Media plays a major role in teenage sexuality. Teenagers are pressured through magazines and television to act and even dress a certain way. Many studies claim that media tends to alter behaviour, which often leads to increasing pregnancy/ sex rates among teens. Sexual messages are becoming more evident in lyrics, television shows and magazines in today’s society, more so than in the past. Here are some statistics on today’s teenagers:
Media
- In one hour of music videos 93% of it was related to sexuality
- Three out of four prime time shows contained some kind of sexual content
- Only one in four teenagers believe that media has an effect on their own behaviour
- 70% of parents say that they have had a conversation with their teenager about sexual issues because of something that they saw on a TV. show
- 78% of all teenage dialogue on TV involves comments about their own, or someone else’s interest in sex
Sexuality
- 50% of teens have had sex by the age of 17
- For a quarter of girls, their first partner was more than four years older then them
Body Image
- Models generally weigh 23% less than the average woman
- 90% of women are unsatisfied with their body in some way
- Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, or losing their parents
- Exposure to images of the “ideal woman” as seen in the media causes depression, anger and lower self esteem within the average man and woman
