SEX AND ADVERTISING

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to sexual content in media and advertisements. When they are exposed to sexual content during their developmental period, it could affect their perception and understanding of gender roles, sexual attitudes, and sexual behaviours. In the US, nearly half of all high school students had sexual intercourse (Lowry & Towles, 1989). Research has suggested that even those who have not experienced vaginal intercourse, substantial numbers engage in other intimate sexual behaviours (Schusterr, Bell, & Kanouse, 1996).

 

The Western hemisphere has the highest teen pregnancy rate and 25% of these teens have had a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Among adolescent girls in the United States aged between 15 and 17 years, 75 per 1,000 become pregnant each year (Fleming, 1996), a rate two to seven times higher than rates in other industrialized nations. Those adolescents (19% of the adolescent population) who report four or more lifetime sexual partners are at greater risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection (CDC, 1993). Overall, 25% of sexually active teenagers and 13% of all adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 become infected with sexually transmitted diseases each year, representing 3 million cases or about 25% of all new cases reported annually (Gruber & Grube, 2000).

 

A recent study of African American girls aged 14 to 18 years found that teens with either multiple sexual partners or a history of sexually transmitted infections reported a higher rate of viewing television shows that depicted women as sexual objects or prizes (Wingood & DiClemente, 1998). Furthermore, studies have demonstrated the potential for mass media to influence behaviour through a various psychosocial theories and models. Despite the various mechanism by which media might affect adolescent’s sexual attitudes, most agree that sexually related message content and behaviour act over time as stimuli to change psychological, physiological, and behavioural function (Eschobar-Chaves, et al., 2005).