Why do people approve of violence on TV but are outraged if there is a sex scene????

reply to post by badw0lf


I disagree. My sense is that we're taught sex is wrong and violence is valiant. I'll cede that rarely (sex more rarely) are either depictions done realistically. But in most media, violence is either perpetrated by psychotics who we are telegraphed to discount or by honorable people defending someone or something. Sex, at least in American film and television, is more often than not treated either as violence (rape) or comedy (embarrassing or goofy circumstances). I'm pretty film literate and still could probably only count maybe a handful of realistic sex scenes in American cinema. I don't think any of us, other than a savant, could count the realistic beatings and murders we've seen in media. This leads to another thing which has been bothering me: the number of Law and Order related shows (though not necessarily of that brand) which are sold to us. Why so many cop shows where we're always made to side with the law enforcement officers? I think that answer is clear, too.

reply to post by Parize


Oh I am having a big reaction to what you have written. The only thing I can say is what you were 'allowed' to watch was inappropriate for you age. I have to log out now because I am really angry.

Originally posted by Thurisaz
reply to post by thunderlady

 

I agree completely with what you have written.

Years back it was not this bad. The level of violence has accelerated.

I don't want to see live footage of people being bashed to death. (I still remember the LA riots) and still have a 'reaction' to the things I saw.

What is the long term affects of exposure to violence?

PTSD? Depresssion? Substance Abuse?

The media need to be more responsible.

EDIT to add... but again, it is supply and demand. People want violence. What is our future going to be like?

edit on 8-12-2010 by Thurisaz because: (no reason given)

Well, we know the long term effects of substance abuse and depression (which often go hand in hand in a chicken and egg dynamic) tend to be death. I'm not sure that PTSD has been studied as thoroughly, but I'm not a mental health professional.

I'd argue that The Media is being responsible to its objective, to be a brainwashing arm of the government and enforce policy -- the policy being the same as is has been for so long: create fear, encourage loyalty to the state, discourage pleasure.

I have noticed that many of these sex scenes are usually in a negative context or void of intimacy. I think in the way that sex and violence are usually put out in movies or shows is generally bad for one's psyche. Conditioning no doubt has a role to play in this, but in a thousand years I don't think mankind has changed its stance on the way we react to a story on murder verses a story on rape, as an example. We have tricked ourselves to believe that there are justified reasons to commit murder, even honor has a huge role in that. The way sex is put out the majority of time is usually attached to a dishonorable circumstance. It's the way its presented.

Cold Mountain comes to mind. Those two went through a lot just so they could see eachother again, let alone get freaky. There was a "struggle" involved, but very unlike the "struggle" one sees in the usual sex scene in movies these days.

This is a very good question and one I've often pondered...

Many years ago, my husband worked in a video store. A woman came in with several kids and one of the movies they picked out was "The Blue Lagoon", with Brooke Shields coming of age on a desert island. The woman expressed concern about the sexual situations in the movie, so sent the children back to exchange it for something else... Having picked out a less sexual movie, they left the store... with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

In the US, we are generally prudish, paranoid and uneasy with sex, as a culture. Some individuals are fine with it, but the religious taboo behind nakedness and sex is really strong. I can only hope it's getting better.

The message I got from my ultra-religious parents (although they didn't come right out and SAY it) was that sex is dirty and bad and horrible - and I should save it for someone that I love... Good thing I was so independently-minded and made my own observations and judgments about it...

Originally posted by Thurisaz
I contributed to a thread about True Blood. There is a lot of violence in the series but people who commented only really mentioned that the level of sex in the series was disturbing... what about the violence?

What is wrong with our minds if we can watch a movie such as SAW and think it is ok....but sex is disturbing???

I am starting to feel like people are being programmed to be more violent.

Coz yer stupiod ignorant brainwashed americans?
coz here in europe, pron rules also in movies

I like sex and violence.

I dont watch True Blood because vampires and metrosexual pseudo-rape fantasy crap bores me. If I want to see sex I'll go watch porn.

Fake violence is entertaining as in Death Wish and RoboCop. Fake sex is just pointless. Likewise real violence is disturbing and real sex is entertaining.

this is one of those things that comes in a package with American life. it certainly is true. i have no clue as to why. i just go along with this one because it doesn't bother me much. case in point, the other day i was buying movies for an old lady and she asked them be "non-dirty" although said "violence was ok". i specifically asked her abut violence and she was cool with it.

Violence was a part of Rome, shame is a part of Catholicism . Tadaaa!

Because America was founded by prudes?

MOTF!

TV violence is fantasy that alleviates tension.
TV sexuality is fantasy that creates tension.
Simple

Still too many "Puritans" who are terrified of sexual energy.

I wonder if it has anything to do with our attachment to our historical military successes. As long as we continue to glorify our country's stellar record in the sport of mass human slaughter, this glorification probably cannot help but seep into our culture.

Simply put, if military men are heroes, then violence is good.

Oh sure, our "leaders" won't state it so bluntly, but our culture reveals what they are hiding.

As for sex, that's probably best explainable by people's sexual insecurities. If you can't get laid, you can make yourself feel better by telling people who can get laid that they're evil. Again, no one doing this would consciously put it so bluntly but that's probably what's going on under the hood, or a simplification of it anyway. The sex thing and the violence thing in our culture seem to me to stem from separate sources.

we've been taught sex is wrong. sex brings feelings of guilt. serves as a control mechanism.

we've been taught heroes are violent. violence is glorified. serves as a control mechanism.

reply to post by Thurisaz

This is a great question and one I have thought about in another context. Sex isn't the only taboo for television.

It's OK to show someone committing murder, ripping people apart as they scream in agony, yet Don't Dear say the 'F' word nor use God's name in vain! I find the current use of the word 'Profane' to have digressed into a trite argument. We have lost the true understanding of what "profanity" is.

Originally posted by JonoEnglish
It think religion has a lot to answer on this one.


I find it odd that something the vast majority of people in the World do for pleasure needs to be censored or we’re made to feel embarrassed by it.

In some alternate universe, where religion didn’t take off, the other me is down at the public, open air sex club, in town, smoking a huge spliff. Lucky sod.

edit on 8-12-2010 by JonoEnglish because: (no reason given)

edit on 8-12-2010 by JonoEnglish because: (no reason given)

For goodness' sake, don't blame religion for it, it's just an American thing!
Vicky

Personally violence offends me much more than nudity. I wont even play video games where you have to kill or hurt anyone.

Do people really have a problem with sex in films ?

I think the main problem is for parents who have young children, but it's usually only shown after 9pm.

Personally, I find sex scenes rather boring, because they are all so fake and are often stylised.
I saw one on a tv show the other day, where the man and woman were supposed to 'romping', but then it was revealed that they both still had their pants on !

simple answer is that people are desensitised to violence. People are brought up with violence on screen and dont think twice about it. Now the sex is something that really has a simple answer too as well and that is people who complain about sex on tv are not getting it themselves. They are really frustrated and cant stand to see 2 people on screen doing something they could only dream about .

Being from Europe it has never even crossed my mind to think about it....even if i did somehow get upset about sexual scenes, i would simply not watch them and leave it at that. And i do not think watching sexual scenes somehow makes you instantly treat having sex in your own life a different way...im an atheist and extremely conservative when it comes to sex in real life compared to everyone i know(who all have one night stands, have sex mere weeks in to a relationship etc) even all the Christians. It's all a moot point imo though..