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Media Essays – It’s Just Casual Sex Between Friends
“So no one told you life was gonna be this way,” and when it comes to television, nothing is closer to the truth. Through the media, we are constantly confronted with images of what society views as acceptable and right, whether it's about work, family, or relationships. NBC’s hit sitcom Friends serves as an example of such a medium and often presents the belief that casual sex and affairs have no adverse consequences. Yet, simultaneously, in a recent episode it has challenged its own stance. This confusion about the message can be detrimental to the audience of teens and young adults and can create false perceptions about sex.
Throughout the series’ seven year stretch, various instances of casual sex and promiscuity can be found. One episode focuses on a married woman who had several boyfriends, including Chandler, and her emotionless, physical relationships with them. Another shows Joey in a meaningless relationship with a fellow thespian. Phoebe struggles unsuccessfully to contain her desires for one of her massage clients, while Chandler sleeps with Rachel’s boss. In a prime example, Rachel asks Chandler to set her up with one of his coworkers specifically for a “fling.”
None of these encounters end in pregnancy, disease, or emotional distress. They become something to be laughed about and taken as the “norm.” References to sex are just as frequent in dialogue, yet never with serious undertones. Even if a character is mildly upset about an occurrence, by the conclusion of the half hour, everything is all right again and by the next episode it is completely forgotten. Joey will never again speak of his theater “rehearsal” with Kate, nor will Phoebe mention her “appointment” with Rick. Sex just happens and is pushed aside just as easily.
Other sitcoms perpetuate this idea as well. Flipping through channels, one cannot ignore the tremendous amount of sexual content. In one night alone, Caroline from Caroline in the City can sleep with her veterinarian, Tommy’s girlfriend can have sex with a busboy on Titus, and Ally from the infamous Ally McBeal can have a random interlude in a car wash. It is a sure bet that none of these characters stopped to talk about contraception. “A television analysis found that the average adolescent views 14,000 sexual references, jokes, and innuendoes each year. However, only one in 85 of these references will mention abstinence, contraception, or marriage, sometimes negatively” (European Approaches to Adolescent Sexual Behavior & Responsibility, 1999).
In the first chapter of Amusing Ourselves To Death , Neil Postman's major premise is how the rise of television media and the decline of print media is shaping the quality of information we receive.Postman describes how the medium controls the message, he uses examples which include the use of clocks, smoke signals, the alphabet, and glasses.Postman says a society that generally uses smoke signals is not likely to talk about philosophy because it would take to long and be too difficult. Postman also describes the way television changes peoples way of thinking; a fat person will not look good on TV and would less likely be elected President. On the other hand someones body is not important as their ideas when they are expressing them through the radio or print. On TV, visual imagery reigns. Therefore the form of TV works against the content of philosophy. Postman shows how the clock has changed. Postman describes how time was a product of nature measured by the sun and seasons. Now, time is measured by a machine using minutes and seconds. The clock changed us into time-watchers, then time-savers, and finally time-servers. Thus, changing the metaphor for time changed how we view time itself.
As stated in the book, “college students have much to teach about sex” (8). That is because the values, ideologies, and worldviews of the students are representative of greater American culture. Although flawed, hookup culture on American campuses hold the possibility of accepting a culture of inclusivity, care, pleasure, and freedom while also rejecting predatory behavior, racism, classism, and abuse. Dismissing hookup culture all together is blind to the reality that young adults are going to have sex, and since sex is non-negotiable, one’s aim should be to foster open dialogue and critical thought onto a future where everyone enjoys the ability to freely explore sexuality, sex, and gender on their own
For centuries, society has placed a remarkably large emphasis on protecting the young from the many perceived errors of growing up. Effective sex education is resisted in many locations across the country in favor of somewhat comical biblical suggestions for abstinence until marriage even while the majority of those targeted teens are viewing the world as a more and more sexual place. So many views are weaving in and out of teenagers' newly formed adolescent minds that any effective argument for responsible attitudes or analysis of sexual behavior in teens should be expressed with a certain minimal degree of clarity. Unfortunately, this essential lucidity of advice is missing in the short story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been,” in which the misguided Joyce Carol Oates creates the character of Arthur Friend as a cliché personification of the inner demon of uncontrollably budding sexuality. Instead, the murky characterization of the antagonist presents nothing more than a confused and ambiguous view of the meaning of the story.
In reaction to the media’s numerous stigmas around college hookup culture in recent years, sociologists and psychologists have begun to investigate adolescent and young adult hookups more systematically. In “Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women?” by Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton and Paula England, this issue is addressed through a reaction to previous articles from sources on opposite sides. One side of the argument over sexual activity for young women places them at risk of “low self esteem, depression, alcoholism, and eating disorders,” while the other side argues that the underlying issue is the “moral panic over casual sex.” This issue has been seen by many as a “sudden and alarming change in youth sexual culture,” but systematic research has shown that experiences of young women in college
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the newest fields in Science and Engineering. Work started in earnest soon after World War II, and the name itself was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy. Artificial Intelligence is an art of creating machines that perform functions that require intelligence when performed by people [Kurzweil, 1990]. It encompasses a huge variety of subfields, ranging from general (learning and perception) to the specific, such as playing chess, proving mathematical theorems, writing poetry, driving a car on the crowded street, and diagnosing diseases. Artificial Intelligence is relevant to any intellectual task; it is truly a Universal field. In future, intelligent machines will replace or enhance human’s capabilities in
It is necessary to look at the development of artificial intelligence in order to put this idea into context. The concept of intelligent and aware constructs began to emerge in the 1950s and 60s as several scientists in many fields came together to discuss the possibilities of advanced computer research. The first major step was a scientific conference at Dartmouth College in 1956. Here, the general concepts and possible paths of research for a.i. were fleshed out. As described in Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, this conference was “the birth of artificial intelligence.” This was mostly a theoretical stage yet attending experts predicted that with a huge investment, working technology could be available in a generation (16). After being officially established, a.i. research and discovery exploded. Computer programs, a brand new idea, were already conquering algebra problems and speech recognition. Some could even reproduce English (18). It was clear that artificial intelligence research was going to be at the fo...
One of the most recognizable similarities between syphilis and HIV/AIDS are that both are sexually transmitted diseases. Diagnoses for these two diseases are also similar as both depend on an antibody test. The etiological agents for these diseases are difficult to detect, the symptoms are ambiguous, and the progression of the disease from infection to symptoms can take years. Syphilis and HIV/AIDS commonly infect people with compromised immune systems and the treatments for both diseases are extremely toxic. People in third-world countries, people of low socio-economic status, and minorities are among the frequently affected. Society negatively associates both diseases with promiscuity and prostitution. The diseases syphilis and HIV/AIDS have many similarities throughout history.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s), also known as venereal diseases (VD’s), are spread by sexual contact where certain germs travel from one person to another or by the exchange of body fluids. There is a pithy range of frequent STD’s, which include Syphilis, Chlamydia, Genital Herpes, Gonorrhea, and AIDS. Anyone who is sexually active can contract an STD and more than thirteen million people are contaminated every single year, three million of which are teenagers. In addition, there are common symptoms that are acquired by these STD’s and transmission may vary for each kind. Fortunately enough, ways to prevent STD’s are possible and there are treatments if an STD is contracted.
Molestation is the first type of sexual abuse that’ll be discussed. Molestation is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Most people think sexual abusers are strangers to their victims. But the truth is most abusers know their victims and use their stand in their relationship to try to make the victims do what the abusers want them to do. Most children who get molest are by family members. “More than 90 percent of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way.” (Snyder, Howard). According to Dr. Elizabeth Forsyth and Margret Hyde, research done in the 1980s and 1990s suggests that almost all abusers are males who are known to their victims and that most abuse occurs within the family. (pg. 21) One in three girls and one in five boys get sexually abused before the age of eighteen. (Arta, C)
The reason that many students find casual sex appealing is the fact that it is wrong. We as human beings find the danger of doing some thing wrong intriguing. We are animals and are always testing our limits. Sex is an explored subject that is hushed as we are children growing up. We are taught that is not to be talked about and that we should always have boundaries before we practice this interesting, yet provocative action. As college students we are free from all authority and we tend to explore these new actions. Our animal instincts kick in and we are soon experiencing new emotions and feelings that we end up succumbing to under different circumstances. We explore all the different things that we are shunned away from as children and are able to do so without any authority telling us other wise. Our boundaries are set free and then we are dealt with the choice of emotional sex or casual sex. Most people do not see the emotional side of sex until they become older. As college s...
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the area of computer science focusing on creating machines that can engage on behaviors that humans consider intelligent.”AI has improved a lot in the last century, and is still advancing today. Different approaches in AI are used for different situations. Whether we notice it or not, AI is an important part of our lives. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the study of how to makes computers do things which, at the moment, people do better. This definition is vague because of its reference to the current state of computer science. Artificial intelligence is a combination of computer science, physiology and philosophy. AI is a broad topic including many different fields, from machine vision to expert systems. AI can be described as the attempt to build machines that think and act like humans, that are able to learn and to use their knowledge to solve problems on their own. The element that is common in the fields of AI is the creation of machines that can “think”. Artificial intelligence has come a long way form its early roots, driven by dedicated researches. AI really began to fascinate researches with the invention of the computers in 1943. The technology was finally available, or so it seemed to stimulate intelligent behavior. Over the next four decades, despite many stumbling blocks, AI has grown from a dozen researches, to thousands of engineers and specialists; and from programs capable of playing checkers, to system designed to diagnose disease.
The glamorous side of sex is everywhere; music, tv shows, movies and social media. To a mature adult, it is easy to ignore the sexual messages in those outlets. However, to a teenager, going through mental and physical changes and peer pressure, it is extremely easy to fall for what is shown to “cool.” Everyone has fallen for half truths to be cool in their teenage life. It just so happens that teen pregnancies and STDs are not one of those things that one can simply walk away from. Babies and STDs leave a lasting effect on everyone involved. The National Conference of State Legislatures states:
Artificial Intelligence “is the ability of a human-made machine to emulate or simulate human methods for the deductive and inductive acquisition and application of knowledge and reason” (Bock, 182). The early years of artificial intelligence were seen through robots as they exemplified the advances and potential, while today AI has been integrated society through technology. The beginning of the thought of artificial intelligence happened concurrently with the rise of computers and the dotcom boom. For many, the utilization of computers in the world was the most advanced role they could ever see machines taking. However, life has drastically changed from the 1950s. This essay will explore the history of artificial intelligence, discuss the
“The media may be especially important for young people as they are developing their own sexual beliefs and patterns of behavior and as parents and schools remain reluctant to discuss sexual topics (p.26)”.