Chrissie Hynde Under Fire For Suggesting Women Who Dress Provocatively

According to the textbook, “Human Sexuality: Diversity In Contemporary America,” the author Yarber conveys that “next to sleeping, young people spend more time engaging with the media than any other activity- average of 7 ½ hours per day, 7 days per week.” As it is, by watching TV, playing video games, texting, listening to music, and browsing Internet, people are constantly exposed to messages, images, expectations, and values that the media sent. Among many contents, sexuality is the one of things that is much shaped by culture and mass media. With the increase use of technologies, men and women learn the social context of sexuality such as “what behaviors are appropriate, with whom they are appropriate, and why they are appropriate”(6).

For example, they consciously or unconsciously learn about gender-role attitude, gender-role behavior, and gender presentation.
Furthermore, through intense advertising that are presented in media, they know what they should buy, how they should dress, and how they should behave in relationships. For instance, it is seen as “normal” that women wearing make-ups, skirts, skinny jeans, jewelry, fashionable items, high heels, and having a slim body and healthy skins. Women learn from media that men are attracted to women who are “feminine,” so therefore they should buy things that are “feminine” such as perfumes, skirts, and many beauty products in order to look attractive. In parallel, it is common to think that men wearing trousers, necktie, and having a masculine body, and that they should purchase a fabulous car in order to allure women. Men should escort women with good manner. It can be different from a person to a person, but in usual, the culture and societies view it as “abnormal” when men are wearing women’s things such as skirts and high heels, and when women are wearing trousers and necktie. According to the textbook, “advertising in all media uses the sexual sell, promising sex, romance, popularity, and fulfillment if the consumer will only purchase the right soap, perfume, cigarettes, alcohol, toothpaste, jeans, or automobile. In reality, not only does one not become “sexy” or popular by consuming a certain product, but the product may actually be detrimental to one’s sexual well-being.” As it is, the media is a very powerful tool that can impact on human’s minds. Even if people think that they are not affected by advertising, they are because advertising brings the cumulative effects. For example, they might not buy the Dior’s perfume after they see the advertising, but that may bring a sense of idea that perfume is needed to look attractive.
However, people, especially young adulthood, should be aware of the downside of media and how it can bring a false idea to them. Even though the sexual content can affect any age group, but young people are at risk because their brains are not fully developed yet. They are still in a developmental stage where gender roles, sexual attitudes, and sexual behaviors are being shaped. Nowadays, many music videos and video games contain sexual violence, and TV programs rarely talk about the importance of using condoms and negative side of unprotected sex. Rather, movies and television shows make people think like sex is easy or natural thing. According to the article, “Adolescent sexuality and the media,” “a recent study of African American girls aged 14 to 18 years found that teens with either multiple sexual partners or a history of sexually transmitted infections reported a higher rate of viewing television shows that depicted women as sexual objects or prizes. A few experimental studies have shown that viewing sexual content can have moderate effects on sexual knowledge or attitudes.” As this article shows, many young children are being exposed by sexual contents which can bring harmful reaction. Therefore, it is critical to prevent them from seeing sexual images and messages in order to avoid adverse consequences.
An example of negative influence from media can be seen through the following article.

According to the article, “Chrissie Hynde Under Fire for Suggesting Women Who Dress Provocatively ‘Entice’ Rapists,” which was among the top news from Yahoo, Legendary rocker Chrissie Hynde mentioned that women who dress provocatively, such as short skirts with high heels, entice rapists. During the interview, she also said “If you don’t want to entice a rapist, don’t wear high heels so you can’t run from him” and that it was “all her doing” when she was sexually assaulted at age 21 by a motorcycle gang in Ohio. This article shows how Hynde conveys the wrong idea which can possibly influence young adulthood in a negative way. Her idea can make people think that it can be a women’s fault for getting raped because victims were wearing sexually-arousing clothing. If that is the case, then all women who are wearing bikini at the beach all allowed to get raped by men since they are wearing no clothes but bikini. It is pretty much same how murderer is saying that he killed him or her because he or she was alive or thief is saying how he stole money because he saw the money inside of someone else’s pocket. She then explained “If I’m walking around and I’m very modestly dressed and I’m keeping to myself and someone attacks me, then I’d say that’s his fault.” Her statement is obviously not right because people have the right to wear whatever they want. First, there is ambiguity in the word “modestly” because everyone has a different point of view. Someone can say that the skirt is too short when others can say it looks all right. Second, even if the skirt was too short in fact, that does not mean someone can come to woman and touch her. There is no way somebody can touch another without his or her permission. Thus, Sexual violence is such a big crime and cannot be justified no matter what. She later clarified saying that she was not defending rape after her comments were criticized by

the by Lucy Hastings, who is the director of British charity group Victim Support.
The article itself can impact any age group who were the victims of rape. First of all, what Hynde said could enrage or upset those victims from all age group because her comments are basically blaming women for getting rapped. Second, her comment can make the rapists to feel less guilty. This may or may not impact college students because many of them are already know what is right or wrong. Even if Hynde said that it is women’s fault for getting raped, people would not agree with her because they learned enough from the school that the sexual violence is wrong all the time. However, Hynde’s comment could in fact impact on young children or adolescents, who are less judgmental. For instance, if a young girl was involved in sexual violence, she might think that it was her fault because she was weak and could not resist.
And boys can blame on girls for wearing provoking clothes.
In conclusion, media contains many sexual contents that can bring harmful consequences to people. Adolescents, especially, are at a risk since they are still growing. They don’t have skills yet to decide the right behaviors. Therefore, they are vulnerable to accept the things that are shown through media. Parents and schools should focus on teaching them the appropriate behaviors.