Mary- Module 4
Module 4 was definitely an interesting one for me this week. My interest was continually peaked by both the readings, as well as the videos.
Chapter 6 of our text by Karen Sternheimer covered the topic of sex in teens and how we try to blame media for this “problem. What I found to be intriguing was that teens actually are much less sexually active than that of teens 20 years ago, and they engage in safe sex than their counterparts. Sternheimer went on to talk about how we as a society like to focus on teens on the topic of sex while ignoring the fact that adults are much more likely to be engaging in risky sexual behaviors and having unwanted pregnancies. We focus on teens because we fear for their futures, but we forget that we were once teens ourselves and went through similar experiences. Sternheimer talks about how the past seems more innocent on the topics of sexuality and youth to us because we view it with a sense of nostalgia. I was surprised to find out about the drops in teen sexual encounters because I am one of those people who sees how sexualized television is nowadays and assume that it is a big influence on the actions of today’s youth. I couldn’t help but laugh when reading how we as a society fear for youth because of such media interactions like “sexting,” only to find out that adults were more likely to take part in such activities. I never realized the fears we have for teens with media could actually be less of an issue than that of the fears we should have for adults with media.
The videos by Terry Dugan caught my attention because they really shed more light on what culture really is and how complex it truly is. I have always been mostly aware that culture are traditions and shared experiences we learn from stories passed down through the generations, but I did not fully realize the change of storyteller for cultural learnings and the effects it has had. Dugan stated that media was the new storyteller for the current generation, and it has been viewed as bad because it encourages bad behaviors and shows them going unpunished. It has led to a “decline in family values.” Society is quick to blame the media when the youth reject the experiences passed down by their parents which has led to censorship of media that can be traced back centuries. I feel that Dugan did a really nice job of highlighting the fact that people are more and more trying to preserve their own culture instead of assimilating into the dominant culture which can lead to things such as genocide, racism, and oppression. I really liked the idea of the “melting pot turned into a walled garden” because I see it a lot in today’s world. Tensions has risen because people are rejecting what they are unfamiliar with and trying hard to preserve their own culture in places where that is a difficult task.
In both the texts of Karen Sternheimer and the videos of Terry Dugan we see that media has been censored or filtered in attempts to protect youth and to help with a common culture shared by all. The thing is that censorship does not fix the “corruption” that we feel media has imposed on youth; it never has. It is also interesting to see the disconnect found between adults and teens though the experiences are often similar, but the teens are viewed as in need of protecting or saving from media.
