Paper Title
Sex and the Media
Keywords
- sex and the media
- sex
- sexual behavior
- sexual desire
- urges
- needs
- sexual practices
- diversity
- representation
- literature
- art
- media
- pornography
- regulation
- hidden images
- kendrick
- child sexuality
- child pornography
- media materials
- pseudo porn
- virtual porn
- digitally manipulated images
- drawings
- cartoons
- legal classification
- stapleton
Article Type
Book review
Journal
The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media
Research Impact Tools
Publication Info
Volume: 27 | Issue: V | Pages: 455-469
Published On
October, 2011
Downloads
FULL PDF
Abstract
Despite the continuing prominence of a view of sex as a basic matter of ‘urges’ and ‘needs,’ evidence from all kinds of academic disciplines has shown that sexual practices around the world and throughout history are extremely diverse, giving the lie to the idea that either sexual behavior or desire are natural or predetermined. Representations of these in literature, art, and other media have also varied dramatically. Pornography, for example, is a modern invention, created as a category for regulation to indicate images and artifacts that should be hidden away; indeed, until the mid-eighteenth century, the term itself ‘meant nothing at all’ (Kendrick, 1996 [1987], p. 2). In particular, images of children that would have once seemed innocent are now more likely to be seen as sexual. Today, an increasing number of media materials are being classed as child pornography, including works of art and the digitally manipulated images, drawings, and cartoons that in some countries are now classified as ‘pseudo’ and ‘virtual’ porn (Stapleton, 2010).
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