This collection explores the sexual content of U.S. mass media and its influence in the lives of adolescents. Contributors address the topic of sexuality broadly, including evidence not only about physical sex acts, but also about the role the media play in the development of gender roles, standards of beauty, courtship, and relationship norms. Chapters included here present new perspectives on what teens are paying attention to in the media, and offer insight into how teens are understanding and applying what the media present about sex and sexuality. Employing various methodological approaches, the studies also represent a diversity of adolescent audiences and deal with a wide variety of media content, ranging from teens' favorite TV programs to magazines, movies, music, and teen girls' Web pages. Taken as a whole, this volume highlights the significant roles the media play in adolescents' sexual lives. Sexual Teens, Sexual Media contributes important evidence to the ongoing debate over media effects, making it essential reading for scholars and students in media studies, as well as social and developmental psychology.

This book examines the representation, impact, and issues relating to the control and regulation of sex in the media. It covers work that has been conducted around the world on the depiction of sex in the mainstream mass media, especially the audio-visual media of film, television, and video, and the alleged effects that such content may have upon media consumers. In addition to reviewing the research on the effects of media sex, the book also examines what is known about public opinion concerning sex in the media. A key theme running through the book is whether the evidence about media sex can be taken at face value. Are the methodologies used by researchers to investigate media sex problematic? Have they yielded data that can be questioned in terms of validity and reliability? Media Sex questions whether media sex poses a serious problem for most viewers of mainstream media. It acknowledges that there may be serious issues relating to the causation of public offense and the cultivation of anti-women attitudes and beliefs that need to be addressed in productions where more extreme forms of sexual conduct are combined with violent and sadistic behavior. With the unrelenting growth of media, media consumers demand and are given greater personal control over the reception of media content. The notion of freedom of speech conflicts with the view that media content needs to be centrally regulated and controlled. This conflict creates problems for regulatory organizations and the legislators in nation states in which freedom of the press is legally protected. The book examines the debate surrounding this conflict.

Up-to-date and case-study laden analysis of how children and adolescents interact with the media.

This book presents research that identifies the most salient issues related to communication about sex in relationships and explores these issues in a format that will improve the understanding and practice of sexual communication. What is missing in sex education? An understanding of relationship issues, an understanding of how to communicate with partners, and an understanding of gender differences that affect communication between the sexes. Sex Talk: The Role of Communication in Intimate Relationships was written to inform, influence, and expand individuals' understanding of sexual communication and the dynamics of sexual relationships. It explains why sex talk is important and details how to successfully talk about sex in various types of relationships and stages of relationship development. The book presents research about sex talk in short- and long-term relationships and in marriage. It offers information bearing on casual sexual relationships, friends-with-benefits, and new sexual relationships, as well as on how to discuss sex with adolescents and with health care providers. Each chapter opens with a vignette that explores a communication problem related to sex talk and ends with practical advice on how to improve or start conversations about sex.

Scholars analyze the emergence of youth culture in music and powerful trends in gender and ethnic-racial representation, sexuality, substance use, and violence in the media in this text. It shows the evolution of teen portrayal, the potential consequences, and the ways policy-makers and parents can respond.

This collection of essays covers all essential aspects of media entertainment, written in a non-technical style for appeal to scholars in communication and psychology as well as to students at mid to advanced levels of study.

Each chapter in this unique volume explores intersections of sex, religion, and media in our society. An interdisciplinary cast of contributors examines a wide variety of themes, including entertainment producers' roles in disseminating sexual and religious content; news coverage of stories about sex and religion; religious conservatives' efforts to influence media coverage of sex and 'values;' and how religious consumers are influenced by and react to sexual content in media.

Media and the Sexualization of Childhood examines the on-going debates surrounding the prominence of sexual themes in children’s lives, from clothes and accessories, toys and games, to music, entertainment media, advertising, and new media platforms. Parents, educators and politicians around the developed world have raised concerns about the effects all these experiences can have on the socialisation and psychological development of children and the extent to which the premature introduction of sexuality into their lives can place them at risk of unwanted attention. This book explores these issues using an evidence based approach that draws on research findings from around the world, representing the most comprehensive single account of the field. The book will be invaluable to students studying topics surrounding children and the media and childhood studies, as well as students of communication, media, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and health science.