Sexting Gone Right

NBC's Parks and Recreation puts its characters in many crazy situation, not limited to the taboo and controversial act of sexting. In the season 4 premiere episode, "I'm Leslie Knope," an unknown sender emails every woman that works in city hall a picture of his penis.

*Unfortunately, I can't find a video of the related scene. On Netflix, the scene runs from 3:45 to 4:45.*

The scene is not much of a learning opportunity for young viewers about sexting because the characters mostly make the picture and the incident a joke, and because the picture was unwanted. It does show that unwanted sexting is wrong, however, when Chris (Rob Lowe) and Ben (Adam Scott) apologize to the women employees of the City for the gross misconduct.

A subsequent scene does give a relatively positive spin on the sexting incident. Ann (Rashida Jones) - a part-time nurse and part-time City Health employee - found an abnormality in the picture and was able to make the sender aware that he had mumps. Brown et al. tackles the topic of sexting within their article Sex, Sexuality Sexting, and SexEd. They play around with the idea that "sexual self-expression on the Internet [including sexting] can be functional for adolescents" in that they can find like-minded peers and experiment with sexuality in a low-risk way (Brown et al., 2009, pg. 13).( Of course there are risks for sexting in this day and age, such as having pictures of one's body distributed without consent.)

This incident within Parks and Recreation - likely without meaning to do this - shows that good can come out of sexting. Not the kind of good that Brown and colleagues are going for, but with similar importance, that of health - which they also touch on as being important in today's adolescent sexual discovery utilizing social media, the Internet, and texting. "I'm Leslie Knope" shows both the good and bad of sexting - with maybe a bit too much nonchalance mixed in.

Brown, J., Keller, S., & Stern, S. (2009). Sex, sexuality, sexting, and sexed: Adolescents and the media. The Prevention Researcher, 16(4), 12-16.

A Disturbing Look on Love

Anxious adolescent and adult girls waited in line on Valentine’s Day for what they thought was going to be the romantic video of the year, Fifty Shades of Grey. Many of them had read the book beforehand and were expecting the variety of erotic practices that were to come. However, no one expected the scenes to be so disturbing to watch and far from anything that could be considered romantic. For the few individuals that are unaware of this movie, it is primarily based around a college graduate Anastatia Steele, whom falls hopelessly head over heels for the well known and admired Christian Grey, a man whom finds pleasure in hurting women in bizarre ways. Although some may classify these bizarre actions as simply being a representation of BDSM I classify actions such as shoving a marble up Anastatia’s vagina as being a form of sexual abuse that would not be tolerated in the real world and would send a man to jail.  

I strongly agree with the media consumers that were surveyed and interviewed within the article “Mainstreaming Kink: The Politics of BDSM Representation in U.S. Popular Media” whom stated that increased exposure to representations of BDSM has not at all resulted in acceptance of BDSM or even the feelings of understanding. In fact, my increased exposure of BDSM has led me to feel disgust towards these sorts of practices. I’ll never forget hearing my friends come back from seeing this movie and talking in disgust about how terrible and hard it was to watch the overall movie because of the abuse that it represented. They also talked about how sad it is that younger individuals where in the movie theater and could find this behavior as being a representation of love, when in fact it is one hundred percent not. With “Understanding the role of entertainment media in sexual socialization of American Youth: A review of empirical research” stating that the media serves as one of the most critical educator about sexual relationships for youth, this is a deeply concerning issue when movies like Fifty Shades of Grey are being produced.

Therefore, when an email was sent out to my entire sorority labeled “An open letter to young people about Fifty Shades of Grey” I was captivated into reading what a psychiatrist had to say about this number one movie. Within the first paragraphs readers are made aware of the large problem that is faced within society and that is the issue that individuals believe that everything they see on television is real and glamorous. This is the most puzzling statement because as I stated earlier glamorizing and displaying to individuals a harmful relationship is not okay and could easily result in more sexually abusive relationships, a problem that our society already faces as a whole. Also, if individuals are trying to normalize BDSM in the real world then showing Christian Grey constantly supplying Anastasia with alcohol throughout the movie so that she is impaired to make her own judgments is the wrong way to go about this.

http://www.miriamgrossmanmd.com/an-open-letter-to-young-people-about-fifty-shades-of-grey/

Overall, I argue that Fifty Shades of Grey definitely could be considered a disgusting movie as it lacks the ability to distinguish between what is considered a healthy and unhealthy relationship and what the overall benefits of partaking in BDSM are.

                                                                        References

Ward, L. M. (2003). Understanding the role of entertainment media in the sexual socialization of American youth: A review of empirical research. Developmental Review, 23(3), 347-388. doi: 10.1016/s0273-2297(03)00013-3

Weiss, M. (2006). Mainstreaming kink: The politics of BDSM representation in U.S. popular media. Journal of Homosexuality, 50(2/3), 103-132. doi: 10.1300/J082v50n02_06

Time Isn't Wasted When You're Getting Wasted?

Asher Roth’s “I Love College” is a song about the American college experience and the singer’s passion for it. Despite being titled “I Love College” Roth does not sing about the holistic college experience. What Roth actually sings about is the binge drinking culture at American universities. Here we find the first potential danger of his song. If young listeners absorb Roth’s overall message, they may be misled into thinking that the entire college experience is encapsulated in drinking and partying. In this way, Roth’s song can be compared to alcohol advertisements that distort reality by presenting audiences solely with the “glamorous” side of drinking (Ridberg, Katz, & Kilbourne, 2004).

Time isn't wasted when you're getting wasted

Woke up today and all I could say is

That party last night was awfully crazy I wish we taped it

I danced my ass off and had this one girl completely naked

Drink my beer and smoke my weed

But my good friends is all I need

Pass out at three wake up at ten

Go out to eat then do it again

Here we see that “I Love College” does not touch on any of the consequences of binge drinking, but rather implies that hangovers can be slept off and the partying can continue. The same message is further enhanced by the accompanying music video that shows a wild fraternity party. Again, if viewers/ listeners are not familiar with the college experience they may be led to believe that Roth’s portrayal of one is accurate.

            Dangerous messages from Asher Roth’s “I Love College” are not limited to the topic of alcohol consumption but also venture into the realm of sexual health.

I can't tell you what I learned from school

But I could tell you a story or two

Um yea of course I learned some rules

Like don't pass out with your shoes on

And don't leave the house till the booze gone

And don't have sex if she’s too gone

When it comes to condoms put two on

The most concerning lyrics from this verse is the above, “when it comes to condoms put two on.” This practice is, of course, counterproductive to sexual health as the use of two condoms increases the chances that they will break and be rendered ineffective. However, it possible that many listeners are not aware of this. If media can spread positive sexual health education, I believe it can certainly do the opposite (Collins et al., 1121). Here we can only hope that listeners to Asher Roth’s “I Love College” also have another source of sex education.

Mainsteaming BDSM in Comedy Films

     
        In our discussions about the seeming infiltration of BDSM into popular culture, we examined a few examples of that phenomenon. The examples were two movies and some advertisements for mundane products. These are good examples and might illustrate how BDSM has crept into the mainstream. However, when I think of the mainstreaming of BDSM themes, the only instances that popped into my head were from comedy films. This might be because I do not notice the other instances of BDSM in other cases, but I think the question of how BDSM  representations in comedy films affect BDSM representations in other instances should be taken up.
         The image above this text is from the movie "Dodgeball," made in 2004. This movie is a comedy and features a scene in which the dodgeball team receives a package they assume are their uniforms. However, they open the box and find nothing but leather outfits and other BDSM accessories. Their shipment had been botched and left them no choice- they had to wear the BDSM equipment as their uniforms. As the Average Joe's dodgeball team is announced and enter the court, the crowod goes silent upon seeing them come out of the mist and onto the court for all to see in leather outfits and chains. One of the commentators exclaims, "Oh my sweet Jesus" as the group of  middle- aged people lumber around the court in their "uniforms."
          This scene from the movie is designed to get a comical reaction from audiences.I believe the comedy of this scene comes from the irony of a bunch of "Average Joes" wearing something not so average and watching them handle the awkward situation of facing a crowd of hundreds of people. However, I think it is important to acknowledge that in this case, making BDSM the butt of the joke may damage the credibility of BDSM practices outside of comedy films. The crowd's reaction to seeing the BDSM outfits in the public eye was shock and astonishment as they go silent and express puzzlement with displays of open mouths. A mother is shown covering the eyes of her children as she expresses disgust and anger at the dodgeball team for wearing their uniforms. Overall, the film's representation of BDSM makes it out to be something not to take lightly and accept as something in the mainstream. The film portrays it's place in the public eye as something to shield your kids from and question the intentions of those who have something to do with BDSM.
          Though this instance of BDSM in the mainstream film industry is in a comedy film and is not intended to be taken seriously, it still has effects and flies in the face of  Mainstreaming Kink: The Politics of BDSM Representation in U.S. Popular Media by Margot Weiss. In this piece, Weiss explains that since the 1980's the amount of BDSM coverage in popular media has increased. She says, "SM has saturated popular culture, and in this saturation, SM has come to mean something more mainstream and less risqué, more conventional and less exotic. Popular depictions of SM have shifted from images of the shocking, dangerous other to representations both pathological and normal." I argue that the portryal of BDSM in the movie "Dodgeball" works to disprove this theory and serves to stigmatize BDSM practices as unusual and deviant.
          Perhaps the effects of the BDSm scene in Dodgeball is supposed to be considered comical and not analyzed under the microscope in which we analyze things in class. But, it is a piece of popular culture and I think its effects are felt just as much as any serious publication. I think that representations of BDSM in comedy films try to captilaize on the "unusual" nature of BDSM practices to mae it the butt of jokes. In this way, BDSM's leak into the mainstream serves to undermine its acceptance of a normal practice.

                                                              Citations


Weiss, M. D. (2006). Mainstreaming kink: The politics of BDSM representation in US popular media. Journal of homosexuality, 50(2-3), 103-132.

Thurber, R. (Director). (2004). Dodgebal [Motion picture]. United States of America: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Vandersexxx: BDSM in Eurotrip

Josh and I talked briefly about this scene from Eurotrip in class, but I felt an in-depth analysis might be interesting too. This is the best clip I could find of the scene; unfortunately, I couldn't get one with only the Vandersexxx parts.

Eurotrip is a raunchy comedy about one American teenager, Scott, and his three friends traveling through Europe in search of his sexy pen pal after a harsh breakup at his high school graduation. In this scene, Scott's best friend, Cooper, leaves his friends to go to an Amsterdam sex club named Vandersexxx. His relentless pursuit of sex in the movie smacks of the Sex as Masculinity component of the heterosexual social script as defined by Kim & colleagues (2011). He enters the club and is excited to find himself surrounded by beautiful, topless women. Shortly after this, one of the other characters, Jamie (who is established as comically geeky, feminine, awkward and sexually inept by his failure to follow the Sex as Masculinity subscript) finds himself in a sexual encounter with a woman in an alleyway; this proves out to be a major source of irony given the surprises the sex-crazed Cooper is in for.

Enticed by the promise of having his wildest fantasies fulfilled, Cooper is drawn further into Vandersexxx. Unaware of the intense experience awaiting him, he laughs when he's told about the "safe word." Before he realizes what's happening, the women of Vandersexxx handcuff his hands above his head and the club's matron tears off her trench coat to reveal a leather dominatrix outfit. Two huge leather clad men come into the room and Cooper realizes that this is a different kind of sex club. One of the men puts electrical clamps on Cooper's testicles, taking BDSM to an extreme. The next time we come back to Vandersexxx, the dominatrix is using a clapping toy monkey with cymbals around Cooper's genitals when he tries to say the safe word. The dominatrix seemingly deliberately mishears him, and screams for the men to bring on another toy, which turns out to be a three-pronged dildo power tool. The next thing we see is Cooper waddling down the street, visibly in pain.

While Weiss's work (2006) on the mainstreaming of BDSM criticizes the "safe," normalized portrayals of BDSM in the media for only permitting acceptance of certain types of SM, Eurotrip presents a seemingly more harmful portrayal of BDSM. By portraying BDSM as involuntary, scary, foreign and inherently homosexual, the movie eliminates any chance that the heterosexual, non-BDSM practicing American viewer accepts or condones SM practices. This scene draws humor out of the extremity of the Vandersexxx BDSM experience, but that same extremity would inevitably cause conservative viewers to condemn BDSM as being too strange and too foreign to ever accept. This type of portrayal interrupts and even reverses the supposed progress toward mainstream acceptance, understanding and tolerance of BDSM that Weiss (2006) investigates.

References:

1. 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 
2. Weiss, M. (2006). Mainstreaming kink: The politics of BDSM representation in U.S. popular media. Journal of Homosexuality, 50(2/3), 103-132. doi: 10.1300/J082v50n02_06 

Keeping the Love Alive

In the media, relationships seem to be romanticized and idealized. Who doesn't want to watch a love story of two people falling madly in love? What many media leave out, is what happens to these couples in the long-term. The movie Sex Tape depicts this issue in an extremely comedic manner.

Upon the first time they meet,  Annie Hargrove (Cameron Diaz) and Jay Hargrove's (Jason Segal) physical chemistry is almost instantaneous. They start having sexual relations, and it's easy to understand that they really enjoy having sex with one another. Ten years later, everything changes when they are no longer single, but instead married with kids. As a result, their sex life suffers, and Annie and Jay are desperate to get it back. In order to do so, they decide to make a sex tape, but only mean for it to be seen by their own eyes. This unfortunately is not the case when Jay accidentally forgets to delete it, and it ends up in the wrong hands. 

While extremely funny and entertaining, this movie brings up a lot of interesting points about long-term relationships. According to Lippman et al in "Isn't it Romantic," the media consistently focuses on the "falling in love" phase of a relationship, "such as the giving of gifts and compliments and exaggerated romantic gestures, such as scattering rose petals." (Lippman et al, 2014). It is easy for a media company to romanticize a couple falling in love with each other, because viewers thoroughly enjoy a love story. Sex Tape does just this; from the start, Annie and Jay have an instantaneous connection that is very entertaining to watch. At the same time, this romanticized ideal is slightly dangerous for viewers. Lippman states, "although heavier total amount of TV exposure predicted lower levels of idealistic marital expectations, heavier exposure to romantic TV predicted higher levels of idealistic marital expectations" (Lippman et al, 2014)). The media may romanticize falling in love, but relationships are not always glamorous forever. In Sex Tape, Annie and Jay's relationship is not always hearts and flowers, but they do indeed run into problems after being together for many years. 

Lippman's research shows that viewers truly pay attention to the media and the messages it sends on relationships. Although the circumstances in Sex Tape are slightly unconventional, the movie shows that those in long-term relationships run into obstacles that they must overcome. Annie and Jay love each other and the family they have created, but with their crazy lives, they need time to themselves to get their relationship back to to where it was when they first met. While the media should make individuals excited about falling in love, there should also be a balance of revealing that love does have ups and downs in the end. Couples should not make sex tapes, but they should definitely focus on spending time together and keeping their chemistry alive.  

References: 
Lippman, J. R., Ward, L. M., & Seabrook, R. C. (2014). Isn’t it romantic? Differential associations between romantic screen media genres and romantic beliefs. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(3), 128-140. doi: 10.1037/ppm0000034 

Sex Tape Official Red Band Trailer (2014, March 31). Retrieved November 11, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF6IXw86iSQ.

The Meaning of a SOLO Cup

The average college student uses the term “going out” to refer to going out with friends somewhere to drink alcohol and often with the aim of getting drunk. This is thought to be part of the college experience but there is reason why this is part of the culture. Part of the issue is the advertising industry that has the obvious goal to sell more alcohol. The other issue is that many students find this drinking culture a determinant of a true college experience.

Looking at the history of the “Red Solo Cup” it is interesting to see how sometimes there are more people to blame for marketing consequences than the professional advertisers.

While the SOLO brand did not intend to be the cup associated with messy alcohol consumption, they do go along with this campaign. Why would a company not go along with a marketing campaign that a target demographic practically created for themselves? 

The following image is a screenshot of the SOLO Cup website:

It is obvious from this image and many others that holding a red SOLO Cup indicates that one is having fun at a social gathering. Even though many students say that they do not like this drinking culture, it is a cyclical cycle where people use these cups because they want to look like the pictures and then the pictures are created to look more like the wild parties that everyone should want to be at. 

The movie Spin the bottle: Sex, lies, and alcohol shows how college students feel that they must drink to be accepted and have fun even though they do not always like the outcomes of their drinking. The problem is the idea of "FOMO" (fear of missing out). Everyone simply wants to feel accepted a part of the social group.

What people don’t talk about is the different levels of being drunk. Students will sometimes come back from a long exam and say it’s time to get drunk but the word drunk is not well defined. At what point does someone go from being tipsy to being drunk? Is the average college student aiming to be tipsy or drunk? And do all students hope to reach the same level of intoxication when they are drinking to get drunk? If not, there are many concerns as to why so many students have a loss of memory of nights so often when drinking. The biggest issue here is the blurred line of meaning when it comes to defining being "drunk," as well as the fact that social drinking is uncommon but drinking with a purpose of getting drunk is seen as the norm.

• Ridberg, R., Katz, J., Kilbourne, J., & Media Education Foundation. (2004). Spin the bottle: Sex, lies and alcohol. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.