Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media's Influence on Adolescent Sexuality

323 Pages·2001·3.02 MB·English

by  Jane D. Brown

SEXUAL TEENS, SEXUAL MEDIA
Investigating Media’s Influence
on Adolescent Sexuality
LEA’s COMMUNICATION SERIES
Jennings Bryant / Dolf Zillmann, General Editors
Selected titles in Communication Theory and Methodology Subseries
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Berger•Planning Strategic Interaction: Attaining Goals Through
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Heath/Bryant•Human Communication Theory and Research: Concepts,
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Jensen• Ethical Issues in the Communication Process
Reese/Gandy/Grant•Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media
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Riffe/Lacy/Fico•Analyzing Media Messages: Using Quantitative
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SEXUAL TEENS, SEXUAL MEDIA
Investigating Media’s Influence
on Adolescent Sexuality
Edited by
Jane D. Brown
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
Jeanne R. Steele
University of St. Thomas
Kim Walsh-Childers
University of Florida
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2002 Mahwah, New Jersey London
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CoverdesignbyKathrynHoughtalingLacey
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sexualteens,sexualmedia:investigatingmedia’sinfluenceonadolescentsexuality/
editedbyJaneD.Brown,JeanneR.Steele,KimWalsh-Childers.
p. cm.—(LEA’scommunicationseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8058-3489-3(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN0-8058-3490-7(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Massmediaandteenagers. 2.Massmediaandsex. 3.Sexinmassmedia.
4.Teenagers—Sexualbehavior. I.Brown,JaneD.(JaneDelano),1950– .
II.Steele,JeanneR. III.Walsh-Childers,Kim. IV.Series.
HQ799.2.M35S49 2001
302.23(cid:1)0835—dc21 00-067763
CIP
ISBN1-4106-0417-9 Mastere-bookISBN
Contents
Contributors
Preface
1 Introduction and Overview 1
Jane D. Brown, Jeanne R. Steele, and Kim Walsh-Childers
2 Shaking the Tree of Knowledge for Forbidden Fruit: Where
Adolescents Learn About Sexuality and Contraception 25
Michael J. Sutton, Jane D. Brown, Karen M. Wilson,
and Jonathan D. Klein
I TELEVISION
3 Sexual Messages in Teens’ Favorite Prime-Time
Television Programs 59
Kirstie M. Cope-Farrar and Dale Kunkel
4 Daytime Talk Shows: Up Close and In Your Face 79
Bradley S. Greenberg and Sandi W. Smith
5 Would That Really Happen? Adolescents’ Perceptions of
Sexual Relationships According to Prime-Time Television 95
L. Monique Ward, Benjamin Gorvine, and Adena Cytron-Walker
v
vi CONTENTS
6 Media’s Impact on Adolescents’ Body Dissatisfaction 125
Linda J. Hofschire and Bradley S. Greenberg
II MAGAZINES
7 From “Just the Facts” to “Downright Salacious”: Teens’ and
Women’s Magazine Coverage of Sex and Sexual Health 153
Kim Walsh-Childers, Alyse Gotthoffer, and Carolyn Ringer Lepre
8 Stuff You Couldn’t Ask Your Parents: Teens Talking
About Using Magazines for Sex Information 173
Debbie Treise and Alyse Gotthoffer
9 Girls in Print: Figuring Out What It Means to Be a Girl 191
Jennifer Wray and Jeanne R. Steele
III MOVIES, MUSIC, THE INTERNET
10 Romancing the Script: Identifying the Romantic Agenda
in Top-Grossing Movies 211
Carol J. Pardun
11 Teens and Movies: Something to Do, Plenty to Learn 227
Jeanne R. Steele
12 The Sounds of Sex: Sex in Teens’ Music and Music Videos 253
Jeffrey J. Arnett
13 Sexual Selves on the World Wide Web: Adolescent Girls’
Home Pages as Sites for Sexual Self-Expression 265
Susannah Stern
Author Index 287
Subject Index 295
Contributors
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, PhD, is visiting associate professor in the depart-
ment of Human Development at the University of Maryland. He is the au-
thor of a book about heavy metal fans, Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and
AdolescentAlienation(1996,WestviewPress),andthetextbookAdolescence
and EmergingAdulthood:ACulturalApproach(2001,Prentice-Hall).Until1988,
he was associate professor in the department of Human Development and
FamilyStudiesattheUniversityofMissouri,andhasbeenavisitingscholar
at Stanford University and the University of Michigan. Recent research fo-
cusesonemergingadulthood,theperiodbetweenages18and25,commonly
characterized by exploration and instability in industrialized societies.
Jane D. Brown, PhD, is James L. Knight Professor of Journalism and Mass
Communication at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Her re-
search has focused on how adolescents use and are affected by the mass
media.Shestudiesavarietyofmediathatadolescentsuse,includingmusic
videos, magazines and televised public service announcements, as well as
health-related issues, including adolescent aggressive behavior, cigarette
smoking, alcohol use, and sexuality. Along with this volume, Brown co-
editedthebooksTheMedia,SocialScienceandSocialPolicyforChildren,and
Media, Sex and the Adolescent.
KirstieM.Cope-FarrarisadoctoralcandidateincommunicationattheUni-
versityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara.Herprimaryresearchinterestisinthe
area of mass media and adolescent socialization. She is especially inter-
vii
viii CONTRIBUTORS
ested in the effects of televised depictions of risky health behaviors (e.g.,
“unsafe sex,” alcohol abuse) on adolescent risk taking.
Adena Cytron-Walker graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology
fromtheUniversityofMichiganin1998.Shereceivedhermasters’degreein
Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst in
2001.
Alyse Gotthoffer, PhD, is an assistant professor of Advertising and Public
RelationsintheSchoolofCommunicationattheUniversityofMiami,Coral
Gables, Florida. Her research centers on health communication.
Benjamin Gorvineisadoctoralstudentindevelopmentalandclinicalpsy-
chology at the University of Michigan. His research interests span the im-
pactoffathersonyoungchildren’ssocioemotionaldevelopment,infant–par-
ent attachment, and the role of television in children’s and adolescents’
emerging understandings of sexuality.
Bradley S. Greenberg, PhD, is University Distinguished Professor of Com-
municationandTelecommunicationatMichiganStateUniversity,wherehe
teaches the social influences of the mass media. Current research focuses
on media portrayals of male and female body images, and parenting prac-
ticesregardingyoungpeople’saccesstomassmedia.Greenberg’sseminal
workonanalyzingsexualcontentinmoviesandontelevisionandeffectsof
the content have been widely emulated.
Linda HofschireisadoctoralstudentintheMassMediaprogramatMichi-
ganStateUniversity.Herresearchinterestsincludetheeffectsoftraditional
and new media on adolescents, particularly in the areas of sexuality and
body image.
L.MoniqueWard,PhD,isanassistantprofessorofDevelopmentalPsychol-
ogy at the University of Michigan. Her research examines the dynamics of
gender role development and sexual socialization, focusing on how chil-
drenandadolescentsinterpret,use,andareaffectedbythemessagesthey
receiveaboutmale–femalerelationshipsfromtheirparents,peers,andthe
media. Much of her current work examines contributions of television, in
particular, to the sexual socialization of American youth.
CarolJ.Pardun,PhD,isanassociateprofessorintheSchoolofJournalism
and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
She is editor of Mass Communication and Society.
CONTRIBUTORS ix
Carolyn Ringer Lepre,PhD, isanassistant professor inthedepartment of
Journalism at California State University, Chicago, where she teaches
courses on newspaper and magazine writing and editing. Her research in-
terestsarehealthcommunication,journalismeducation,andmediaeffects.
ProfessionalexperienceincludesworkontheeditorialstaffofMarthaStew-
art Living and Modern Bride magazines, and freelance writing.
Sandi W. Smith,PhD,isaprofessorinthedepartmentofCommunicationat
Michigan State University where she teaches courses in interpersonal com-
munication, relational persuasion in the health context, memorable mes-
sages as guides to behavior, and interpersonal communication on talk
shows.SheandBradleyGreenberghavepublishedarticlesontalkshowsin
Communication Studies and the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media,
among others.
Jeanne Steele, PhD, began her research on teens and the media as a doc-
toralstudentattheUniversityofNorthCarolina,ChapelHill.Shecontinued
her work at Ohio University where she and Wray teamed up to research
zines.Nowsheshareswhatshehaslearnedaboutadolescents’mediaprac-
tices with journalism students at the University of St. Thomas. Steele is in-
terested in cross-cultural communications and public health, and next
planstoexplorewheremediafitsintothelivesofimmigrantteensandtheir
families.
Susannah Stern, PhD, is a visiting assistant professor in the Communica-
tionsDepartmentatBostonCollege.Herresearchinterestsincludegender,
electronic media uses and effects, and media literacy.
Debbie Treise, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of Ad-
vertising, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida.
Herresearchcentersonhealthandsciencecommunication.Shehasserved
asprincipleinvestigatoronaNationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration
(NASA) grant for the past five years investigating science communication.
Kim Walsh-Childers, PhD, is an associate professor of journalism at the
University of Florida. She teaches journalism and mass communication
ethicsclassesandaseminaronmassmediaandhealth.Herresearchfocuses
onhealthnewscoverageandmassmediaeffectsonhealthandhealthpolicy.
Jennifer Wray graduated cum laude from Ohio University’s Honors Tuto-
rial College with a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism in June 2000.
Her work has been published in All-States Sports, a magazine devoted to
high school athletes. An avid zine reader, Wray hopes to publish her own
zine someday.