Hypersexualization of teen girls and women in American TV is 100% on purpose: A ๐งต(Sources in alt images)
When it comes to American Tv I think about The Culture Industry. It's an idea that says that cultural media like Tv, Film, Music, Art, Magazines etc are so mass produced that they lose originality, purpose and meaning outside of spoon feeding ideas to the people consuming them.
1.) If we look at American TV through the Culture Industry Theory, we can view TV as a product where the only goal of making shows is to get people to consume them. American Tv creates shows that seem original, but in reality are just the current cultural demands of a society..
TV creates an illusion of the "real world" and asks the viewer to accept this illusion as reality. TV does not ask for a response. When TV is watched uncritically, you can internalize the ideas you are watching without thinking for yourself. You can see these ideals as reality.
2.)American Tv is the child of American radio shows which broadcasted American Ideals. Tv continued this tradition. When you look at media censorship history in America you will see that the reason for censorship always came from fear of spreading unwanted non-traditional ideas
3.)Considering that patriarchy has always been an American value, it makes sense that censorship and TV shows made sure to only show women and girls in a way that was agreeable to men. Especially in popular American genres that were created to show average american lifestyles.
Women on early TV shows were happy housewives, secretaries, adoring mothers who could handle the decisions of a family while keeping a husband happy and a floor clean. Girls were honestly just wives in training ๐ญ. These ideals are broadcast into 90% of homes by the 1960s.
These depictions went against how women actually felt during this time. In reality women were increasingly unhappy in ways that made them feel broken compared to women showed in the media. TV showed them that "in reality" other (good) women were happy to do what they did.
This Anti Miss America pamphlet really captures America's attitudes towards women during the end of the 1960s and these attitudes CONTINUE to dominate portrayals of women in the media to this day even when they go against the realities and interests of women.
But If we again consider, that
1. TV can exist for consumption of the unoriginal
2. Ideas of what make a woman valuable have not changed
3. TV creates an illusion that broadcasts American ideals as "reality"
Then you can understand why Tv women are shown the way they are
1. TV can exist for consumption of the unoriginal
2. Ideas of what make a woman valuable have not changed
3. TV creates an illusion that broadcasts American ideals as "reality"
Then you can understand why Tv women are shown the way they are
Shows like NYPD Blue ('90s) begin to air and they start the trend on screen sexual interactions on TV...and guess what? Other shows begin to do the same thing. Though it has rules, on screen sex scenes on television now become the norm..right when Teen Dramas become popular.
Teen Dramas originally had women well into their 20s portraying characters who were supposed to be 14-16 years old. This is because doing so allowed writers to comfortably write teen characters in sexual situations. These shows did not represent the reality of teenage life.
Dana Densmore writes about the American view on sex in a way that I really agree with. I think her views can be used to understand why women internalize the illusion shown on TV even when it doesn't agree with their reality. We are groomed from the start.
Casting adults really just allowed writers to sell false realities about sex, values, virginity, and body types to teenage girls. None of which benefited them, but fell in line with ideas of how girls should act, and how they should view sex, their bodies, and their roles
Today teen dramas only cast teens the same age as the characters they will be playing IF there is no sex involved. For the most part, Teen Dramas today revolve around adult themes, and will go as far as portraying actors nude or engaged in explicit sex acts regardless of age.
Couple increasingly adult themes, with the rise of streaming services that do not need to follow TV rules and censor their content, and you have an explanation for why male writers are allowed to write shows about teenage girls the way they do.
Today you will find teen shows about 17 year olds as sugar babies, and cam girls. 16 year olds engaging in threesomes. 14 year olds as sexually active and it all contributes to a culture where American girls are being told to mature faster and empower themselves through sex.
The hypersexualization of teen girls is only boosted by the focus on romance and validation through male attraction--even when it comes from older or violent men. These shows create an illusion that says "the winners" are to be used. The others are "useless"
This message only continues as you age out of the teen dramas and into shows for young women. Though shows claim to reflect a modern idea of "liberated" and "powerful" women, women are still rarely depicted as complete and fulfilled persons outside of attachment.
Who does this benefit? Certainly not the female actors who have to sign contracts to simulate sex on camera. Not the teen girls desperately burying their girlhood to make room for sexual expectation. Not the women starving on a diet of myths and illusions of power.
It benefits men who can force actresses to act out their fetishes, by writing fantasies into the script. It benefits men who want an easier time of convincing girls that however they interpret it they belong on his crotch. It benefits men who want a male voice in a female mouth.
Loading suggestions...