Our "Sexual Harrassment" by Hollywood

     I applaud Valerie for her strong statement about the importance of families, “A Call For the Resurgence of Family,” in her blog in the last few days (http://valerie-chandler.blogspot.com/ Monday, February 26, 2018).  I also call your attention to a Deseret News op-ed by Michael and Jenet Erickson yesterday, which interestingly was timed to be published on Hollywood’s Oscar day “Its #TimesUp for Hollywood’s sexual addiction” (https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900011948/michael-and-jenet-erickson-timesup-for-hollywoods-sexual-addiction.html).  This article goes beyond the complaints about misdeeds by some Hollywood male sexual predators to advocate that national dialog is needed to address Hollywood’s “broader addiction to objectification and sexualization,” because of the risk the latter brings of more far-reaching damage to our society and our children.  Objectification is a term that is used to mean not seeing the whole person, but treating them, particularly women, as mere objects of sexual desire, treating them as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity, the action of degrading someone to the status of a mere object, one whose experiences and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.  Sexualization means a preoccupation with sexuality, including when persons, especially women, are regularly portrayed in a sexual manner (e.g., dressed in revealing clothing, with bodily postures or facial expressions that imply sexual readiness), a narrow (and unrealistic) standard of physical beauty is heavily emphasized, or when male-female relationships are portrayed exclusively with a sexual character.
     If any of you have seen photographs of participants in or watched or saw on the news any of the last Sunday’s television presentation of the Oscar ceremony, you would have seen the extent to which the Hollywood ladies have bought into sexualization theme by the way they dressed.  While the uproar over the awful behavior of some of the worst actors has caused a partial reckoning regarding negative Hollywood values, I have reached the conclusion that the whole system is so corrupt that I try to avoid any participation with its products and output.
     In their op-ed piece, the Ericksons call this general addiction to objectification and sexualization Hollwood’s “sexual harrrassment” of our whole society and culture.  “For years Hollywood mogals have defended nudity and sexual scenes as “art” and “reality”... Hollywood’s harassment spreads as these scenes are mass distributed, reaching ubiquitously into public and private spaces where a highly sexualized vision of humanity is displayed and internalized, particularly by impressionable and sensation-seeking youths.”  The authors cite evidence that many children are obtaining their learning about human sexuality, not from their family, not even from instruction in schools, but from Hollywood: “The majority of American adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 report that media is their “primary source of sexual information.”
     According to these authors, studies find that “adolescents exposed to sexual content in movies are more likely to have sex at younger ages, have more sexual partners and engage in more risky sexual behaviors.”  They also point to other trends, including sexual harassment and assaults “reaching staggering levels [in our overall society].  In 2015, one in four college women reported having been sexually assaulted by force or when they were incapacitated. Although this cannot all be blamed on media, young adults, often fueled by alcohol and other drugs, are likely to model the sexual “scripts” they’ve consumed. And many who have internalized these scripts often feel powerless to say no to unwanted sexual behaviors, as evidenced by recent research on young women responding to sexting requests.”
     Are there ways in which we can we counteract Hollywood's destructive influence?  The Ericksons suggest the following:
     1) Believe change is possible.  They cite in support of this the cultural shift that has occurred in the large reduction in movie characters seen smoking cigarettes.
     2) Don’t tolerate “secondhand exposure” to sexualization (and violence) through movies, in the same way that we no longer tolerate being exposed to secondhand smoke.  Some suggested strategies for this are interesting.
     3) Make sure your children learn about human sexuality from you.
     4) Ask public servants to get involved and support campaigns (to warn of the dangers of consuming media that objectifies and sexualizes women) in the same manner as people are addressing other public health issues, like smoking, drunk driving, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, etc.