"What Were They Selling Again?"
“What Were They Selling Again?”
Introduction
Media plays a huge role in society today, with sex being a large selling point in many instances. Advertisers have based many of their campaigns not around a product, but rather the sexualized figures selling it, such as advertisements for Godaddy.com or Carl’s Jr., where often times the product being sold is often a mystery. Amidst all this sexual bombardment, I was curious if men and women feel different about sex’s ever present role in our daily intake of audio and video. For my course project, I investigated the difference in approval of sexual content in media between males and females. My primary focus was to find if there were any differences between how males and females feel about sexual content in media. I am also curious to see if people have a larger problem with sexual exploitation of their same sex than the opposite sex, or if their objections are the same for either side. I will be defining this by comparing responses with respect to their gender. I predict that men will generally be more accepting of sexual content in media than women, based on general stereotypes and the fact that women are typically the ones sexualized, suggesting a greater appeal to men. I also think that most people treat this area as a bit of a double standard, being approving of the opposite sex being sexualized but not their own. For the purpose of this study I will assume all participants are heterosexual.
Methods
For my method of data collection I originally intended to survey my Human Sexuality class, but due to a printing error on the day of the survey I was unable. Instead, I conducted a survey of students in two Sociology 101 courses at Rio Hondo College. Prof. Rifino-Juarez graciously allowed me to hand out my survey at the end of another class I have with her, as well as another one of her classes. I distributed a four question survey to each participant and had them returned with anonymity. Surveying every
Introduction
Media plays a huge role in society today, with sex being a large selling point in many instances. Advertisers have based many of their campaigns not around a product, but rather the sexualized figures selling it, such as advertisements for Godaddy.com or Carl’s Jr., where often times the product being sold is often a mystery. Amidst all this sexual bombardment, I was curious if men and women feel different about sex’s ever present role in our daily intake of audio and video. For my course project, I investigated the difference in approval of sexual content in media between males and females. My primary focus was to find if there were any differences between how males and females feel about sexual content in media. I am also curious to see if people have a larger problem with sexual exploitation of their same sex than the opposite sex, or if their objections are the same for either side. I will be defining this by comparing responses with respect to their gender. I predict that men will generally be more accepting of sexual content in media than women, based on general stereotypes and the fact that women are typically the ones sexualized, suggesting a greater appeal to men. I also think that most people treat this area as a bit of a double standard, being approving of the opposite sex being sexualized but not their own. For the purpose of this study I will assume all participants are heterosexual.
Methods
For my method of data collection I originally intended to survey my Human Sexuality class, but due to a printing error on the day of the survey I was unable. Instead, I conducted a survey of students in two Sociology 101 courses at Rio Hondo College. Prof. Rifino-Juarez graciously allowed me to hand out my survey at the end of another class I have with her, as well as another one of her classes. I distributed a four question survey to each participant and had them returned with anonymity. Surveying every
Cited: Kelly, Gary. Sexuality Today. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.