Truth in Media Essay Example for Free

Truth in Media Essay The omnipresence of pornography in today’s society has increased extramentally over the past few decades. What is available over the internet is remarkably unrestricted and available to anyone who looks for it. This paper will cover how and what the messages on sexuality that are being conveyed to today’s society, Open sexualities vs. purity Which is better is an article written by Michael in 2012 regarding finding the truth about how our society views sexuality in the past and currently. He discusses how we Americans have evolved from a society of purity to complete sexual freedom to what is described as a loose society today. He questions the thought process of completely educating our youth. whether it is a good decision to overloading the impressionable minds of out children. He continues to describe the loss of the family unit in America. How this loss has devastated the fabric of society. We have become slaves to our labeto never thinking about what that truly means. The article gives clear statistics on abortion, marriage, STDs, and unwanted births throughout our history to back up what he calls the loss of the family unit. He then gives information on pornography, prostitution, rape, and human trafficking, which gives a complete picture of how human sexuality really looks like in this country. He ends with the encouragement of the old fashioned art of the conversation. He says to continue talking about subjects and maybe things will change. Manipulation The power of subliminal persuasion is an article from mens health magazine in July 2013 edition. It is an article describing how to get you wife or girlfriend to have sex with you through subliminal persuasion. It starts out with this quote â€Å"Money worries have increased marital arguments by 59%, but getting your own way need not mean blood and thunder†. The article does into how certain substances like coffee can increase the effectiveness of subliminal persuasion on the female mind. How if a man starts introducing his wish for sex early in the morning but after her morning coffee his chances increase. The article describes step by step how to introduce his wishes into her subconscious mind throughout the day then finally ending with either the man successfully manipulating the female or with the question of why not and the debate is on. The whole article is on how to get what you want by manipulation and corwersion Conception What if Women are offered contraception for free is an article by Valerie Tarico on May 16, 2013 in Ms. Magazine. The article covers an overview of a research project that was conducted last fall in Missouri on free conception. This research project was conducted with 9000 women and covers how the birth rate, abortion rate, and financial obligations of that state were reduced significantly. The author asks the question on if this trial was to become a fixed solution what would have to be done to implement it ant would it work. The article goes into a complete breakdown of the statistical information of Washington state and how those numbers could be affected by implementing such a program here and what that would mean in the long run for tax payers and families. She continues to describe the financial obligations of not having such a program in place today. This is so astronomical that it is hard to believe we spend that much money on unwanted pregnancies and childcare expenses for as she puts it â€Å"go-with-the-flow babies†. Common views What Are Americans Doing Beneath The Sheets These Days? An article by Dr. Justin Lemiller posted on November 28, 2012 in the Chicago times is a brief expose on what Americans are actually doing in the privacy of their own beds. This article covers masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex and includes at what age people are doing what. Teen pregnancy Teenage pregnancy: High US rates due to poverty, not promiscuity an article written B Stephanie Hanes, Correspondent May 22, 2012 in Modern Parenthood magazine discusses how that statistically it has been proven that teen parenthood has been significantly higher among those with a lower socioeconomic status than any-other bracket. The article goes into detail regaurding the satistical information across countries and within America as well. The article continues to outline the difficulties in correcting such a problem due to the fact that no campaign against teen pregnancy would even effect the overwhelming nature of the lack of options for the lower classes. The lack of options creates a kind of circular motion that seems to offer hope of a better life but doesnt. Extramarital affairs The Truth About Why Men Cheat an article written by M. Gary Neuman for Redbook magazine in 2012, informs readers of why men cheat. The article goes over the reason a man cheats is not for sex. Men according to the ones serveyed cheat do to emotional dissatisfaction rather than sexual dissatisfaction. The article the goes into how to create an atmosphere of mutual reward and respect. Men have trouble asking for pats on the back but need encouragement just as much as women. If we set the stage for a give give relationship we have a better chance at staying faithful. Homosexuality Understanding females sexual fluidity is an article written by Ian Kerner, for the New York Times on February 9th, 2012 discusses an interview with a famous actress and how a slip of the tounge can revel much. The actress said that being a lesbian was a choices she made not something that she was or wasnt. Having said such a thing sparked much debate and consideration of choice. The article talkes about how women are much more fluid in whom they choose to fall in-love with, that women ten to fall in-love with a person not a gender. The article also goes on to show information regarding a study done on heterosexual and homosexual men how they were both turned on my both gay and straight pornography. This study gives a lot of credence to the premise that gays can choose to be not gay. Casual sex  Do You Want More Than a Hookup? Written by Angela Ledgerwood for cosmopolitan magazine discusses how todays young people are not as interested in just hooking up as they once were. The article goes into a question answer format and talks about how todays young people are afraid of dating and not sure even how. The article give a clear description that people today have no idea how to even get someone to go out on a date so it gives some starting points. Then the article goes into some dating tips and encouragement. I found that these articles are well written but lack any sense of morality. I found it so very difficult to find articles that were not how tos or so close to pornography that I would not even use the. This to me seems to be a funny thing for I am a very open person regarding sex. I do not have any inhibitions and from a Christian view point I would be a huge sinner. With that being said as I was doing my research on this topic I found it way to easy to learn how to give a blow job and how to perform anal sex. This was at the common sites like cosmopolitan and Redbook there was no safe guards like even Facebook has regarding sexually explicit stuff like are you 18 to look at that kind of things. Therefore comparing what I have found on the internet with what we were taught thought this class was so completely different that I feel like a prude. Saying that seems a bit off and I have to chuckle a bit. But I feel that honesty is truly the best policy, therefore I must say that I am an ex-prostitute and have had so many partners that I cannot even count. God has forgiven me of this sin and now the rose colored glasses have completely been taken off. Throughout this course we have learned all about what being authentic in our sexualities means and how to have a healthy God centered relationship. It is hard to imagine how these to completely different views can merge into one complete view. I feel compelled to try for we are the sum of all parts. God has given us such a wonderful gift of sexuality and I for one am very grateful. I think that if we try to educated ourselves on how to be fully honest with ourselves, God, and our spouses we will have a great chance at fulfilling ourselves and our marriages. We need to be educated every-way with what and how to do and what God expects of how we are to behave. Finding this balance is not easy in todays society of we are bombarded with explicit material every second of everyday. We must therefore have some kind of outline for us to follow that is where the scriptures come in to play. Our text talks of unhealthy sexual behavior as â€Å"Inauthentic sexual behaviors (that) are organized around using power to control† (Balswick Balswick, 2008, p. 86). this type of behavior is viewed as common place in today’s society by evidence of the article The power of subliminal persuasion by Alex Young. In this article he states just how to manipulate the opposite sex into getting what he wants. He states that â€Å"The power of subliminal persuasion means you can tug in the right direction without her feeling the pinch† (Young, Mens Health, 2012). This however subtle manipulation is all about power and control. Our text tells us that we are to be committed to God and to one other person by saying â€Å"God created for us to be sexual beings, in a spiritual way with one who we have decided to spend our life with† (Balswick, p 68). But society tells us that sex can be freely given to whomever we choose whenever we choose. This is not without its consequences however as stated in the article Which Is Better – A Society With Loose Sexuality Or A Society With Strict Rules For Sexuality? By Michael Snyder. In the article Snyder give information and the destruction of the family unit with â€Å"According to the Pew Research Center, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married at this point. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.  S. adults were married†. This directly shows that we are not coupling the way God has intended. In our presentation Teens and sex: Taming the drive Chap Clark, M. Div. , Ph. D. explains that it is important to explain to our youth responsible sexuality by the statement â€Å"When teens struggle with their sexual feelings, urges and drives, it is important that the church help them to understand what is behind the physical drives and to see people’s bodies, souls and relational choices as God sees them. His call is to holiness, but that calling is about caring for the best of others as people develop their attitudes and make choices. Chap Clark gives Clear explanations as to the different types of love in-order to inform teens of what is healthy and what not healthy love is. By doing this he sets the stage for responsible choices unlike the responsible choices made by teen mothers. In the article Teenage pregnancy: High US rates due to poverty, not promiscuity by Stephanie Hanes we find that in has been discovered that people with fewer options financially have higher birth rates. Hanes states that â€Å"anthropologists and social workers explain that teens who experience â€Å"despair† are more likely to turn to motherhood as a way to find meaning in a world where they see few other options† which seems to correspond very well with the hypothesis. Our presentation on Restoring Marital Intimacy: After the Affair by Mark Laaser and Deb Laaser informs us how to overcome the sin of infidelity by grace through repentance, honesty treatment, and forgiveness this is a hard road nd takes a lot of faith and commitment. In the article The Truth About Why Men Cheat by M. Gary Neuman we discover that it is not necessarily sex that causes men to cheat but rather a loss of intimacy in the relationship. Neuman states that â€Å"48% of men rated emotional dissatisfaction as the primary reason they cheated†. This seems rather strange considering we are all told that men and women think differently when it comes to sex. I am a grandmother if two wonderful little girls and when I think of the material that they will shortly be exposed to I cringe. As a counselor I would want to keep my eyes open and take a look regularly at what we are being exposed to in-order to be fully informed as to where my clients would be coming form. It would not be enough just to stay up-to-date with the current techniques and treatment options. I would need to keep my eyes open to the current beat of your world as well. I have to say that writing this paper has at least taught me that. Having a wide knowledge base and commitment to biblical principles needs to be the foundation of my counseling process, for without this foundation I would lose my way. God has given me the gift of being able to help others through sharing my pain but in-order full understand someone else’s pain there will be times that I have to educate myself in how they see the world and having this knowledge will enable me to do so. Counselors need to have a full tool box and sometime that tool box has things in it that we have had to learn from others. Having an open mind will make that possible.