Do you think I should take it down? Let me take another selfie. Does this sound familiar? Check your Snapstory, is it a selfie? Personally, my Snapstory from last night is a selfie. As we spoke about in class, we ourselves take selfies and watch others take selfies nearly everyday. The convenience of the one touch necessary to turn the iPhone camera around so it is in selfie mode has made this task even easier. This song and music video certainly embodies the selfie culture, as one may call it. Our guest speaker brought up the questions of whether we take selfies and post them to Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media. This song as well focuses on posting a selfie to Instagram. As the lyrics include: Can you guys help me pick a filter? I don't know if I should go with XX Pro or Valencia. What should my caption be? As a girl I have had this same conversation as portrayed in the video with my own friends. However, since we have gone in-depth about Instagram and Facebook with the research done by our guest lecturer, I decided to focus here on Snapchat.
After deciding what I was going to write this week's blog post on, I decided to track my own use selfies in order to write about it! What I have found is that Thursday and Friday night were the two times I took the most selfies this week so far. This is because these are two nights that I went out to parties and bars dressed up with a full face of makeup and my hair done. Therefore I definitely thought I looked good on these nights. Not only did I take selfies but I posted them to my Snapstory on Snapchat. We spoke in class about the times in which selfies are most likely taken. It is when you think you look good and when you want to show people where you are. By posting selfies in my Snapstory I can include the Michigan geotag, which shows my location because certain geotags are only available on the campus. I wanted people to know I was out and about hitting the local bars in Ann Arbor.
While selfies are taken for fun sometimes and sent among friends, the selfie culture has also become sexual. As the lyrics state: Oh my God, Jason just texted me, should I go home with him? I guess I took a good selfie. Here it is implied that if you take a good selfie where you look hot you can score the boy that you want. Ward (2003) speaks about the media's role in the sexual socialization of today's youth. While this research displays the effects of media exposure, it is also the media use such as these social media platforms. The fact that Snapchat allows the user to choose the amount of seconds, from one to ten, and then the photo disappears, makes Snapchat an easy platform for sexual photos. It may range from sexual language as the caption of the Snapchat selfie to a nude selfie, among both boys and girls. Whoever initiates this may be doing it so that they receive a sexual selfie back. This can create a sexual selfie war between two users that may get more sexual as the selfies continue. Therefore not only does the sexual content in media such as television, movies, and music provide the American youth with a mass amount of sexual information but social media platforms such as Snapchat also have an effect on the sexuality of the American youth. Here I conclude my final blog post, but first, let me take #SELFIE.
Reference
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
While for many 50 Shades of Grey is the first thought that comes to bind when thinking about BDSM, I immediately picture Rihanna's music video to her song S &M. Rihanna is an extremely successful artist who began her career at age 16. She is strong and has been through a lot as she has stated in numerous interviews. Rihanna watched as her father assaulted her mother and further, she experienced it herself. Rihanna was assaulted by Chris Brown when they were dating in 2009. Therefore Rihanna grew up watching abuse and further experienced it herself. Rihanna wrote S&M two years after she was assaulted by Chris Brown. S&M was released in January, 2011.
Mainstreaming Kink:
The Politics of BDSM Representation
in U.S. Popular Media offers the acceptance and understanding of BDSM as "understandable only
when it is the symptom of a deviant type of person with a sick, damaged
core" (Weiss, 2006). Many would use the word "damaged" to describe Rihanna and her past of abuse. In particular, the reading states that this understanding is through pathologizing, as mentioned in reference to the movie Secretary (Weiss, 2006). This is similar when illustrating the use of BDSM in 50 Shades of Grey as Christian Grey also suffered abuse as a child and was deemed to be damaged. The fact that he was damaged is what made his use of BDSM acceptable. Rihanna uses BDSM throughout her music video as she illustrates the lyrics to the viewer. In the very beginning of the music video it states in headlines: Daddy Issues? I believe that this is referring to the fact that her father beat her mother and therefore Rihanna has daddy issues, emphasizing how broken she may be for those that are unaware.
Rihanna's illustration of SM shows that the reading Mainstreaming Kink: The Politics of BDSM Representation in U.S. Popular Media may be true when it speaks about the transformation of BDSM from dangerous and shocking to normal (Weiss, 2006). This is true as well with 50 Shades of Grey, as the novel first came out in 2011, the same year Rihanna's song S&M was released. However, 50 Shades of Grey portrays BDSM with the male as dominant and the female as submissive. In this video it is the other way around. Rihanna is shown to be the dominant one as she gags the reporters and whips them them because she states that she is excited by chains and whips. While in 50 Shades of Grey the girl was the one on the leash, in the music video Rihanna has Perez Hilton, a man, on a leash outdoors. This is where it gets interesting. I had wondered how exactly it may look different if the woman was dominant and the male was submissive. The music video does not treat SM as a joke but it does not treat it as serious either. While Perez Hilton is on the leash he acts like a dog as he pretends to pee on the fire extinguisher and walks on all fours with his tongue out, dressed in bright colors. When the girl is the submissive one as in 50 Shades of Grey, there are no jokes, it is completely serious and not exaggerated. This difference makes me wonder if it is a difference due to the different media types such as a music video versus a movie. Is it a difference due to the genders of who is dominant and submissive? Is it simply a difference in the writer/choreographer of the song/music video and the writer of the movie? These are questions I have that will need to be answered with greater research and possibly more examples of BDSM portrayals in the media.
Due to the fact that S&M by Rihanna was a popular song that was on the Billboard Hot 100, I questioned the effect that song lyrics could have on behavior. This was a main concern in my head because I believe Rihanna's target audience is primarily girls between that range from their teen years through their twenties. I therefore looked to “Love Will Steer the Stars” and Other Improbable Feats: Media Myths in Popular Love Songs for an answer. However, this reading states that they could not find research regarding a direct link between song lyrics and behavior, in terms of both violence and sexuality (Bader, 2007). While the main portrayals of BDSM seem to show males as dominant and females as submissive, I question whether this song would have a positive or negative effect on listeners regarding violence and sexuality, in particular the use of BDSM. I wonder if more females would believe they should be in charge and ultimately enjoy this sexual violence because Rihanna was and they watched her music video and listened to the lyrics. The listeners, teenagers, are at an extremely vulnerable age because they most likely were not co-viewing this music video with their parents.
Lastly, I wonder what the findings would be if a study was done concerning the media effects of BDSM on instrumental attitudes towards sex. For example, if after viewing Rihanna's music video S&M, and other similar media examples, if the viewer would view sex as a physical and casual game where the viewer would stress pleasure over affectionate and relational feelings (Valkenburg, 2010). We observed the connection of porn on instrumental attitudes towards sex but I would like to see more specifically BDSM, and the subset SM, and its effects.
Reference
Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media myths in popular love songs. In M.-L. Galician & D. L. Merskin (Eds.), Critical thinking about sex, love, and romance in the mass media (pp. 141-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Guo, W. & Nathanson, A.I. (2011). The effects of parental mediation of sexual content on the sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of afolescents in the US. Journal of Children and Media, 5(4), 358-378. doi: 10.1080/17482798.2011.587141
Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2010). Processes underlying the effects of adolescents' use of sexually explicit Internet material: The role of perceived realism. Communication Research, 37(3), 375-399. doi: 10.1177/0093650210362464
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
Above is a video clip from American Pie: Reunion, the reunion of the same group of friends from the previous American Pie movies, yet it is around 10 years later. It is a sexual series of movies in which the characters all engage in sexual activity and speech. While the characters are physically grown up, some with wives and children, they continue to act the way they did in high school as they reunite in East Great Falls, Michigan, for their high school reunion.
This clip in particular shows the character Jim masturbating to porn on his laptop when his wife goes to take a bath after their 2-year-old son had been put to sleep. Jim quickly stops masturbating when he sees his 2-year-old son standing in front of the bed, clearly unaware as to what is going on. Jim ends up slamming his laptop closed on his private part resulting in blood which his son notices. When Jim goes to the bathroom to clean up he finds his wife Michelle masturbating with the shower head. Both Jim and Michelle are immediately embarrassed by their actions and the way in which they were caught masturbating.
It is interesting to compare this scene to our discussion in class about pornography and sexual satisfaction. While Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit
Internet Material and Sexual Satisfaction:
A Longitudinal Study and Processes Underlying the
Effects of Adolescents’ Use
of Sexually Explicit Internet
Material: The Role of
Perceived Realism were both studies based on adolescents, I decided to look at the way in which the media portrayed adult interaction with sexually explicit material. When looking at Jim as a character in the series, he also interacted with sexually explicit material while he was an adolescent in the previous American Pie movies. When Jim was an adolescent he related his own experiences, particularly with the exchange student Nadia, to those of others, the social comparison theory. He would therefore look at how he measured up to those on the screen. I would additionally say that he experienced perceived utility in which he would watch pornography as a source of useful information to learn and relate what is happening on the screen to that in the real world (Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M., 2010). He was uncomfortable with sexual activity in general and therefore looked to pornography and the media for help. However, now as Jim is grown up and married, he is not using pornography for this same purpose. Jim's use of pornography was extremely present in the other movies yet in the reunion this is the main time Jim is using pornography. This shows that there is difference among adolescents and adults as we can see by examining the changes in one character as he matures and gets married.
Additionally, in the previous movies Jim, and his friends as well, possessed instrumental attitudes toward sex. For example, the beginning of Jim and Nadia's relationship in the previous American Pie was not truly more of a casual game than containing relational aspects. This is especially clear when Jim uses a webcam to video their interaction and show his friends. If a boy was truly interested in pursuing a relationship with a girl I do not think this would be his plan of action.
As the examples I have provided show, while Jim was in high school, as portrayed in the previous American Pie movies, he used pornography differently and had alternative attitudes towards sex than when he is an adult with a wife and child in American Pie: Reunion. This could be the reason that when both studies examined adolescents only, their findings had to do with the social comparison theory, perceived social realism, social utility, and instrumental attitudes towards sex. It is possible that these terms apply to adolescents and maybe not as much to adults. This is where I would find it interesting for the same studies to be conducted on adults in order to see the findings and compare.
In the previous movies as well as this scene, Jim views and interacts with pornography alone, when he is sure nobody will walk in on him. As well, Michelle is in the bathroom with the door closed, most likely she assumed no one would walk in on her either considering the bathroom is a private place. While she is not watching pornography, she is still masturbating, just as Jim was doing. When Jim is walked in on by his son he is embarrassed, shocked and ultimately has a range of emotions. Similarly, Michelle is embarrassed when Jim walks in on her and Jim's face certainly shows shock to see Michelle. This scene brought me back to our class discussion of when we were first exposed to pornography. As many said, it was an accident, just as Jim's son Evan was exposed accidentally. While the personal examples from class were able to be recalled, I wonder if a child as young as Evan would be able to recall this. In the clip it does not have an impact on Evan and actually has a greater impact on Jim. I believe that this incident will scar Jim greater than it would Evan, considering he is too young to know what is going on in this situation. This scene also makes me wonder if pornography is used among adults, in this case married adults, or if it is something unusual that adults should be embarrassed about. Additionally, I wonder when is the age, maturity level, or life experience in which people no longer have instrumental attitudes towards sex that previously had these attitudes. Also, when is it that the way in which pornography is used changes? Is it when you are in a serious relationship? When you are married? When you are no longer living in your own room? These questions could all be answered using a study comparing adolescents and their usage of pornography and attitudes and then again later in life when they become adults.
Reference
Martinez, B. (2013, October 31). American Reunion 2012 caught asturbating ballbusting scene. Retrieved November 21, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlAFjHHRXTA
Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2010). Processes underlying the effects of adolescents'
use of sexually explicit Internet material: The role of perceived realism. Communication
Research, 37(3), 375-399. doi: 10.1177/0093650210362464
Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2009). Adolescents' exposure to sexually explicit Internet
material and sexual satisfaction: A longitudinal study. Human Communication Research,
35(2), 171-194. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01343.x
After reading Mainstreaming Kink:
The Politics of BDSM Representation
in U.S. Popular Media, I began to think about how common BDSM is in the media. What first came to mind was the movie 50 Shades of Grey. In this movie the male dominates and the female is submissive. I wondered if there were other portrayals of BDSM where the male was not in power and maybe it wasn't even between a male and female. That's when I remembered Wedding Crashers.
Wedding Crashers is a movie that was released in 2005 starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. In this movie the two main characters crash weddings, yet one wedding in particular becomes the focus of the movie. This is the wedding hosted by the Secretary of the Treasury, William Clearly. William Clearly has two daughters and a son named Todd. In the scene shown above, Todd Clearly is attempting to engage in BDSM with Vince Vaughn's character. Todd is a gay character with many social issues, he is immature, and he does not know how to act in public. He screams phrases that are shown in the images below. It is an accepted fact throughout the family, which it then becomes accepted by the audience, that Todd is damaged.
In this particular scene, Todd has used restraints to keep Vince Vaughn's character tied to the bed. In a movie such as 50 Shades of Grey, restraints are seen as sexy and the woman enjoys being tied to the bed where she receives pleasure from Christian Grey. The reading speaks about how views towards BDSM have been shifted from dangerous and shocking to accepted and normalized. The use of restraints was accepted and normalized in 50 Shades of Grey, especially because Christian Grey was damaged from childhood. However, it is interesting to compare the use of restraints in Wedding Crashers because they are used between two men, one straight man and one gay man. While Todd is also a damaged character, similar to Christian Grey, the use of bondage and discipline is completely different. The use of restraints is quite shocking and possibly dangerous for Vince Vaughn's character because consent was not given prior. This portrays BDSM in a slightly dangerous light. As the viewer I was nervous to see what Todd was going to do to Vince Vaughn's character yet when I viewed 50 Shades of Grey I didn't question the use of restraints because it was expected. This comparison between the two is interesting to research because Wedding Crashers was released 10 years prior to 50 Shades of Grey. While this may show the shift from BDSM as dangerous and shocking to accepted and normalized, it also may be due to other factors. For example the fact that Todd is gay or there was not consent.
I also looked at Wedding Crashers with Information-Seeking Practices during the Sexual
Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual
Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming
Out in a Mediated Environment in mind. This reading came to thought because just as BDSM has been accepted and normalized due to the fact that people are damaged, that is a common view towards the LGBT community being accepted. In this reading there is a quote from a gay participant about the confusion he faced due to the fact that there were so many different stereotypical views and representations of gay people and the gay culture in the media. Another participant also felt that the media shows extreme stereotypes of gay people and it makes it confusing as well (Bond et al., 2009). The portrayal of Todd in Wedding Crashers may cause confusion and possibly a decrease in self-esteem among gay viewers. I believe this because Todd is seen as a damaged and crazy character, especially with his use of restraints on another character. As well, this movie is a comedy therefore the audience is meant to laugh at Todd's character. This portrays gay people in a negative light and that may have a negative effect on gay people looking to the media to find information.
References
Bond, B.J., Hefner, V., & Drogos, K.L. (2009). Information-Seeking Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a Mediated Environment. Sexuality & Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 13(1), 32-50. doi: 10.1007/s12119-008-9041-y
Wedding Crashers: Todd. (2006, May 12). Retrieved November 11, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvRQX-IKgPM
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
Grey’s
Anatomy is a medical drama series that has aired on ABC since 2005 and
continues to air today. The show concentrates on a group of doctors that work
at Seattle Grace Hospital, now known as Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, in
Seattle, Washington. The characters are diverse when it comes to their race,
age, and sexuality. One main character includes Callie Torres, the head
orthopedic surgeon and board member of the hospital. When Callie began on the
show she married George O’Malley, a main male character. However, she soon
divorced George and married Arizona Robbins in later seasons, and then also
divorced Arizona. Callie has many romantic relationships throughout the series
whether it is with men or women; Callie is a bisexual character. This clip
attached is from Season 5, Episode 7 in which Callie is single and has a
romantic relationship with another woman at the hospital, Erica Hahn. Erica
Hahn stated that she was a total lesbian yet this scared Callie because she is
bisexual. Hahn states, “You can’t kind of be a lesbian” ("Mark & Derek / Callie & Erica," 2011). This is where
it gets confusing in the relationship and the characters question themselves.
I immediately thought of Callie
Torres when reading Information-Seeking
Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual
Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a Mediated Environment.
In this study, bisexual participants were extremely critical of the media
and LGBT overall experienced barriers when getting the information they needed
from the media. There are two quotes that grabbed my attention about the way in
which the media gives misinformation about bisexuals and the way bisexuals are
portrayed as indecisive or oversexed. It is interesting because Callie is
portrayed as indecisive at the beginning of the series when she is confused
about her sexuality yet this soon changes. Callie owns her sexuality and
although she goes back and forth between males and females in every season, she
is always committed to her current partner no matter what their gender is. Callie
Torres plays an important role in trying to clarify to the viewers what it
means to be bisexual. While other characters believe she cannot be partly straight
and partly a lesbian, Callie defends her sexuality and ultimately learns to become
proud of it. Throughout each of Callie’s relationships she expresses the complexity
of her sexuality. Watching this television series led me to understand what
might be going on in someone’s mind and life that is bisexual. This leads me to
question if this television series only helps those who are straight to
understand bisexuality and doesn’t help bisexuals or if it helps everyone. This
question arose because Grey’s Anatomy began in 2005 and this paper was
published in 2008. Did the participants never see Grey’s Anatomy? Was the
research done prior to the beginning of Grey’s Anatomy? Does Callie Torres not
portray a bisexual being realistically? There are many questions that need more
research in order to further understand this topic.
Grey’s
Anatomy is a series that I find to cover many of the aspects that Uncommonly Good: Exploring How Mass Media
May Be a Positive Influence on Young Women’s Sexual Health and Development
would like for mainstream media content to include. As explained above, Callie
is an example of a woman who questions her own sexuality and is a
three-dimensional portrayal of bisexuals. Her physical appearance is not the
typical skinny main character. Callie embraces her curves and uses them as
power! She is an amazing surgeon and she is a physically and emotionally strong
character. Callie is extremely sexual and communicates with her partners about
sex constantly as well as finds the pleasure in sex, as most of the characters
do. This article was published in 2006, and the research was done earlier than
the article was published. Therefore I wonder if the 10 points the article
states that mainstream media content should include have been covered in these
past years since the research was done and the article was written. I certainly
see many of these points covered in television shows I watch.
Reference:
Bond, Bradley, Hefner, Veronica, Drogos, Kristin.
"Formation-Seeking Practices during the Sexual Development of Lesbian,
Gay, and Bi-Sexual Individuals: The Influence and Effects of Coming Out in a
Mediated Environment" December 2008. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
2008
Mark & Derek / Callie & Erica (Season 5 Episode 7).
(2011, April 20). Retrieved October 31, 2015, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQdZXexgJDU
Ward, L., Day, K., & Epstein, M. (2006). Uncommonly
good: Exploring how mass media may be a positive influence on young women's
sexual health and development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent
Development, (112), 57-70.
After analyzing songs and discussing the myths and
stereotypes that are clear in the reading “Love
Will Steer the Stars” and Other Improbable Feats: Media Myths in Popular Love
Songs, I decided to browse music on my own and see what I find. The reading
made me skeptical of the myths it presented due to the fact that the research
is from over ten years ago. Therefore I looked at a remix in order to compare a
song that was originally released in 1973 but has been re-created in a remix
and released in 2015. This song is “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye that was
released in 1973, and “Marvin Gaye” by Charlie Puth that was released in 2015.
When analyzing “Let’s Get It On” I looked first at the
title, which automatically stood out to me. The song title itself is sexual,
and the phrase about sex is continually used throughout the song. Although this
song was written and released long before the research was done, it does
demonstrate at least one of the myths. The myth that “the right mate completes
you,” is shown in the lyrics with the idea that life would be sweet and
wonderful if the woman Marvin Gaye is speaking to in his lyrics would get it on
with him. As well, the lyrics imply that life will be easy together and
ultimately there is nothing wrong because the love is true. This embodies the
myth that sex is easy and wonderful because you and your partner are meant for
each other.
Next I decided to look at the song “Marvin Gaye” due to the
fact that it references the artist and was released 42 years later. This song
was released after the research was done and I found that to be an interesting
comparison between the two songs and the research considering they were all
created in very different years. As I analyze the lyrics of “Marvin Gaye” it is
clear that certain myths continue to apply. For example, the lyrics emphasize
the fact that Charlie Puth is nothing without the girl he is singing to. This
directly embodies the myth about the right mate that ultimately completes you. It is interesting because this myth was also clear in the lyrics of "Let's Get It On" although it was released 42 years later. Overall I found that no matter what year, 1973, 2004, or 2015, at least one
myth from the reading holds true for each song and are expressed through the
song lyrics.
References:
Bader, A. (2007).
"Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media myths
in popular love songs. In M.-L. Galician & D. L. Merskin (Eds.), Critical thinking
about sex, love, and romance in the mass media (pp. 141-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Charlie Puth. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from http://www.metrolyrics.com/marvin-gaye-lyrics-charlie-puth.html
Marvin Gaye. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2015, from http://www.metrolyrics.com/lets-get-it-on-lyrics-marvin-gaye.html
This video is a sketch from
Saturday Night Live titled Principal
Frye: Valentine’s Day Dance. The sketch is from a high school dance in
which the theme is abstinence. While the sketch speaks of abstinence and has a
couple mention their experience, it ultimately is making fun of abstinence with
the way it is spoken about and the students who mention it.
Virginity Loss Narratives in “Teen Drama” Television Programs
explains several scripts for virginity loss in teen dramas. Included is the
abstinence script, which indicates “a specific meaning of virginity as a gift,
the pleasures of virginity and the positive consequences for maintaining
virginity, and the physical, mental, and social dangers of sex and the negative
consequences of premarital sex” (Kelly, 2010). In the SNL sketch, a couple
tells the high school students “don’t do that thing until you get that ring”
(2013). This quote may sound like it is promoting abstinence and the employing
the script about maintaining virginity until marriage; it makes fun of this
idea. The speech is followed by negative comments and booing from the audience.
Therefore this clip is making fun of the abstinence script, possibly suggesting
that this script may no longer hold.
This clip was created in 2013
while Carpenter’s study was done in 2005. This demonstrates that while the
abstinence script may have been present in the teen dramas that were
researched, the same scripts may no longer hold. SNL viewers consist of a wide
range of ages beginning mainly with teenagers and continuing with
fifty-year-olds. Although the dramas researched and SNL both have viewers that
are in their teen years, they apply the script in opposite ways. While 7th
Heaven and One Tree Hill apply the abstinence script with the theme of
virginity as a gift, SNL applies the same script however with humor added. The
addition of humor has a drastically different effect as compared to the script
being talked about seriously. The way the script is employed in SNL may cause
high school viewers to want to lose their virginity because they may feel
embarrassed after watching the sketch.
The abstinence script portrays the
negative consequences of premarital sex. While SNL describes one negative
consequence, it is not realistic. “You have sex, you explode,” is a quote from
this clip (2013). This is not a true consequence of sex; therefore the clip is
making fun of the dangers of sex rather than truly stating the dangers. Additionally,
it is casually mentioned in the SNL sketch that someone gave birth in the photo
booth. This mention of a high school girl giving birth is meant to cause
laughter among the audience. This is similar to Coach Carr’s speech in Mean
Girls that states, “Don’t have sex, because you will get pregnant and die”
(Michaels, 2004). These examples may cause viewers to think of sex less heavily
due to the humor in the way virginity loss, and even childbirth is spoken
about. Overall, these examples employ the abstinence script in a humorous way,
suggesting that the findings from the reading may no longer apply to media
content today.
References:
Kelly, M. (2010). Virginity Loss Narratives in “Teen Drama”
Television Programs. Journal of Sex
Research, 47:5, 479-489.
Michaels, L. (Director). (2004). Mean Girls [Motion Picture]. Paramount.
Watch Principal Frye: Valentine’s Day Dance from Saturday
Night Live on NBC.com. (2013). Retreived September 28, 2015.
The embedded link is one in which Amy
Schumer gives a brutally honest interview about her sex life.
The clip begins with the father from the movie Trainwreck stating, “Monogamy isn’t realistic” and has his kids
repeating after him (Gaines, 2015). Amy Schumer then speaks about the sexual
double standard of men and women and speaks about her own experience with this
standard and attitudes toward commitment.
After watching this clip I quickly
thought about the reading, From Sex to
Sexuality. This clip directly relates to the reading as it provides
realistic examples and views towards two of the complementary sets of codes
from the heterosexual script. The first code is the sexual double standard. The
sub-code of Good Girls states “the
use of words such as slut link a woman’s sexual history to her value as a
person” (Kim et al., 2007). This is demonstrated in this clip when Amy Schumer
speaks about her own experience of sleeping with two-dozen men. Although she is
open about this fact she feels that women do not talk about the amount of men
they have slept with due to being ashamed of their actions. Amy therefore calls
herself, and her friends, whores. This word is similar to the use of the word
slut that the reading talks about. While it is acceptable for men to sleep
around, girls are bullied and looked down upon for the same actions. For
example, Amy states that she has never slept with anyone on the road because it
is not acceptable yet all the men sleep with whomever they want. This shows
that the “Good Girls code” is implemented in real life and is followed.
The video clip begins with the
father from the movie Trainwreck stating,
“Monogamy isn’t realistic” as he also has his kids repeating after him. This
reflects attitudes toward commitment in relationship, in particular Masculine Commitment. This brings to
life that “men actively avoid commitment, marriage, monogamy, or taking their
romantic relationships to the next level” (Kim et al., 2007). In this clip the
father is teaching his kids Masculine
Commitment at a young age so that they grow up with these thoughts
engrained in their head. In contrast, Amy Schumer demonstrates the opposite of Feminine Commitment, as she is not
seeking monogamy, marriage, or commitment in this clip, indeed she seeks the
opposite. She is simply trying to have fun and believes that “women should be
empowered with their sexuality” (Gaines, 2015). Rather than women needing a
boyfriend to make their lives complete, Amy Schumer believes women should enjoy
their sexuality! While this clip may support some of the readings statements
about attitudes toward commitment in relationships, it also gives the other
side to these attitudes, which is interesting to see within the span of a few
minutes.
References:
Kim, J. et al. (2007). From Sex to Sexuality: Exposing the
Heterosexual Script on Primetime Network Television. Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 44, 145-157.
Gaines, J. (2015, April 29). Amy Schumer gives brutally
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