Parental Perspectives on Sexting: What can do to protect you child?

In the wake of our discussion of sexting on Tuesday, I was left with some questions about the way we view sexting in society, wanted to probe into the problems with the popular conceptualization, and make an attempt at reasoning through a more rational way of thinking about sexting. This post turned into a powerpost, I may have gotten a little carried away.

I question the true potential for harm assumed to be inherent in sexting. The potential consequences we usually cite in order to deter young people from sexting are often legal- or emotionally-based. As a society, we have insisted on treating sexting as different from other sexual activities, despite sexting being shown by Temple and colleagues (2012) to be closely related to other sexual behaviors; much of the way we treat sexting feels like the result of a moral panic. It's easy to see where this panic stems from, as much of the conversation around sexting taps into the deep-seated parental fear that their child might go behind their back and violate the values they have taught or get themselves into trouble, as illustrated by this news story. 

In accordance with this panicked perspective on sexting, the current societal response to sexts is illustrated by the response to the recent discovery of a Colorado High School's student-run sexting ring. These Colorado students, who claim the sharing of sexts seemed like a normal part of teen life, are now subject to the same charges we apply to rapists, child pornographers and the like. While it's possible someone who was hurt by the circulation of the images provided the anonymous tip that exposed the sext ring, it's not clear that these sexts resulted in personal injury to anyone, which begs the question, what are we punishing these kids for?

In sexting and sex in general, I believe it is crucial to treat each case as unique and listen to the victim or survivor when any abuse occurs to decide how to respond. At the same time, I hear of far less cases of two minors facing serious legal consequences for having consensual underaged sex and then telling other people at their school about it. The analogues between sexting and sex in general may at first be unclear; by temporarily assuming the mentality that consensual sexting is like any other sexual act and that some abuses of the sext are more like acts of bullying than sexual assault, we will soon find ourselves better equipped as parents and lawmakers to deal with the consequences associated with the sext. 

An immediately apparent virtue of linking sexting to sex is that the idea of consent can now be used to better define the appropriate treatment of the various abuses linked to sexting. If one young person takes a picture of another young person's body without their consent, that person has essentially violated their right to control their own body and should be subject to serious legal consequences. We often (and justly) treat adults and minors the same in the cases of molestation and rape (other nonconsentual bodily intrusions), and thus gain considerable insight in how to investigate and treat the true creeps who take advantage of others' bodies.

Now I turn to the much more common scenario of a consensual picture being given or taken of a young person's body and circulated without their consent. In this case, the circulator is essentially communicating potentially damaging knowledge of that person's body to others, which seems to be a much less malicious case than the completely nonconsensual picture. To illustrate the logic here, I turn to Lippman and Campbell's (2014) work, which finds that adolescents' main concerns surrounding the decision to sext revolve around fears of being termed "prude" for not sending sexts or "sluts" for sending sexts. This binary of fears is extremely similar to the fears surrounding adolescents' decisions to have sex or not. In either case, calling someone a "prude" or "slut" and spreading vicious rumors falls squarely in the definition of bullying (where, in this case, the imbalance of power stems from intimate knowledge of someone's personal life or other perceived social or moral superiorities). As such, the people responsible for tarnishing someone's reputation ought to be subject to the punishments applied to any other sort of bullying, which range in severity but often are resolved within the schools themselves (thus avoiding drastically life-altering consequences). After all, the social and emotional consequences of the sext arise not from the existence and circulation of the sext itself but rather the use of the sext to judge and shame the individual.

Lastly, in the case of the more rare but potentially much more damaging scenario of the viral sext, we already have the mechanisms in place to help individuals assert agency over their images as media content producers, coming in the form of copyright laws. Dr. Hasinoff's book Sexting Panic explores the validity of claims of digital permanency that are often cited in panic pieces like the news story above. By thinking of sexting as a form of media production, the individual is now able to control the distribution of their likeness without relying on more serious sexual offense laws, which may not help someone over the age of 18. This conceptualization has the added benefit of lending the sexter agency over their body, thus subverting the victimizing rhetoric applied to the adolescent sexter. 

The result of the failure to connect sexting to other sexual acts and other forms of media production is the unduly severe and inconsistent treatment of those involved in the taking and circulating of sexts, which usually comes in the form of felonies or sexual offender registrations. By focusing on the problems of bullying and media control, we can begin to empower young people to have agency over their bodies while also fostering a climate in which they can make mistakes and learn from them rather than suffer at the hands of an overzealous prosecutor. 

One Direction or Wrong Direction? Problematic Idolization of Male Media Stars

One Direction is one of the most popular bands of the decade, their success largely driven by their fiercely dedicated adolescent female fan base (along with personal contributions to their YouTube views). This makes 1D just one in a long line of dreamy male pop stars, ranging back to Brown & colleagues' 1993 ethnography (where girls talked about Bon Jovi), to be idolized by adolescent girls around the world.

Earlier this year, the very earth upon which Directioners had stood since the band's 2010 X-Factor debut shook: Zayn Malik left the band for good, citing stress as the cause. The video featured above illustrates the passionate attachment 1D fans felt toward the 22 year old superstar and the rattling effect of his departure. It's obvious that, as Karniol (2001) observed, adolescent girls transitioning into their sexuality still choose feminine male media stars to idolize.

Every time a male athlete faces a scandal, there seems to be concern about the message that their actions send the boys and young men who idolize them, particularly on sports talk shows like ESPN's Sportscenter. Amid the band's shake-up, rumors of other, more concerning explanations for the Zayn's departure emerged, namely drug & alcohol abuse and a nascent cheating scandal. Regardless of the truth of these claims, their circulation means that there are certainly fans out there who took those explanations to heart. A couple of months after Zayn left 1D, it was announced that Louis Tomlinson would be having a baby with a random stylist from LA outside of a committed relationship. In the wake of these events, there seems to be little concern expressed about what sort of message this sends to young Directioners and the news seems to be presented in celebratory tone, excitedly looking forward to the future, rather than concerned. 

The idolization and lack of criticism of One Direction seems potentially problematic, as Brown, Halpern and L'Engel (2004) found that young girls tend to look to media as a sexual super peer for information about relationships, particularly sexual ones. It seems that, for all of the effort put into criticizing the behavior of irresponsible athletes for the sake of young boys, parents and media alike ought to turn a critical eye to a critical eye to the figures that young girls care about most.

References:

1. Brown, J. D., Halpern, C. T., & L'Engle, K. L. (2005). Mass media as a sexual super peer for early maturing girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(5), 420-427. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.06.003 
2. Brown, J. D., White, A. B., & Nikopoulou, L. (1993). Disinterest, intrigue, resistance: Early adolescent girls' use of sexual media content. In B. S. Greenberg, J. D. Brown & N. Buerkel-Rothfuss (Eds.), Media, sex and the adolescent (pp. 177-195). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
3. Karniol, R. (2001). Adolescent females’ idolization of male media stars as transition into sexuality. Sex Roles, 44(1/2), 61-77.

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 

Big Sean & Lil' Wayne: The Great Sexual Educators of our Time?

In thinking about what sort of sexual health lessons I'd witnessed and learned from in the media, I realized that I was having a tough time thinking of shows or movies that sent positive messages about sexual health. Then, inspiration came from one unexpected place; a lyric with enough wisdom and power to motivate this blog post sprung into my mind: 

"I'm the type to wear a bulletproof condom, and still gotta pull out." 

I remember first hearing these words, uttered by Big Sean in the song "All Me" by Drake, and thinking "what the hell am I listening to?" Once this thought passed, I came to like the song a lot and listened to it heavily for a couple of months after its debut. I wasn't alone, this song ended up going platinum.

I then thought, what does it mean for me to still remember this line almost three years later? What does it mean that a song with this sort of message to be so popular? As Brown, Keller, & Stern (2009) point out in Primack & colleagues' work (2008 & 2009), when radio music does talk about sex, it's more often than not degrading in some way, a representation which is in turn linked to earlier intercourse; this song is not much of an exception, but nonetheless portrays sexual health in a positive light. 

This portrayal is a striking departure from the findings of Hust, Brown, and L'Engel's 2008 work, which state "the [popular] media included in this sample presented sexual health as funny and/or embarrassing"; they go on to cite Guzman & colleagues (2003) to state that "fear of humiliation or embarrassment may keep teens from seeking the sexual health information they need."

"All Me" isn't the only example of making condoms cool. In researching this blog post I actually came across a Rap Genius page dedicated to listing all of Big Sean's condom references. Of the songs on the list, I've heard at least 5 or 6 of them on the radio. Beyond this, I was able to find a cheat sheet of other notable condom references in hip hop, most of which link condom use to their status:

"Hit the Dodge lot I must've copped six Magnums/ Marriott suite, I must've used six magnums" - Rick Ross, "Hustlin'" remix

"Magazine covers, Magnem rubbers/ I mean Magnum, I don't fuck with stragglers" - Chris Brown, "Holla at Me"

"If it's one thing that I cant stand, it's a baggy Magnum" - Lil Wayne, "Where Da Cash At"

It's one thing to mention a condom, but there's often little discussion of the consequences associated with not using one. Collins & colleagues (2003) were able to show that including information about risks associated with condom use were able to improve sexual health knowledge and prompt adolescent inquiry about condom efficacy. In light of the potential positive impact of greater discussion of sexual health risks in the media, there remains very little discourse around consequences in hip-hop lyrics. Despite its absence, the ever-vigilant Lil' Wayne motions toward this theme in the remix to his 5x Platinum single, "Lollipop":

"She say I got great sex; Safe sex is great sex, better wear a latex; Cause you don't want that late text, that "I think I'm late" text; So wrap it up!"

While depictions of sex in hip-hop remain overwhelmingly degrading and harmful (Primack et al., 2008 & 2009), safe sex appears to be a growing theme among the popular hip-hop songs, which could in turn benefit adolescents looking to their favorite media for information and norms surrounding sex.

EDIT: After posting this, I realized that the RIAA Gold & Platinum database wouldn't let me link directly to specific songs; searching "All Me" and "Lollipop" will return the measures of popularity used in this post.

References

1. Brown, J. D., Keller, S., & Stern, S. (2009). Sex, Sexuality, Sexting, and SexEd: Adolescents and the Media. Prevention Researcher, 16(4), 12-16.
2. Collins, R. L., Elliott, M. N., Berry, S. H., Kanouse, D. E., & Hunter, S. B. (2003). Entertainment television as a healthy sex educator: The impact of condom-efficacy information in an episode of Friends. Pediatrics, 112(5), 1115-1121. doi: 10.1542/peds.112.5.1115 
3. Guzman, B. L., Schlehofer-Sutton, M. M., Villanueva, C. M., Dello Stritto, M. E., Casad, B. J., & Feria, A. (2003). Let’s talk about sex: How comfortable discussions about sex impact teen sexual behavior. Journal of Health Communication, 8(6), 583–598. 
4. Hust, S. J. T., 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. doi: 10.1080/15205430701668139 
5. Primack, B., Douglas, E.L., Fine, M.J., & Dalton, M.A., (2009). Exposure to sexual lyrics and sexual experience among urban adolescents. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(4), 317–323.
6. Primack, B., Gold, M.A., Schwarz, E.B., & Dalton, M.A. (2008). Degrading and non-degrading sex in popular music: A content analysis. Public Health Reports, 123, 593–600. 

If You're Looking for Someone to Write Your Blog Posts About: Sex, Media Effects, & One Direction

If you like thinking about media and sex too,

If you like blog posts about Harry Styles & crew, 

If you want to know what this music video might do to you,

Baby I'm perfect, baby I'm perfect for you. 

One Direction's smash-hit "Perfect" is proof that not even Zayn can stop the British sensations. It's like they say, "nobody can drag me down." With their "Perfect" EP dropping tonight, there seems to be no better time to analyze the messages that will be broadcasted to millions of adolescent, teenage, and young adult girls around the world and think about what their effects might be. In the case of this video, gendered commitment scripts as well as sexual messages are being portrayed by 1D; this post discusses a few of the ways in which this content might affect adolescent girls.

From the first line, it's clear this song isn't about love: "I might never be your knight in shining armor, I might never be the one you take home to mother...but I can be the one, be the one tonight." This theme repeats throughout the song, stressing that the various members of 1D aren't "good at making promises," meaning they're not going to be committed or faithful to a girl. This falls closely in line with a sexual script (culturally available script for recognizing and acting in social situations) defined by Kim et al., the Masculine Commitment Script (MCS) (2007). The MCS states that "men actively avoid commitment, marriage, monogamy, or taking their romantic relationships 'to the next level," which is clearly the attitude of One Direction in "Perfect". This attitude to relationships corresponds with a needier Female Commitment Script counterpart, which craves commitment and romance; "Perfect" also hints at this script with the line "if you're looking for someone to write your breakup songs about." These scripts and the relationships they implicate reinforce male-dominant power structures in relationships between men and women by allowing the man a greater degree of freedom and subordinating the woman to his will to have a relationship or not.

In watching this music video, I was struck by how harmless One Direction was portrayed to be, despite their relatively provocative lyrics. This harmless yet playful depiction reminded me of the description of the guys that the "Intrigued" preteen girls in Brown, White & Nikopoulou's study would fantasize about: "nice," "cute," "fun" and "funny" (1993) It seems as if this music video specifically avoids being as sexual as its lyrics to attract Directioners of this age group and potentially younger by depicting 1D as such.

Targeting such a young audience with a harmless video would indeed be harmless if the lyrics weren't so clearly sexual: "And if you like having secret little rendezvous, if you like to do the things you know that we shouldn’t do...baby, I'm perfect for you." The effects of sexual content like this are likely to vary between individuals, but Brown et al. found that 12-14 year olds with heavy diets of sexual content like this tend to be at greater risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse (2006). Brown et al.'s 2004 paper also found that middle-school aged girls often turn to media as a "sexual super peer," and earlier maturing girls often perceived media as giving them sexual permission. Chia & Gunther's study found that college students tend to perceive sexual media as having a great effect on people around them and males were found to the adopt casual attitudes towards sex based on this. One of the risk factors Brown et al. identified as influencing likelihood to have earlier sexual intercourse was perceived sexual permissiveness of peers. 

If adolescents treat the media as a super peer AND young people perceive their peers as being sexually permissive as a result of the sexual media, then sexually permissive media is likely to ultimately influence the attitudes of young people towards sex. Through its lyrics, "Perfect" encourages trivial sex without commitment among a young audience, who might be ill-equipped to deal with the risks and responsibilities associated with sex. Beyond this, the media encourages young girls to allow men to set the committal terms of their relationships, promoting an unhealthy and one-sided relationship power dynamic.

References

1. Brown, J. D., White, A. B., & Nikopoulou, L. (1993). Disinterest, intrigue, resistance: Early adolescent girls' use of sexual media content. In B. S. Greenberg, J. D. Brown & N. Buerkel-Rothfuss (Eds.), Media, sex and the adolescent (pp. 177-195). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
2. Brown, J. D., Halpern, C. T., & L'Engle, K. L. (2005). Mass media as a sexual super peer for early maturing girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(5), 420-427. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.06.003 
3. Brown, J. D., L'Engle, K. L., Pardun, C. J., Guo, G., Kenneavy, K., & Jackson, C. (2006). Sexy media matter: Exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines predicts Black and White adolescents' sexual behavior. Pediatrics, 117(4), 1018-1027. doi: 10.1542/peds.2005-140
4. Chia, S. C., & Gunther, A. C. (2006). How media contribute to misperceptions of social norms about sex. Mass Communication & Society, 9(3), 301-320. doi: 10.1207/s15327825mcs0903_3
5. 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

There's Something in these Lyrics: Chris Brown, Sexual Scripts, Gendered Relationships, & Sexual Health

Chris Brown's revival of ninety's rap & boyband music video style in his "Liquor"/"Zero" megavideo doesn't just lament the downfall and aftermath of Breezy's failed relationship, it's a veritable gold mine of potentially harmful sexual content and damaging myths just begging to be dug into. The video ultimately reinforces existing heterosexual social scripts, relationship gender norms and sexual health tropes.

The part of the video dedicated to "Liquor" begins with a woman drugging Breezy in order to make him interested in her. It's interesting to think about why she did this when she could have just walked up to Brown and "gamed him up." By having this be the woman's option of choice, the video reinforces Kim et al.'s "Feminine Courting Strategies," which "describe the passive and indirect ways in which women attract or court a male partner" (2007). Kim's heterosexual script does not identify drugging as a strategy, but by doing this, the woman is able to avoid employing a "Masculine Courting Strategy," which would be more active and direct. The argument could also be made that the woman is taking on a stereotypically masculine role by initiating date rape, but considering Brown's pursuant behavior throughout the video, it seems more significant that she specifically avoided initiating conversation to maintain her FCS. The lyrics of the song revolves around the girl's figure, wanting to see her strip, and just wanting to "drink and fuck". These lyrics point toward Kim et al.'s "Sex as Masculinity" script, which says men should be sexual initiators, preoccupied with sex, objectify women and value them primarily for their physical attractiveness. This portrayals of courtship and sexual relationships uphold the sexual double standards and power structures that characterize male-female relations in our society.

The pivot point in the video depicts Breezy coming home to find his presumed ex-girlfriend tossing his clothes off the balcony. Instead of trying to fix the relationship, Brown looks after himself by grabbing a change of clothes and , which aligns closely with Holz, Ivory, Gibson & Ivory's definition of dominant acts in the context of relationships: "dominant acts involved the formation of separations (e.g., decision making without consulting others), narcissistic self-assertion, and self-protection" (2009). The fact that Chris Brown is the one in the dominant position reinforces the idea that this is the role that men should and do take in relationships.

The following song is titled "Zero," which is a significant number to Chris Brown because he says  that's "how many nights I've been thinking of you" as well as "how many fucks I give." This sort of detached attitude toward a breakup is reminiscent of another one of Kim et al.'s heterosexual scripts, this time the one concerning masculine commitment. (2007) This script states that men should avoid commitment and "not take part in relationship maintenance (e.g., resolving a fight, spending time together) and try to evade becoming emotionally involved with their female partners"; it is clear that Breezy is not committed, not interested in maintaining his failing relationship and not particularly emotionally involved. The result of this script's presence in the video is the maintenance of male-dominated relationship power structures.

The video ends with an exchange between Chris Brown and Instagram star and notorious playboy Dan Bilzerian, after he pours an comical amount of condoms onto a convenience store's counter. This may serve as a message in favor of sexual health practices, the condoms seem to be used to comically imply Bilzerian's ability to have sex with a lot of women rather than his concern for his sexual health and that of his partners. This humorous treatment of sexual health is consistent with Hust, Brown & L'Engle's findings: that messages about sexual health are rare and if present, tend to portray sexual health as a humorous or humiliating topic. Failing to take sexual health seriously could result in life-altering consequences for people of all ages.

This video, despite featuring the best dance moves of the last decade, reinforces male relational dominance and makes light of sexual health and date rape. Interpreting these representations as realistic could result in dangerous attitudes and behaviors in audiences.

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. 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 
3. Hust, S. J. T., 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. doi: 10.1080/15205430701668139 

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

Eye on his Prize: "My Way" & Sexual Social Scripts

On September 23rd, the one-eyed wonder of "Trap Queen" fame, Fetty Wap, premiered a music video for his chart-topping follow-up, "My Way." The music video's greatest (and arguably, only) addition to the modern hip-hop music video's clichés might be the innovative practice of washing one's hands in Luc Belaire 'Rare' Rosé sparkling wine (an act which, in itself, may warrant considerable analysis). However, the lyrics of the song impart Fetty Wap's desire toward a woman and his qualifications as a mate, and in the process perform sexual social scripts identified by gender theory.

Scripting theory posits that there exist accepted "sexual scripts" that define sexuality and sexual situations, as well as the proper way to engage in relational and sexual encounters (Gagnon & Simon, 1973; Simon & Gagnon, 1986). Kim et al. then expand upon this theory to "encompass [sexuality's] social dimensions and relational contexts in which sexuality emerges (e.g within romantic relationships, dating or courtship)," and define what each of the scripts associated with sexuality's various dimensions might look like (Kim et al., 2007). 

The video enacts what Kim et al. term Masculine Courting Strategies (MCS). The majority of the video features Fetty Wap and friends demonstrating their ability to provide and protect for a prospective partner by showing off jewelry, cars and muscles. The video also depicts a number of women being attracted to this display of wealth and power, which would also fall into the MCS category.

The lyrics of the irrefutably catchy chorus and verses further perform MCS by hailing the prospective female with, "Baby won't you come my way?", presumably because Fetty Wap has something he wants to say, thus making the first move in their now-budding relationship. He also demonstrates his protective abilities by promising "all headshots if you think you could take my b*tch". This theme continues throughout the song with comparisons to his prospective mate's previous and current boyfriends, all of which position Fetty Wap as more wealthy, powerful, and thus, desirable.

Before getting too carried away relating his pursuit, Fetty Wap also wants to reassure the listener that he also performs another type of sexual script, Masculine Commitment (MC), captured in essence by the first verse's opening line "...I don't ever chase no hoes" (and expanded upon briefly). This line could also be interpreted as an interesting development not explicitly captured by Kim's definition of MCS: rather than initiating contact with women, Fetty Wap's status allows him to forego this stage of the courting process. This suggests that if a man's power, wealth and status is great enough, the script is flipped and he is able to instead be courted by women and play the role of gatekeeper.

The afore mentioned Masculine Commitment script is characterized by the male avoidance of all commitment or monogamy and avoiding becoming emotionally involved, a practice of Fetty Wap's which can be inferred from the sheer quantity of different women featured in the music video. 

Finally, Fetty Wap performs another facet of sexual scripting theory, Sex as Masculinity (SM), with a single yet powerful line towards the end of the first verse: "While he mad as f*ck [that] when they sex she scream for me, aye." This line emphasizes the importance of Fetty Wap's superior sexual performance by implicating his object's preference for having sex with him. This reinforces the aspect of the sexual social scripting theory which asserts that "sexuality is a defining component of masculinity" (Kim et al., 2007).

Fetty Wap positions himself as a desirable mate by enacting these various aspects of the sexual social script, in effect reinforcing the sexual double standard, accepted courtship strategies and prominent attitudes toward commitment. The attitudes and behaviors put forth by "My Way" and its accompanying music video may serve as a guide or reference for individuals when posed with unfamiliar or uncomfortable sexual situations, which is also without a doubt the scariest thing I've ever typed. 

References

1. Gagnon, J. H. & Simon, W. (1973). Sexual conduct: The social sources of human sexuality. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
2. Simon, W., & Gagnon, J. H. (1986). Sexual scripts: Permanence and change. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15, 97-120.
3. 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.