Module 4 Dugan & Sternheimer
This week only just begun and it already feels like it’s about to end! Starting on Wednesday definitely threw me off my game this week but thankfully there isn’t as much material to cover.
After reading the Sternheimer text this week, I feel different. Chapter 6 concentrated on sexualized images and reality. One of the opening paragraphs mentioned how the world was shocked and appalled when Miley Cyrus went from being innocent Hannah Montana to being a shaved-head girl hanging from a ‘wrecking ball’. I’m about the same age as her so it didn’t effect me the same way it probably effected kids younger than me. For me, it was a big change but I was also going through a change from child to almost-adult. Sternheimer talked a great deal about promiscuity and how we see kids as being promiscuous and more sexually active than ever before in recent history. However, it is said that kids today are LESS sexually active than in the past, and certainly less sexually active than adults! In fact, it is mentioned several times that adults are more likely to engage in risky sexual activity such as not using a condom or contracting an STD. At the same time, reading that African American males are so much more likely to have sex before the age of 13 and are also more likely to carry and contract STD’s, I can’t help but feel like we need to focus on them more.
The biggest question I have after reading this chapter is why do we feel the need to concentrate all our efforts on protecting and shielding our teenagers when they are not the age group with the most issues. Instead, shouldn’t we focus on telling adults to be more careful when meeting people and engaging in sexual activity? Shouldn’t adults be the ones we talk to about STD’s? Schools 30 years ago weren’t talking in depth about STD’s so aren’t those the people in need of the education? I think, based on my own experience and the reading, that we focus on teens so they don’t end up like the adults today. We are hoping to change what they grow up in to but I think the only way we can affect who they become is by being better examples. Kids watch what we do and if we conduct ourselves appropriately then so will they.
Professor Dugan talks about culture and how it defines, divides, and unites us. Culture is learned behavior and shared experiences that make up our lives. Now having said that, it can be assumed that promiscuity is a part of our culture. It can be seen that over time, the shows on television have changed and so has society. Is there a relationship? Is TV the one changing us or are we making TV change? I would argue that our culture is asking for the type of shows on television. We may not realize it isn’t healthy for us or maybe we just don’t care. After all, binge watching Netflix is commonly referred to as a guilty pleasure and the word ‘binge’ itself has a negative connotation. The first video on culture talks about storytellers. Storytelling is how we learned about history and culture in the past. Today, the storyteller is commonly the television. Therefore, we are relying on mass media to tell us how to act and live our lives. Does anyone else see a problem with this?
Chapter 8 of the Sternheimer text focused on image, obesity and eating disorders. I learned that the fashion industry is being cracked down on for using models with eating disorders. I think that makes sense because the kids (and adults) viewing these ads want to be as pretty as the model in the ad. Unfortunately, it isn’t being taught (by schools or by parents) that those ads have been photo shopped to the max and the girl in the photo by that time doesn’t even exist. I took issue with the idea that television causes obesity. I believe the message should instead be something along the lines of “if you don’t get outside or get your body moving and you’re eating all that crappy junk food, you’re going to gain weight”. I think rather than blaming television exclusively, we need to focus on alternatives. How about, “Johnny if you want to watch your TV show then you need to go outside and play for a few hours first”. It’s a sad reality when kids have to be told to go play in the fresh air but I think it’s what we need to do.
I also take particular issue that we don’t hear more about adult obesity. The ones that get the attention for being obese are extremely overweight whereas I do not. I am not in great shape and I need to work on my weight but because my body fits in a normal sized seat, people don’t generally worry about my health. I wish commercials and ads focused more on my generation. As a mom, I spend a lot of time worrying about my daughter’s lunches and making sure she eats her meat and carbs because she is currently under weight. However, I don’t give myself the same attention because the media doesn’t focus on me. I believe that if a parents eating habits are healthy then the child’s will be too.
Overall, this goes back to culture and what we are teaching people to do. I don’t think that the media is responsible for our bad behavior but I do think they have the ability to help educate so if we can get better and more accurate information in the media, the future might look brighter. This can also relate to symbiosis and Professor Dugan’s video because as he says, one company owns many media outlets which means that conglomerates don’t need to employ as many people or write as many stories because they can use the same story in many different formats, decreasing the amount of work necessary to produce content. If the media were controlled by many different companies, we may end up with different or thought-provoking information every so often.
I think I learned a lot this week so far. I was happy to learn that kids are waiting longer to have sex and when they do have sex, there are less resulting unplanned pregnancies.
Thank you!
