Sexuality and entertainment media.

Abstract

(from the chapter) Portrayals of sexual relationships in mainstream media are prevalent and complex. Content analyses estimate that sexual content appears in approximately 85% of major motion pictures (Jamieson, More, Lee, Busse, & Romer, 2008), 82% of television programs (Fisher, Hill, Grube, & Gruber, 2004), 59% of music videos (Turner, 2011), 37% of music lyrics (Primack, Gold, Schwarz, & Dalton, 2008), 22% of radio segments (Gentile, 1999), and 21% of magazine headlines (Davalos, Davalos, & Layton, 2007). The portrayals are not uniform, but instead come in multiple forms-explicit and implied; verbal and nonverbal; reality based or wholly fictional; and covering a range of themes, tones (e.g., humorous or serious; positive or negative), and consequences. Consider, for example, each of the following scenarios: a sitcom episode in which a sex-starved husband devises a complex lie to make his wife have sympathy for him so she will sleep with him; a music video in which a young man encourages his two female companions to kiss each other while he watches; a magazine article that instructs young women on how to flirt successfully. In each instance the content is not necessarily sexually explicit (i.e., pornography), but the images, dialogue, storylines, and character portrayals nonetheless offer substantial insight into how sexual relationships are initiated, maintained, nourished, and terminated. This chapter reviews major findings in the field concerning the impact of portrayals of sexuality and sexual relationships in mainstream entertainment media. In compiling materials for this review, we conducted comprehensive reviews of the PsycINFO, Communication and Mass Media, and PubMed electronic databases, focusing on studies published in the new millennium, from 2000 on. In creating parameters for this review, we have chosen to focus on analyses of the following entertainment media: television, films, music, music videos, video games, and magazines. We do not cover news media, literature, mass media public health campaigns, pornography (see Chapter 1, this volume), the Internet and new technologies (see Chapter 3, this volume), or unpublished dissertations and conference presentations. We also do not include a review of media content analyses but instead focus on media effects (but for excellent recent content analysis reviews, see Arnett, 2002; Greenberg & Hofschire, 2000; Ward, 2003; Wright, 2009). We begin our review with a brief discussion of how viewers perceive sexual content in the media and then move into summarizing effects in the following domains: sexual attitudes, sexual behavior, and sexual health. We conclude with reviews of media effects on three emerging domains: homosexuality, sexual violence, and sexual objectification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)