Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Better Be Prepared: An Analysis of the Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young Adolescents' Media

Abstract

Despite concerns about high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease in the United States, the mass media adolescents attend to most frequently include little accurate information about sexual health. In this study, a preliminary quantitative analysis of the sexual content in four media (television, magazines, music, and movies) popular among 3,261 Black and White adolescents (12–14 years old) found that less than one half of 1% of the content included information about or depictions of sexually healthy behavior. A qualitative analysis of the relatively rare instances of sexual health content revealed that across all four media the sexual health content was ambiguous and/or inaccurate, reinforced traditional gender stereotypes that males seek sex and females are responsible for protection against pregnancy, and presented puberty as funny and contraception as embarrassing or humiliating. These analyses suggest that significant changes in the media's presentations of sexuality would be required if the media are ever to be considered a healthy part of adolescents' sexual socialization.

Notes

^a n = 446.

^b n = 28,281.

^c N = 236,066.

^aTelevision programs: Nielsen ratings of top shows (“How Did Your Favorite Show Rate,” 2002); movies: domestic box office cumulative receipts (“Box Office,” 2001; magazines: total paid circulation and ranking among the top ABC magazines (Magazine Publishers of America, n.d.); albums: highest ranking on Billboard top music charts (n.d.).

^bOther magazines targeted to Blacks and young men did not include sufficient sexual health content to be included in the qualitative sample.