Mass Media Violence And Society Essay Research

Mass Media, Violence And Society Essay, Research Paper

It started by way of messengers and scribes, evolved through the presentation of newspapers and radio, brought us together with television, and now serves us

world-wide via the ever-popular Internet. It is the mass media, and even from the earliest days of its existence, it has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten

and enrich society, and ways that deteriorate and perplex it. It is not a surprise to learn, then, that the mass media is the most powerful source of information we

have, and nothing else in today.s world influences public perception quite as heavily. Unfortunately, however, most of what is broadcast or transmitted in the news

today is with reference to the chaotic condition of our planet, or something else that society as a whole sees as detrimental or damaging. But the news on television is

not the only type of media taking the criticism of society. Other forms of mass media, specifically movies and television programs containing pornography and

violence have been heavily criticized. The underlining concept to be debated here is that society is negatively influenced, specifically, by these images of pornography

and the result is increased violence against women. This assumption, and it is indeed only an assumption, is completely fallacious, however, as no concrete and

completely conclusive evidence has ever been formulated in support of the theory. The key premise here is that the mass media does not cause undesirable social

behaviour and in actuality, the media people should not be dubbed as the .bad guys.. They simply use their power in the most constructive ways possible in order to

promote their ratings and popularity. One way to do that is to concentrate on what sells: sex, violence and disaster. Having said this, why is it then, that many in

society still believe otherwise; why do they continue to believe that pornography is .evil. and is a major cause for violence against women, specifically rape. There

are many reasons for this misinterpretation and through the following few points, an attempt will be made to show that pornography has very little to almost no

correlation with violence against women (of course nothing is .absolute. in society). In order to demonstrate this, it must be made evident that pornography is not

.evil. and does not cause undesirable social behaviour by displaying nude women in sexually explicit circumstances. Thus, it is important to indicate that women are

not treated only as sexual objects through the media. This is done in an attempt to quash any traces of .evil. in pornography. Subsequently, a second point, that

some may consider to be completely bizarre, can be addressed; that pornography actually reduces the amount of violence against women. For thousands of years,

sex itself has been considered .evil. and revolting. This is exactly why the concealment of the sex organs and teaching feelings of shame toward human sexuality is so

common worldwide (Christensen 1990:4). These same feelings of shame are the chief reasons that sex is considered a personal and private matter. Contrary to the

beliefs of many, the mass media did not create these settings; society creates this image. In some societies, women have no reservations with regard to living their

entire lives completely naked, while in other societies, females cover themselves from head to toe, only revealing their eyes. The media has been bombarded with

criticism, overwhelmingly from the female community, relative to the amount of sexually explicit material that is published in magazines and that appears on television

and in the cinemas. A common argument against pornography is that the media portrays women as being nothing more than sexual playthings and objects to satisfy

male sexual desires. As before, the media once again, is not to be held responsible for creating this image; these views are products of society. It would be downright

absurd to assume that women in this society are treated as sexual objects only because the media releases or broadcasts pornographic material. A magazine

associated with make-up and skin care, for example, will quite obviously not be concentrating on much else. Such a magazine would not display pictures of women

who mountain-climb or women who water-ski; only images of make-up and text referring to skin care would be relevant. Clearly, society does not consider women

to be beings who.s only purpose in life is to worry about make-up and skin care; but why are the complaints only directed towards pornographic media then. The

answer to this question may be more complicated, however, what remains obvious is that the media does not portray women as only being able to fill male sexual

desires. To say that pictures featuring nudity, etc, are making objects out of women is foolish. One should consider females who pin-up posters of male rock stars or

children who collect hockey or baseball cards. Society, however, does not say that objects are being made out of these rock stars and sports heroes; pictures of

clothed people are no less objects than pictures of naked people. Many complaints

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