Family under the microscope
Toxic TV, in the form of gender stereotyping, puts girls at risk
- Oliver James
- The Guardian, Saturday 11 April 2009
Seeing early teen daughters with their peers can be a scary sight for parents. As a friend of mine asked after going past a secondary school when the children had just been let out, "Why are the girls dressed like hookers?"
Television is undoubtedly part of the answer. Nearly all 15-year-old girls have dated someone in the last three years, averaging six dates a month and 25 dates a year. Romantic relationships tend to last about four months in the 13-16-year-old age group. One quarter of girls have had sexual intercourse by their 16th birthday.
By the time they reach university, despite decades of feminism, stereotypical gender scripts still tend to be followed. When quizzed, the average male student expects to be requesting and planning the date, controlling its progression (driving and opening doors) and initiating sexual contact. Women students are meanwhile worrying about their appearance and whether the date is going well, assisting the man as he choreographs what happens, including responses to his sexual advances.
This is not terribly good news, because girls and women subscribing to this stereotypical script are also at greater risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexual harassment. And television plays a significant role in writing the lines.
Studies of the content of what teens watch show that sex is casual, with few consequences. Even in children's TV, girls are already portrayed as very thin and sexualised (short skirts, makeup, flirty roles). By the teens, they become passive: sexual objects with a strong focus on their youth and appearance, while the boys are dominant, powerful and defined by sexual success.
Sure enough, heavy teen viewing is linked to having more stereotypical gender roles in real life. It also correlates with more recreational attitudes to dating and sex, with greater acceptance of frequent encounters, started at earlier ages. Particularly problematic are the soap operas and romantic American series targeted at teens, such as The OC and Gossip Girl. Promiscuity is greater among girls who go for these, as well as music videos.
Indeed, girls who start viewing this kind of content young are more likely to have engaged in intercourse the following year. Their expectations of sexual activity are increased.
Of course, television is not wholly to blame. It accounts for half of young teens' four-hour daily screentime, and while girls (and women) rarely develop a sustained interest in internet porn, social networking sites and text messaging are also an increasing cause of sexualisation.
Television has its greatest effect on girls who are predisposed by family nurture to be vulnerable (the effect of the media on eating disorders and teen violence works in the same way). Many factors mark out the at-risk girls: a lack of a close relationship with a parent from an early age being the most critical; the extent of parental monitoring of early teen leisure time; getting in with a bad set (though this is a self-selected risk caused by the relationship with parents) and early puberty.
But television content plays a highly significant independent role in indirectly affecting general teen attitudes, especially American shows. You should never feel like a spoilsport in prohibiting your children from watching toxic shows. Parents can become overcontrolling and obsessive about protecting daughters, although it is true that their brothers can neither get pregnant nor are likely to be victims of sexual harassment. But strong parental messages about televisual content do also help reduce the risk of having a sexist lout for a son.
encounter - tu: zbliżenie seksualne
flirty - flirciarski
focus - ośrodek zainteresowania
lout - prostak
nurture - wychowanie, opieka
predisposed - predysponowany
promiscuity - swoboda seksualna
puberty - okres dojrzewania
quiz - przepytywać
sexual harassment - molestowanie seksualne
spoilsport - osoba psująca innym zabawę
sustained - długotrwały, ciągły
