My essay on, "Sex in the Media"

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

This is due tommorow, but critiques and opinions are welcome. (And sorry, there are no pics)

The latest TV star pops on to the television screen, dressed in skimpy, revealing clothing, the very definition of 'sexy'. . . for that day. This happens everyday in modern America. Sex and sexuality surround us, through radio, television, and clothing. It is important to realize the differences of now, and times past, as well as whats real, and whats not. In this essay, I will cover why sex and sexuality is in the media, why, in some cases, it is good, and how it effects people.

First, I will start with why sex is portrayed in the media. It's simple. For many places, it is the shock factor received from older audiences. The offended people often cause a ruckus, and make lots of noise, but their efforts only work against them. It has been said that any publicity is good publicity. This is certainly true. By making it such an issue, they've only attracted more people to the “offensive” subject. Another reason is that, to many, sex is an appealing subject. It is ingrained in our genetics that it is a good, pleasurable, and necessary thing. The advertisers know this too. They play to the desires of the masses, that's their job. They get huge groups of people through things that appeal to human nature, as well as through the shock factor I discussed earlier. The overlying concept is simply that sex is a good attention grabber, which is necessary in todays fast lives.

I feel that sex in the media is good, but only to an extent. I think religion and modern cultures have gone above and beyond to make sex a taboo, and 'evil' subject. Many religions say that it's followers will be damned and sentenced to hell if they engage in premarital sex. I find that unlikely. Currently, I would bet that 3 out of every 4 people would rather see a human being get shot in the head, whether in a movie, or real life, than see a couple having sex. This seems like a very skewed perspective. I can only assume that this is the result conflict between religion, past society, and current media and culture. When it comes down to it, I don't think sex should be taboo at all. In fact, I think it should be even more in the media, just presented differently. Currently, while it is all in the media, they present sex as a positive and a negative at the same time. They portray people in sexual situations, but often with a negative side, such as objectifying people, or calling these interactions between superstars 'normal'. In fact, defining anything that can directly influence a persons actions as 'normal' can be dangerous. In my opinion, we should just be open about sex As long as people are safe about it, then I see no problem with it. My only concern is that most of the media is too busy grabbing peoples attention to superstars, and brainwashing people that that is how normal people are, that they forget to educate people about the realities of sex and life. If the media spent more time doing the latter, then we wouldn't have as much of a problem with people needing to look or act a certain way, and sex and similar subjects would no longer be an issue scorned upon by 'proper' folks.

Lastly, whether we like it or not, sex in the media effects a lot of people. It's often as increased peer pressure, because the media currently makes sex look like something that you need to do, and it needs to be done just how the superstars act it out. It also results in a need to be 'sexy', and for people to look like the celebrities, and wear the same clothes. This is, in my opinion, a result of poor guidance upon individuals. I can only imagine how much different things would be if kids parents' would just sit their children down, and let them know that sex is natural, and that the media rarely shows things how they truly are, and that you just need to be yourself. Unfortunately, in todays society, it is considered a deadly sin to let a child here the word 'sex' let alone explain to them what it is, and how it will effect them. In the end, parents only shoot themselves in the foot, because they're kids then view sex as a way to defy their parents, and because so many never have that talk about the real world, then the constant cycle of bullying and peer pressure just keeps continuing. By trying to shelter our kids, we only end up continuing a cycle that can only result in dangerous situations and conflict.

In conclusion, sex definitely has an important role to play. It is used in advertising, and to further some stereotypes, and reinforces some negative behaviors. But, I think that if people would just get over their stigmas, we could develop a far more informed and civilized lifestyle in America. There have been steps in the right direction to try to show that sex shouldn't be taboo, but as they say, for every one step forward, we take two steps back.
Brandon Forsythe

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

1. To quote WritingIsMyReligion, how can a topic with the word sex

in it fall so low in the Lounge? I'm ashamed of you guys. . .

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Rabrrrrrr's quick batch of hints:

Get rid of the typos and bad punctuation, check your possessives and use apostrophes to signify them, use the proper form of words "Their" not "they're" for instance, and put some apostrophes in those contractions.

Don't use contractions in professional writing unless writing dialogue. So don't worry about the apostrophes you didn't put into the contractions, because you won't have any.

Affect, not effect. There's a difference.

Get rid of the sentence fragments, such as "It's simple." One, it's a contraction; two, it's potentially passive voice; and most importantly, three, it doesn't make any sense in the context, because the reader has no idea what you mean by "it" - what is "it" that is simple? Sex is simple? Using sex is simple? Or is "it" a passive generic term, meaning "The answer to that question is simple"?

DO NOT USE PASSIVE VOICE. It can be shown that the use of passive voice is boring and unprofessional. There are many people, like me, who don't like it because it is so low in energy and, well, passive. It is a well known fact that passive is boring. There are no good novelists who use it, except artistically.

Media is plural, use a plural verb.

And why, in the middle of the bit of having parents teach their kids, do you take a moment to tell the reader to be him/herself?


It might be worth you reading "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" to learn about punctuation.