How do the media's messages about sexuality affect your personal attitudes and behaviors?

Answer 1

This is a question that tends to call for opinions and is individual per person. Here are some common ways it might affect various people.

1. It makes some feel like they are nobody without a sex partner, and that if they don't have one, they are somehow broken. Persons with the asexual orientation, and some with transsexualism perceive that society is more hostile to them as society becomes more sexualized. If you cannot enter society without others reading something sexual into everything you do, you may end up agoraphobic. That would be because everyone seems to want to push you into things you don't want in your life, all because of what they saw on TV and are convinced you must want.

2. For others, it makes them feel more liberated. If you are part of a marginalized sexual community, the current media messages may help you to feel you are not alone and embolden you to stand up for your rights and your people.

3. For children, it seems to be encouraging them to grow up too soon. A ten-year-old recently asked on this site how they could find a lover, and argued that their sibling had a lover at age 7. The danger with this is that it can stunt maturity and create children who are more emotionally fragile, more able to be bullied, and more at risk for suicide. Young kids are being taught that sex at an early age is acceptable, and that they should be dressing to attract partners very young in life. The clothing industry is an extension of the media when you think about it, and between pop star portrayals, what models wear, and what is available in stores, young children want to dress in ways likely to attract sexual partners. Even dance companies and pageants for children are not doing justice to the situation, and they teach very sensual moves as young as age 4.