Bodies in the Media

In an article on sex in the media (“Let Our Voices Be Heard”, Ensign, Nov 2003, 16-18), Elder M. Russell Ballard tells us that according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “the percentage of television prime-time shows with sexual content jumped from 67% in 1998 to 75% in the year 2000. Media with this kind of content has numerous negative effects. It fosters a callous attitude toward women, who are often portrayed as objects of abuse and not as precious daughters of God who are essential to His eternal plan. The long-cherished values of abstinence from intimate relationships before marriage and complete fidelity between husband and wife after marriage are denigrated and derided.”

I agree with Elder Ballard’s concerns, especially regarding any type of media that portrays women as objects of abuse. I think media can take sexuality way to far, either completely degrading it or showing such a perfect, romantic, fairly quick yet mutually pleasing union between two adults that less-sexually-experienced viewers may come away with an unrealistic expectation of sex.

However, I also feel there are certain benefits in my own life and in other women’s lives from appropriate media portrayal of both bodies (I’m thinking of what I consider to be artistic and non-pornographic pieces that show the beauty of the human body) and sexuality.

As a teenager turning into a woman, I was so shielded from any type of nudity (or even immodesty) that it was often difficult to know what a “normal” body looked like. I remember being in France during a vacation with my mom and seeing a billboard (I think it was for the Gap clothing store) that showed a topless woman. It was so natural and organic that it didn’t strike me as pornographic at all. Her breasts were quite small, and my first thought upon seeing it was “Oh! That’s GREAT! Mine ARE normal!!” It was very reassuring for me to be able to see another woman and be comfortable that what had happened to my body was routine and that even though I was pretty small in the chest department, that size could still be portrayed as beautiful.

I also don’t know how in the world I would have enjoyed my first sexual encounters if I hadn’t caught a few glimpses of visually explicit sex scenes in movies and on TV. I certainly didn’t have the kind of sex education in Utah public schools that would have helped me understand how it all works. The four minute explanation my mom provided on the “birds and the bees” when I was about seven years old wasn’t enough to help a mature young woman prepare for her own sex life. When it came to that first night, media had been the most helpful, educational, and open teacher I had on what was biologically supposed to happen and how it could be enjoyable for me, too!

All in all, I think tasteful sex in the media has had a positive effect on me. What about you? Has the media had any distinctly negative or positive effects on your sex life? Has it helped or hindered your acceptance of and comfort with your own body?