Welcome to the first week of “Wednesdays, With a Side of Sex!” This first week is quite serious, but don't let that discourage you from reading the column every week, for it won't always be so. I'll talk about sex, and hopefully you'll read about it.
Sex. We all know what it is. Sex is everywhere. It dominates our everyday lives. We cannot turn on the television or surf the Internet without running into it. Although, it is not like we are trying to run from it either. We don't try to hide from it; it just appears around us without any invitation. We're in college, so we understand sexual innuendos, especially with pop culture these days. But does that mean we should just accept it, even when we know we are not the only ones seeing it?
Is our society run by sex? Is someone always trying to sell sex?In commercials about alcohol, we never see the alcohol until the last seconds of the advertisement. Instead, viewers find themselves looking at half naked women or the most interesting man in the world (who is usually surrounded by women). When did it become the social norm to advertise alcohol with half naked women? Or anything for that matter? It’s because of sex. It’s because sex has become so socially acceptable.
Now, we are in college, so we get it. But the TV shows we are watching are on the same channels that younger children are watching. They sit in front of the televisions and watch as women and men (let’s not forget the half naked men) parade around the screen advertising this or that. They probably don't see it as an advertisement; all they see is half-naked people. Not the actual action of sex, but a sexualization of the product all the same.
Sex doesn't even mean just having sex anymore. Sex basically is the shortened form of sexual appeal. Sexual appeal sells, as advertisements show us daily. But, we have to ask ourselves if advertisers and their agencies have an obligation to censor sex. In reality, society has put the responsibility of censorship to children's parents, but in the ever-evolving world of media, parents can only do so much. So again, the question is asked if it is the responsibility of the advertisers to censor their ads?
Of course, there are different levels of sex. Half-naked people wearing bikinis are one thing, but are close-ups of a woman's figure and facial expressions while eating a delicious hamburger the same thing? Even when her expressions are dripping with sexual suggestion? Now, children may not understand these hints, but they still see it and could copy it. After all, there is the old saying, monkey see, monkey do.
The human brain does not fully develop until one is in their twenties. This means that children are growing up seeing these images of sexual appeal, and they learn to interpret these images.
The important thing to take away from this is that sometimes we are overwhelmed with sex, but we don't even see it. Sometimes that is okay, and sometimes it is not. More importantly, we need to realize that sex is, in fact, everywhere.
In the instance of children seeing sex, it is hard to determine what the correct action to take is, if there is even a correct action to take.
This is a sex column, so week after week, there will be more tales about sex: the ups and downs and the good and the bad.
Just remember that how we, as college students, see something is often times not the only way to see things. Look through a different lens, and you just might see something new.
This editorial is an opinion stated by the writer and does not represent the views of The Rotunda or Longwood University.
