure to stereotypical media images can elicit body dissatisfaction in women” (Ferguson 2005). If individuals are constantly surrounded by flawless women, they will feel less satisfied with their body image and feel pressure to look similar to what they see in the media.

Many companies are currently working to combat this societal issue. Dove and Aerie are two companies that market their items to customers of all shapes and sizes. In “The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty,” women from different backgrounds make up their advertisements. The company encourages customers to “imagine a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety” (Dove). Furthermore, Aerie has instituted #aeriereal: “that means no retouching, and thanks to your stories and support, it’s also about body positivity and loving your REAL self. Inside and out” (Aerie). If every company follows these two and aims to change the standard of beauty, will it actually change?

            Though not all companies convey similar messages as Dove and Aerie, these two companies are setting an example and heading in the right direction. According to Ferguson, women who view promiscuous women in the media have skewed perceptions of victim trauma. The author states, “The results of this study reveal that activating the promiscuous female stereotype through exposure to a popular television show can affect subsequent judgments of other women” (Ferguson 2005). Though the article discusses promiscuous women in the Jerry Springer Show, it concludes the negative perceptions women have when they view promiscuous women in the media. That being said, when girls see sexualized and gorgeous women in magazines, there are likely no positive consequences except for possibly buying the product. They will not feel better, but instead worse about their body image. All in all, capitalism drives the market, and if these beautiful women sell the product, companies will continue to market in this way. In the future, it would be interesting to look at the differences in revenue between a company like Aerie and one like Victoria’s Secret. For now, not all companies have changed like Dove and Aerie, so it is important to educate and empower women.

References: 

#aeriereal. In Aerie. Retreived October 8, 2015 from http://www.ae.com/featured-aeriereal/aerie/s-cat/6890055.

Ferguson, T., Berlin, J., Noles, E., Johnson, J., Reed, W., & Spicer, C. (2005). Variation in the application of the ‘Promiscuous Female’ stereotype and the nature of the application domain: Influences on sexual harassment judgments after exposure to the Jerry Springer Show. Sex Roles, 52, 477-487.

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. In Dove. Retrieved October 8, 2015 from http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx

The Notebook and the Heterosexual Script (from last week)

The Notebook is a “classic” love story about Noah and Allie, two teenagers who come from backgrounds that couldn’t be more opposite.  In the film, the two lovebirds meet in the summer around the age of 17-18.  Soon after they meet, they fall deeply in love.  The movie follows their lives and love for the next 60 years to come. 

At the beginning of the film, Noah sees Allie for the first time at a fair and becomes infatuated with her.  He instantly knows that she is “the one” and he must have her.  As I watched this movie (again), I found myself thinking of Janna Kim’s “From Sex to Sexuality: Exposing the Heterosexual Script on Primetime Network Television.”  The article focuses on the Heterosexual Script, which is described as “the blueprint for societally sanctioned romantic and sexual encounters and interactions” (Kim, 2007).  The Heterosexual Script is composed of four elements (the sexual double standard, courtship strategies, attitudes toward commitment, and homophobia).  What’s so interesting to me as I re-watch this movie is that while it does employ some of these elements and build on the stereotypes; in a lot of ways, the traditional feminine and masculine roles are reversed.   

For example, according to Kim’s code Masculine Commitment (MC), “men actively avoid commitment, marriage, monogamy, or taking their romantic relationship to the ‘next level’” (Kim, 2007).  Noah is quite the opposite.  It is Allie who seems to embody this role when she first meets Noah.  While at this point sex isn’t a factor in their relationship, Allie is the one “playing the field,” while Noah is chasing after her wanting a relationship.  At the same time though, Noah portrays traditional Masculine Courting Strategies by “using active and powerful strategies to win women’s affection” (Kim, 2007).  The clip attached below is from the first time Noah sees Allie.  He interrupts a date that she is on to ask her to go out with him.  He takes a very forward, strong approach with her.  He isn’t afraid to show Allie that he is interested in her, and from the beginning, it is very clear that he is interested in more than sex or sexual pleasure (which very much defies this element of the Heterosexual Script). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ldUWIruvs

Below is a second clip of Noah pursuing Allie after the fair.  Again, Noah actively and aggressively chases after her.  I love that she continues to deny him and say no.  It is clear that Allie sees him as a typical guy who isn’t looking for something serious.  When he tells her how much he wants her, she says “Ohhh jeez, what a line.  Do you use that on all the other girls?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQvN7JsPJso

Throughout the film, Noah shows that he is never with Allie for sex or anything physical.  He doesn’t pressure Allie to have sex, and on their first date, he doesn’t try to kiss her.  Instead, he asks her questions about her family, her classes, and what she does in her free time.  While at times throughout the film, Noah and Allie personify traditional masculine and feminine roles as outlined in the Heterosexual Script, many times they defy them.  I think that this is important that such a classic love story goes against these traditional roles at times and shows that there doesn’t have to be such a rigid line between masculine and feminine actions/feelings. 

Citation:

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157. doi: 10.1080/00224490701263660