Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on May 20, 2004
Health Education Research 2004 19(6):669-676; doi:10.1093/her/cyg082
Health Education Research Vol.19 no.6, © Oxford University Press 2004; All rights reserved
Representing young people's sexuality in the ‘youth’ media
1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8RT, 2 School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3NB and 3 Research and Evaluation Division, Health Education Board for Scotland, Edinburgh EH10 4SG, UK
4 Correspondence to: S. A. Batchelor; E-mail: S.Batchelor{at}socsci.gla.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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This paper reports findings from a content analysis of the main messages about sexuality in media outlets consumed by young people. It examines how sexuality is represented and the level of sexual health information provided in some UK magazines and TV programmes targeted at young people. Our findings show that such outlets included a vast range of useful discussion including information about health concerns and in-depth exploration of issues such as consent and examples of couples exploring whether or not they were ‘ready’ for sex. In particular, the right of girls to ‘say no’ was vividly fore-grounded in several teen dramas and magazines. However, coverage was also characterized by certain limitations. A clear pattern was evident whereby contraception and managing ‘how far to go’ were depicted as women's responsibility. There was a limited range of representations for young men, a lack of positive images of lesbian and gay teenagers, and a failure to represent diversity. There were also no examples of how people might raise concerns such as safer sex. In this context, health educators need to be aware of both the richness and the limitations of current mainstream representations in order to work with and through the media to improve the quality and range of material for young people.
This paper reports findings from a content analysis of the main messages about sexuality in media outlets consumed by young people. It examines how sexuality is represented and the level of sexual health information provided in some UK magazines and TV programmes targeted at young people. Our findings show that such outlets included a vast range of useful discussion including information about health concerns and in-depth exploration of issues such as consent and examples of couples exploring whether or not they were ‘ready’ for sex. In particular, the right of girls to ‘say no’ was vividly fore-grounded in several teen dramas and magazines. However, coverage was also characterized by certain limitations. A clear pattern was evident whereby contraception and managing ‘how far to go’ were depicted as women's responsibility. There was a limited range of representations for young men, a lack of positive images of lesbian and gay teenagers, and a failure to represent diversity. There were also no examples of how people might raise concerns such as safer sex. In this context, health educators need to be aware of both the richness and the limitations of current mainstream representations in order to work with and through the media to improve the quality and range of material for young people.
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Introduction |
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Growing concern over teenage sexual behaviour is apparent with all four UK countries developing and implementing strategies to tackle associated health outcomes. This concern is, perhaps, not surprising given the increase in reported sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people and the fact that the UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe.
Education alone has its limitations. However, it is one of the key strands of sexual health policy aimed at reducing teen pregnancy and transmission of STIs. While sex education traditionally has been the domain of schools, there is growing recognition of other sources of information, including the media. The role of media influence is complex and does not involve simply ‘absorption’ or ‘mimicry’ (Kitzinger, 1999
; Batchelor, 2003); however, several studies have shown that the media has an important part to play in shaping the knowledge and attitudes of young people, and can influence discussion around sexuality (Davis and Harris, 1982; Thomson and Scott, 1991; Kehily, 1996; Currie et al., 1997; Forrest, 1997; Millwood Hargrave, 1999). It is against this background that we conducted our study to explore the types of messages that media outlets consumed by young people are offering, and the implications these might have for sexual health and sexual health promotion.
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Method |
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The research presented here is based on an analysis of media outlets consumed by young people.
Sample
We analysed a cross section of media during a randomly selected week: Monday 19 April to Sunday 25 April 1999. We examined nine top-selling magazines for young people, 10 daily and eight Sunday newspapers (involving 68 newspaper editions over the 7 days), and recorded all television programmes between 16:00 and 18:00 on each terrestrial channel (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and 5). We also recorded a series of programmes that fell outside the 16:00 to 18:00 time slot, but which have a large teenage audience. These included ‘teen dramas’ such as Dawson's Creek and Hollyoaks, as well as a range of soap operas, including Eastenders and Brookside. Our television sample involved a total of 88.5 hours of broadcasting.
The magazine sample consisted of five publications aimed at teenage girls/young women (Mizz, Sugar, Bliss, J-17 and 19), two music magazines (M8 and Top of the Pops), one computer gaming magazine (PlayStation Plus) and one ‘lad's mag’ (frOnt). The majority of these targeted a teen audience; however, frOnt, M8 and 19 were aimed at a slightly older age group (frOnt, for example, is aimed at 18–24 year olds). We included these magazines because, although their target audience may be older, younger teens do read them. The preponderance of female titles in our sample reflects the lack of magazines aimed at younger teenage boys.
The aim in monitoring all these outlets over a sample week was to gain a sense of routine, everyday coverage—providing a snapshot of patterns of coverage across a range of media. That said, we should note the limitations of such a ‘snapshot’ which does not address ongoing story lines or shifts in coverage over time (Bragg and Buckingham, 2002). The paper that follows should therefore be read as an overview of coverage rather than a comment on individual programmes or titles.
Coding and analysis
From the above sample, every item involving sexual content relating to young people was collected. Sexual content was defined as any depiction of sexual behaviours, discussion of sex or sexuality, sexually suggestive behaviour/images/language, sexual health, or sexuality-related issues (e.g. sexual identity). In line with other researchers working in this area, we also considered actions to be sexual where they conveyed a sense of sexual intimacy (Kunkel et al., 2003). So, for example, in our analysis of teen dramas we included kissing between characters with a discernible romantic interest, but not between friends or relatives. Sexual suggestiveness included flirtatious behaviours (intended to arouse sexual interest in others), sexual innuendoes and double entendres (composed of veiled references to sexual behaviour or sexual organs), and sexualized presentations of the body (such as a woman positioned on her back in a posture of sexual display).
Our initial trawl generated a sample of 35 items from the press, 69 scenes on television and 196 items (advice, letters, short stories) in the magazines. Each item was then subject to content analysis. In brief, content analysis is the study of the frequency with which certain identifiable elements occur in a given sample. We began, therefore, by developing a list of sexual content variables based on previous research conducted in North America (Sapolsky and Tabarlet, 1991; Lowry and Shidler, 1993; Kunkel et al., 1996). Each item was coded (by a single coder) according to its content, type of discussion and/or reference, and its format (e.g. TV teen drama, magazine editorial, newspaper feature). This quantitative analysis was complemented by qualitative analysis designed to capture the subtleties of the various messages presented, e.g. was the behaviour portrayed as humorous or serious, positive or negative. Particular attention was also given to the ways in which gender roles were portrayed and the depiction of different types of teenagers (gay and lesbian young people, those with disabilities, and those from ethnic minorities).
Like all research techniques, content analysis suffers from certain limitations, one of which relates to the need for coders to interpret meaning. This can be particularly problematic where the aim is to impute latent rather than manifest content, e.g. traditional markers of masculinity and femininity [(Bryman, 2001), p. 191]. Previous studies have sought to overcome this problem by statistical monitoring of inter-coder reliability of judgments [see, e.g. (Kunkel et al., 2003), p. 10]. Because ours was a relatively small study, one person was responsible for devising the coding scheme, collecting and analysing all the data. While this overcame the problem of inconsistency between coders, it is still important not to assume a correspondence of interpretation between the producers of teen dramas or magazines and researchers, or teenage consumers and researchers. This points to the need for further research to clarify how media professionals perceive their role and judge their own products, as well as how young people relate to and interpret the messages presented. The following findings should be read with this in mind.
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Results |
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This paper is concerned with the type of messages offered to young people. We will therefore focus on the teen dramas and magazine samples only. [For a discussion of the project as a whole, including analysis of TV news/documentaries and newspapers, see (Batchelor and Kitzinger, 1999
).] The newspaper analysis identified 26 articles about teenagers and sexuality. The overwhelming focus was on risk and danger. Most news reports concerned criminal sex acts or issues to do with age inequalities or teenage pregnancy. The message that adults/parents are offered about teenagers and sexuality is very different from that explored in the media aimed at teenagers themselves. The findings are arranged in two parts: television teen dramas and magazines.
Representations of (hetero)sexual interactions, conversations about sex and sexual health issues in teen dramas
There were only three implicit representations of teenagers engaging in consensual heterosexual intercourse in teen dramas. No direct views of sexual intercourse were shown and there was no nudity. Instead, producers used ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots to infer that intercourse had taken place. The predominant portrayal of teenage sexuality on television involved conversations about sex. This category included discussions about the ‘opposite sex’ (N = 14), flirting or dating (N = 9), sexual bravado and/or teasing (N = 7), and sexual negotiation (N = 5).
Clear gender differences were evident in the representations of how young men and women talked, felt about, and acted, in relation to sex. Whereas female characters were able to discuss with their friends the decision to have sex, male conversations tended to centre on boasting about sexual prowess. [A representation which may, of course, reflect many young people's experience, but does not necessarily reflect their aspirations, see (Kitzinger and Farquhar, 1999).] Girls were also portrayed as being more interested in emotions; boys, in sex. A vivid dramatization of this ‘gender divide’ was presented in Family Affairs, for example, when 16-year-old Donna tells 15-year-old Benji that they should be ‘past the groping stage’. He assumes she is referring to sex, but she actually means that they should be talking more, getting to know one another.
It was invariably young male, rather than female, characters who were portrayed at the initiators of sexual encounters. [A finding echoing research on US prime time television, see (Sapolsky and Tabarlet, 1991).] The general picture was of boys/men as pursuers and girls/women as the pursued. At the same time, a strong theme running through the TV programmes was that girls could successfully resist pressure to have sex and that ‘nice boys’ would respond positively to girls' hesitancy. For example, a scene in Sweet Valley High explored the different feelings of ‘Liz’ and her boyfriend ‘Todd’ about the possibilities of having sex together. The programme included a scene in which Liz was able to successfully persuade Todd that they were not yet ready:
Liz: Todd, wait. [...] I've been thinking a lot about this and I'm just not sure. It's a big step for us. It would change everything.There was a stark gap in all the scenes involving conversations about sex. Although young men and women (or talk between female friends) might address emotional needs (to a greater or lesser extent), consent and ‘readiness’, one topic was notable by its absence: contraception or protection against STIs was never raised. There was not even a single casual comment such as ‘be careful’ or ‘have you got anything to use?’. The only (in passing and non-verbal) reference to contraception in any scene was a one-and-a-half-second shot of an opened condom packet (Dawson's Creek).Todd: Liz, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do.
Liz: It's not just me – it's us. Do you really think we are ready for this?
Todd: Well, I don't know.
Liz: Don't you think it would be better if we had no doubts at all?
Todd: Maybe you're right.
[Excerpt from Sweet Valley High]
Representations of (hetero)sexual interactions, conversations about sex and sexual health issues in teen magazines
It is harder to generalize about the sexual content of the magazines in our sample, primarily because individual publications vary so widely depending upon the age and gender of their target audience. Magazines in our sample aimed at a younger market tended to focus on non-sexual romance and implicit references to sex and/or sexuality (‘Can boys and girls be just good friends?’), while the publications targeting older readers included more explicit features on sexual acts (including vaginal, anal or oral sex).
Gender differences echoed the distinction in ascribed gender roles already noted in our summary of the TV dramas. An emphasis on emotions and focus on romance was a pervasive feature in some of the girls' magazines in our sample—44% of items focused on romance came from J-17 alone. In contrast, the two magazines in our sample aimed more at male readers (PlayStation Plus and frOnt) included more textual and visual ‘sexual suggestiveness’. Fifty-four percent of all examples of textual suggestiveness (e.g. provocative double-entendres) appeared in the ‘lad's mag’, frOnt, and 16% in the computer gaming title, PlayStation Plus. These two magazines were also responsible for most examples of visual suggestiveness (66% originated from frOnt and PlayStation Plus). Female models (or female computer characters that boys can ‘play’ with) in these publications were typically young, white, slim and blonde with large breasts. They were often positioned on their backs in postures of sexual display/availability. The visual portrayal of boys/men in magazines for girls and young women was far less explicit, and readers were often invited to fantasize about having a relationship with the model/pop star/celebrity, rather than simply sexual intercourse.
Again mirroring the television sample, the assumption in magazines (whether targeted at male or female readers) was that boys/men were ‘only after one thing’. Similarly, the implication was that it was girls'/women's responsibility to ‘draw the line’: ‘Get a lad going and he could find you irresistible. Be careful though—don't be an April fool and let him go too far!’ (Mizz). The focus on female responsibility for contraception was emphasized in references to pregnancy and letters to problem pages centred on girls' worries about getting/being pregnant. There was no mention of teenage fathers in the sample, apart from one passing reference in frOnt.
As with the TV representations, young people were, if over 16, assumed to be heterosexually active. At the same time, magazines aimed at a female audience encouraged readers only to go as far as they felt comfortable and also emphasized that good men would be respectful of this.
‘Calm down,’ he said softly. I'm not going to seduce you or anything'.Editorial or expert advice reiterated girls' right to determine what they did or did not want to do sexually. However, the message in frOnt, aimed at male readers, was somewhat different. A man who wrote in disturbed by his girlfriend's request for oral sex was given strict instructions to comply (‘get on your knees and do what she says’). Whilst girls and young women were cautioned about engaging in sex before they were ready and were presented with strategies to keep overeager boyfriends at bay, young men were offered no such scripts.‘It's the ‘anything’ I'm worried about,’ I mumbled. ‘Dylan? You don't mind about, like, me not wanting to, y'know, do it?’
Dylan paused mid nibble. ‘Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to,’ he confessed. ‘But I want to make you happy and if you're not comfortable having sex, then it's cool with me.’
‘I'm just not ready yet,’ I told him. ‘You know, it's a really big thing. It's like the biggest thing in the whole world and there's all these things I still don't know about you. And I haven't even been round to your house and we haven't even been on a proper date yet or anything. And I'm not saying that once we've done those things, I'll have sex with you, I'm just saying...’
‘Shush,’ breathed Dylan. ‘It's alright. If you want to have sex some time in the future, that's fine with me and if you don't, that's fine with me too.’
[Excerpt from ‘Diary of a crush—French Kiss’, J-17, April 1999]
Unlike in the TV sample, sexual health issues often figured in the magazines. References to STIs (N = 12) covered scabies, pubic lice, HIV and AIDS. Several magazines included information about contraception, although the majority of these items were short news pieces or passing references (14 out of 16). The magazine sample had the same gap as the TV sample in that there was no discussion of how to negotiate the use of any contraceptive device or implement safer sexual practices. There was also no mention of contraceptive or safer sexual practices in any of the fictional love/sex stories published within our magazine sample.
Representing diversity, portraying minorities
Finally, it is worth drawing attention to one other pattern of coverage from across the TV and magazine sample. Most of the teenagers represented throughout our sample were white, thin, conventionally attractive and had no evident disability. There was no example of a visibly disabled teenager engaging in sexual discussion/action. The only reference to disability and sexuality (in both the magazine and television samples) came in the form of a short news item. Under the headline ‘THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT’, frOnt reported that a ‘judge rejected the claim of a man on rape charges that he did not understand his victim's protests because she was deaf and made them in sign language’.
In the entire sample of magazine and teen drama representations there were also no simple, in-passing positive portrayals of openly gay men or women. Being gay was, however, raised as a source of anxiety or an object of abuse (even if this was followed by a more neutral or ‘reassuring’ response, e.g. on the ‘agony’/‘problem’ pages). Indeed, within the TV sample while there was not a single representation of a gay character, there were three examples of male characters disowning the imputation that they might be gay. One teen drama scene, for example, showed two male characters jumping apart embarrassed after being ‘caught’ practising dancing together.
Our study suggests that in spite of some high profile innovative representations of young gay men and lesbians in some contexts (e.g. the controversial but popular Channel 4 series Queer As Folk or the lesbian character in Buffy), gay teenagers are not generally integrated into mainstream representations. Within our sample male homosexuality was most likely to be portrayed as a source of embarrassment or target of teasing and lesbianism was completely invisible. This gap has important implications for health professionals, given specific health information needs and continued problems of bullying, depression, isolation and self-harm among young people who fear they might be lesbian/gay (Rivers, 2000; Warwick and Douglas, 2002).
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Discussion |
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In the context of current sexual health policy, the potential role of the media in the development of young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour must be considered. This research has highlighted a number of important points including the positive support for young women who wish to ‘say no’, but also the reinforcement of some existing stereotypes by both male and female magazines. For example, the notion that young women are responsible for patrolling sexual encounters and contraception counteracts work in sexual health promotion, which encourages both parties to take equal responsibility for their actions. It is important for health promoters to be aware of these mixed messages facing young people, and give consideration to the confusion and gaps in cultural representations from diverse sources.
There are fierce debates about the extent to which the media can (or indeed should) simply reflect or actually actively help to create reality [e.g. (Philo, 1999)]. However, even if the media can only reflect how people ‘are’ there may still be opportunities for new initiatives. For example, although the gender differences represented within our sample may reflect how young men and women often behave around emotions and sex, there is evidence from other research that sometimes other priorities, feelings and dynamics come into play. Some young men, for example, yearn to discuss sex honestly with their male peers, may seek romantic involvement rather than sexual satisfaction or, may indeed, sometimes prefer ‘foreplay’ to ‘going all the way’ (Wight, 1996; Burton et al., 1998; Kitzinger and Farquhar, 1999). At present. popular culture seldom reflects, explores or legitimates these desires. Representations which reflect and explore the diversity of attitudes towards sex among young people may be important in helping to shift perceived social norms—this is important because, as other research has shown, health behaviours are not only influenced by individual's attitudes, risk assessments or the barriers they face, but also by their perceptions about others beliefs and behaviours [(Rimal and Real, 2003), p. 184].
Going further than this it is possible that the media can open up new ways of talking/relating about issues and prompt new conversations and interactions (Kitzinger, 2001). As we have shown, the teen media already present audiences with a number of ‘scripts’ or ‘stories’ about heterosexual sex, relationships, negotiation and consent. If these scripts were expanded, e.g. to include positive routine representations of young gays and lesbians accepted by their peers, this could help challenge bullying and discrimination. Similarly, media representations of young people negotiating safer sex might help people to ‘find the words’ to initiate such interactions themselves. This would be particularly valuable given evidence that there is often a gap between the intention to adopt safer sexual practices, and the achievement of this goal (Kamb et al., 1996) and that prior discussion of condom use is the most important predictor of their use (Henderson et al., 2002).
How might health professionals work with and through the media, to address some of the issues and gaps outlined above? There are three main possibilities. First, the media can be used as a means of delivering preventative health messages. TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and the Internet are often regarded as appropriate ways to engage young people, and, while they may not be very good at changing behaviour, research does suggest that they can be effective in raising awareness of, and providing information on, health-related matters (Moore and Rosenthal, 1993). Of course it is vital that the content of sexual health advertising is relevant and worthwhile in the eyes of the audience, and so any campaign must be informed by an understanding of communication theory [see (Capella, 2003)], and draw on research into how young people themselves make sense of and use media sexual content. There needs also to be an attempt to portray marginalized groups and messages, and to work at a local as a well as a national level.
In addition to working through the media, health professionals can work with the media (Raymond, 2003). This involves considering the whole circuit of mass communication and engaging with the factors which influence how media personnel work (Miller et al., 1998). There is potential for working with magazine editors and programme makers to reflect on the nature of existing representations, and how they might be challenged, improved or developed. Such engagement would be an important way of developing our research. In 1996, the self-regulating Teenage Magazine Arbitration Panel (TMAP) was launched, bringing together government representatives, teenage magazine editors and sexual health professionals. The panel established guidelines to cover the editorial sexual content of teen magazines and responds to complaints based on the guidelines. Adherence to the guidelines is on a voluntary basis and TMAP works to promote the use of guidelines in the production of teen magazines.
A third strategy might be to promote media literacy. As well as working to provide innovation in the media, there is potential for developing work with media consumers to help access, analyse and evaluate media content. Media literacy work could enable young people to look beyond the face value of message and be more critical of what is not as well as what is being said. Again, such work has to be sensitive to the cultural practices of the groups with whom one is working, and would be assisted by further research on young people's views and experiences of the ways in which they are represented in the media, and also how they actually use the media.
In the context of sexual health issues such as STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and the high attempted suicide rate among young gay men and lesbians, there are clearly further contributions that the media could make to providing thought-provoking and positive images for young people. Those concerned about sexual health promotion need to acknowledge the expertise among magazine editors and programme makers in addressing young people, and work with them to develop more innovative representations that go beyond some of the patterns and gaps outlined by our research.
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Acknowledgments |
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This project was carried out by S. B. and J. K., and funded by the Health Education Board for Scotland.
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References |
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Received on April 10, 2003; accepted on February 2, 2004
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