Bonner 2 In the summary you just read on the article, Sexuality in the Mass Media: How to View the

Media Critically, I formed some opinions and thoughts about what Rockwell had to present. The first main point I would like to discuss is the fact that, Rockwell thinks that viewing some of the provocative images that television have on would be a great sex education method. I feel as though yes it would teach kids about topics that they are curious about and their parents are uncomfortable talking about to them. If this is going to be done, I feel as though the parent should be sitting right there with their child to explain to them about such sexual behaviors. The parents should pick the images/ videos wisely. They could have one very explicit example but have the other ones that the kids could handle. The parents should also talk to the kid and ask them questions about the topics they are curious about or about topics that could come up when the parents arent around. The second main point is when Rockwell talked about how media representation of sex has changed in the last 50 years. I remember watching I Love Lucy when I was little and seeing that her and her husband would not only sleep in separate beds but they would also sleep in separate rooms. Now when I turn on TV, I see same sex couples or teen couples in the same bed doing grown up activities. I feel as though is too much for a kid to handle because they dont know what to make of the situation they are witnessing on TV. Maybe the media could make those types of shows for late night entertainment, especially when they show nudity. Parents could also speak up when it comes to this topic because they could write more to the board of censorship or they could place censorships on their own televisions. The last main point that I have is small but big in so many words. Kids should not be spending 15000 hours watching television by the time they graduate from high school. This is a prime example of how the media has changed family time by a large percent. Families dont have the quality time to spend because each individual in the household have their own separate preference of shows they want to watch or their own television sets so they can watch what they please. To wrap this up, the media has changed the household and it self over the years. Being as though Sex Sells advertisers use that to the fullest advantage and they market the hell out of it. I wonder what some of the advertisers feel about the product they are advertising is teaching their child some of the things they didnt want them to know about.

Works Cited:

Bryant, J. & Rockwell, S.C. (1994). Effects of massive exposure to sexually-oriented primetime television programming on adolescents moral judgment. Media, children, and the family: Social scientific, psychodynamic and clinical perspectives (pp. 183-195). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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