Running head: MEDIA INFLUENCING TEEN HOOK-UP

Media Influencing Teen Hook-Up Culture

Hannah Schigel

University of Kentucky

MEDIA INFLUENCING TEEN HOOK-UP

Abstract
In this research paper I discuss the adverse effects that sexualized media has on the
teen population and the culture of hook-ups. I closely examine academic journals,
websites, books, and newspaper articles to find specific information about how
sexual content in different media platforms, such as television and music, negatively
influence teenagers sex lives. Not only can it influence the teenagers physically,
such as getting pregnant or acquiring an STD, but also mentally. The sexual activity
of some teenagers can lead to depression or even suicide.

Keywords: sexual content, media, sexual behavior, music, television, hook-ups

MEDIA INFLUENCING TEEN HOOK-UP

Media Influencing Teen Hook-Up Culture

Although sexual content is widely portrayed in music, television, movies, and
social media, it does not necessarily affect every age group. However, teenagers in
particular are heavily influenced by the sexual images portrayed throughout media.
The adolescent American culture has shifted from dating one another to casual
hook-ups, or meaningless sexual activity. The sexualized media has an adverse
effect because teenagers are constantly bombarded with sexual imagery without the
portrayals of the consequences that come with sex, such as teenage pregnancy,
sexually transmitted diseases, and emotional stress.
Many factors, such as peer pressure, family background, and friend groups,
play a part in teenage sexual behavior; however, media is one of the most influential
elements. As cited in Grant (2003, para. 2), the American Academy of Pediatrics
(1995) explains that teenagers may not be sufficiently cognitively developed to
discern and critique messages they see and hear in the media. On average, U.S.
adolescents may spend anywhere from six to seven hours per day watching
television, listening to music, watching movies, and perusing the internet (LEngle,
Brown, & Kenneavy, 2006). In the Western Journal of Medicine, Enid Gruber and Joel
Grube (2000) stated that teenaged viewers see 143 incidences of sexual activity
during prime time television per week. Of those incidences, sexual activity between
unmarried partners is portrayed four times more than those between spouses
(Gruber & Grube, 2000). The exposure to sexual activity on television and other
media platforms is extensive. Because teenage brains are easily molded and

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persuaded, adolescents have a warped perception of safe, smart sex from what they
are exposed to through media.
On the other hand, there are some TV shows that portray the reality of teen
pregnancy, such as MTVs 16 and Pregnant. Some people may say that shows such as
this and Teen Mom glamourize teenage motherhood; however, each episode of 16
and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and Teen Mom 2 has frequent public service
announcements by specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky discouraging teen sex, premarital
sex, unprotected sex, and cautioning about pregnancy (Guglielmo, 2013, p. 81).
These MTV series depict the negative consequences of adolescent sex, which
provide teenaged viewers a more realistic look at sex and its potential
consequences.
While few shows on television portray realistic representations of adolescent
sexuality, most aspects of the media sexualize females (Collins, Martino, & Shaw,
2011). According to Gruber and Grube (2000), 12-year-old females do not usually
understand the suggestive material and innuendos shown on television. Contrarily,
young women ages 16 and up are more interested in the sexual content in the media
and intentionally search for sexual content in the media as a way to learn the
rituals and skills of romantic relationships (Gruber & Grube, 2000). This
exemplifies how the sexualization of women and girls in media affect teenaged
viewers because adolescent females use television as a way to gain insight into how
to dress and behave sexually.
Although there is definitive evidence of sexual content on television, do
teenagers actually mimic the behavior they see on television? Gruber and Grube

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(2000, para. 2) theorize that more exposure to sexual content in the media leads to
the adoption of the values, beliefs, and behaviors that are portrayed. Therefore, if
teenagers are viewing material that is sexual, they may in turn begin to think that
the scenarios that are portrayed are normal or accepted. LEngle et. al. (2006)
completed a study about how sexualized media influenced teenagers. By controlling
age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status, they concluded that the influential
sexual media accounted for 13% of the variance of the teenagers likelihood of
engaging in sexual intercourse in the close future. In the same study, LEngle et. al.
(2006) found that teenagers who are exposed to sexual content in the media report
high sexual activity and have greater intentions to participate in sexual intercourse
in the near future. Furthermore, the likelihood that adolescents (ages 12 to 17)
would have intercourse in the next year doubled when their viewing time of sexual
content on television increased from the 10th to the 90th percentile (Escobar-Chaves,
Tortolero, Markham, Low, Eitel, & Thickstun, 2005). It is evident through these
correlational studies that exposure to sexual content in the media is associated with
teens sexual activity.
Sexual content is frequently shown on television, but it is also portrayed in
music. According to an article in the Associated Press titled Dirty Song Lyrics Can
Prompt Early Teen Sex (2006), teenagers who listened to music with x-rated lyrics
and degrading sexual messages were twice as likely to start having sex within two
years than those teens who listened to music with little to no sexual content.
Seventeen-year-old Natasha Ramsey was interviewed for the study, and she said she
listens to sexually explicit songs because she likes the beat of the song, not

MEDIA INFLUENCING TEEN HOOK-UP

necessarily for the content (Dirty Song Lyrics, 2006). A lot of popular songs on the
radio right now contain sexually explicit lyrics. For example, the Maroon 5 song
Animals contains very sexually explicit lyrics: Baby, Im preying on you tonight,
hunt you down and eat you alivewe get along when Im inside you, (Levine,
2014). When teenagers are constantly bombarded by explicit lyrics, it no longer
seems uncommon or taboo. In the song Partition by Beyonc Knowles, she sings,
Oh he so horny, yeah he want to f***, He popped all my buttons and he ripped my
blouse, He Monica Luwinskid all on my gown. Because lyrics like these are so
common in current music, a lot of teenagers think that behaving sexually in these
ways is appropriate and normal. Music heavily influences the teenage hook-up
culture because they think the sexually explicit content is the popular way to act in
order to gain attention from their peers or the opposite sex.
It is obvious that the media is polluted by sexually explicit content and
images, but is the teenage hook-up culture a
reality? According to the U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services (2014), the Office of
Adolescent Health noted that between 2006 and
2008, 14 percent of female teenagers and 25
percent of male teenagers had sex for the first
time with someone they hardly knew or with
someone who was just a friend. There are so
many instances of casual sex, or sexual activities,
that there is a phrase for it: friends with benefits.

Figure 1: Gainor & Gluck (2011).

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There was even a movie created in 2011 titled Friends With Benefits starring
Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis (Figure 1). Without a culture centered on
meaningless sex, this concept would be nonexistent. Furthermore, more than onethird of adolescents have sent or received sexually explicit messages via text
message, also called sexting (Adolescent Sexual Behavior, 2014). Teens are
becoming sexually active and absorbing different sexual behaviors because of the
influence of sexually explicit media.
On the other hand, teenage pregnancy rates have declined over the past 10
years in the United States. The Office of Adolescent Health (2014) reported that the
teen birth rate in 2013 declined by 10 percent from 2012; however, the United
States is higher than many other industrialized countries such as Canada and the
United Kingdom (Grant, 2003).
Although teen pregnancy rates have declined, the detrimental consequences
that stem from adolescent sexual activity still persist. In fact, adolescents ranging
from ages 15 to 24 account for an astonishing 10 million sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs) every year; this is important not only because it affects a vast
amount of teens, but also because four in ten sexually active teenage girls have an
STD that may cause infertility and even death (Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 2014).
Aside from negative physical concerns like pregnancy and STDs, early adolescent
sex can also lead to depression. Teenagers may become depressed because they
were not emotionally prepared for sexual intercourse. As discussed before, sexual
images are also sent between teenagers (Figure 2), which can result in depression
and lead to suicide. Thirteen percent of high school students who have sexted have

MEDIA INFLUENCING TEEN HOOK-UP

also reported a suicide attempt in the past year
(Shea, 2011). The sexualized media influences
and encourages teenagers to engage in sexual

activities, and the physical and emotional harm is

extremely detrimental.
After carefully examining many different
sources regarding the medias impact on
Figure 2: Shea (2011).

adolescent sex, it is evident that teenagers

opinions and actions regarding sexual activities

can be swayed by sexual content in media. It is important to realize the impact that
the media has on the malleable brains of teenagers. Through the influence of sexual
content in the media, teenagers have become more sexually active. The rise in
sexual activity causes teenage pregnancy, a spread of sexually transmitted diseases,
and results in emotional stresses such as depression. Although there is no definitive
way to erase all sexual content in the media and stop teenagers from using media, it
is important to understand the detrimental outcomes it has on adolescents in the
American culture.

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References
About teen pregnancy. (2014, June 9). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/aboutteenpreg.htm
Associated Press. Dirty song lyrics can prompt early teen sex. (2006, August 7).
Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14227775/ns/healthsexual_health/t/dirty-song-lyrics-can-prompt-early-teen-sex/
Collins, R.L., Martino, S., & Shaw, R. (2011, April). Influence of new media on
adolescent sexual health: Evidence and opportunities. Retrieved from
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Escobar-Chaves, L.S., Tortolero, S. R., Markham, C.M., Low, B.J., Eitel, P., &
Thickstun, P. (2005). Impact of the media on adolescent sexual attitudes and
behavior. Pediatrics 116, 303-326.
Gainor, G. S. (Producer), & Gluck, W. (Director). (2011, July 22). Friends with benefits
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Grant, C. (2003). Teens, sex and the media: Is there a connection? Pediatric Child
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Gruber, E., & Grube, J. W. (2000). Adolescent sexuality and the media: A review of
current knowledge and implications. Western Journal of Medicine, 172, 210-214.
Guglielmo, L. (Ed.). (2013). MTV and teen pregnancy. Plymouth, UK: The Scarecrow
Press, INC.
Knowles, B. (2013). Partition. On Beyonc [CD]. New York City, NY: Parkwood
Entertainment.

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LEngle, K.L., Brown, J.D., & Kenneavy, K. (2006). The mass media are an important
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Levine, A. (2014, September 2). Animals [Recorded by Maroon 5]. On V [CD]. Santa
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Shea, S. (2011, November 15). Textually active: Sexting and depression among teens are
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