Moral Panics and Youth Sexuality Flashcards
Historical interest in virginity
- Historical interest in virginity is about establishing paternity (consider the broader ties to patriarchy, male ownership, and daughters)
- Consider historical implications of modern-day phrase “damaged goods”
Purity Myth
- more than just sexism – deeply rooted in old-school gender roles
- Equating this inaction (virginity) with morality continues to tie women to their bodies, also suggests that women can’t be moral actors on their own terms – women defined by what they don’t do – ethics of passivity
What does it mean that Edward and Bella and virgins?
• 15-year-old girl felt “a draw towards a romantic and passionate relationship that is safe like sex after marriage and takes things slow.“
• 16/19-year-old expressed that messages about abstinence in Twilight were more persuasive than messages from their parents
CONSIDER:
• Edward is a powerful exception to typical teen boys, who are often viewed by girls as only interested in sex
• Edward represents a “safe” sexuality: his simultaneous passion for Bella and his protection of her virtue result in a romantic hero who is both sexually charged and chaste
Problems with Twilight’s Abstinence
- sexualized abstinence
- It contextualizes the pro-abstinence message in connection with violence
- After its release, headlines and news stories included: “Twilight Makes Abstinence Popular”, “Twilight is Promoting Abstinence”, and “Romance and Abstinence Attracts Teen Girls to Twilight Series
The Current Moral Panic: Young People and Social Media
- pressured into creating an impossibly perfect self online
- “hot or not”, based on rejecting or liking people, and the physical appeal of women
- Nancy Jo Sale
- Are these panics and concerns too alarmist and overemphasized?
- Are young girls just positioned as passive victims?
Sexting and the Reproduction of Moral Norms and Female Sexuality
- girls must become proficient in negotiating requests, images trades like currency
- For boys, sexting is about performing masculinity through visual proof
- Highlights ability to chat to girls, negotiate access to their bodies, results may involve gaining status in peer group (win a bet)
- 51% of girls aged 13-19 believed that pressure from a guy is a reason girl sends nudes
Teen Sexting
- Legal system at a loss because sexting is so common – yet, possessing or sending a nude photo of a minor can be prosecuted
- threatened to charge the girl who is in the pictures, rather than the distributor of the image
- conversation that is really confusing – were the girls being exploited? Were they just experimenting?
