OVERCOMING AN OVER-SEXUALIZED CULTURE
Sex is everywhere. When I was growing up, I heard adults complain that rap music degrades women. Now that I’m older, I listen to all kinds of music – rap, pop, country, rock – and sex appears in all of it. Sex shows up in every genre of television, from sitcoms to reality TV to crime shows, and even kiddie movies contain innuendo for adult viewers. Advertisements on TV and online emphasize the sexual appeal of the products they sell.
Here’s what the constant stream of sexuality in the media does:
- Sexuality in media makes it acceptable to objectify other people. It teaches people – men and women – to focus on the exterior. We are encouraged to lust after anyone who fits society’s arbitrary standards of sexual appeal. Media also makes it okay to ridicule anyone who doesn’t participate in this sexually charged culture.
- Sex culture has created a competitive sexuality. As a woman, you feel constant pressure to be prettier and flashier than other girls. If you attract the attention of a hot guy, you have won. Because our culture says attractive sexual partners fulfill our personal value, you can feel inadequate or unworthy of love when a guy choose another girl instead of you. Our culture puts the same pressure on men to have a physical relationship with an attractive woman, to be a “real man.”
- Our over-sexualized society contributes to the sex trade.
Because if objectifying other people is acceptable, then nothing is wrong with porn. Because if our physical appearance is an advertisement for our sexual availability, then nothing prevents us from actually selling sex services. Everything is for sale now, sex included.
And because if we define success in terms of sexual partners and sexual acts, then sex trafficking makes sense. When pimps buy victims from traffickers, they’re not buying another human life. They’re buying into a business franchise in order to increase their personal profit from the sale of merchandise, in this case sex. And when people hire prostitutes or buy porn, they aren’t preying on other people’s bodies. They’re making a financial investment toward their own success as a sexual being.
This may sound like a slippery-slope argument, where someone describes an apocalyptic-level worst-case scenario to make a point. It isn’t. U.S. has one of the highest demands for sex trafficking in the world. The majority of porn consumed worldwide is produced in California. Prostitution and sex trafficking are a reality in that country.
We may think we don’t contribute to this problem, that the choices we make are harmless. But we are part of the problem. I am part of the problem. Even though I had never bought sexually explicit music, I would still be part of this over-sexualized culture. Active participants are not the only contributors. We shape culture by our complacency and carelessness as much as by our outright actions. Here are two ways to stop contributing to over-sexualized society and begin defining a new culture in which sex is valued, not sold: - Think about why.
You love feeling beautiful. You wear lots of big, dangly earrings, skinny jeans, and mascara. But are your five-inch stilettos really comfortable, or you are just trying to make men notice you? Are we choosing our clothing and our media intake because they’re productive and beneficial, or because we’re feeding our desire for sexual content? Think about how you interact with media and how you present yourself. If your motives are wrong, think about ways to change your behavior. - Get involved.
Changing ourselves is a good place to start, but it isn’t enough. Although we may choose not to participate, sex culture will continue around us unless we make it stop. And introduce organizations or programs like; I Am A Treasure and Restored Love Project , Destiny Rescue, help trafficking victims overseas. Over-sexualized culture is a reality, as much a part of our lives as the food we eat or the people we talk to. We are born into this culture. But that doesn’t mean we have to continue living in it.
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