Is Our Culture OBSESSED with Sex?

Is our culture obsessed with sex? Yes. But why? Is it that people have always been this way and it’s just the result of a puritanical and sexually repressive culture in the past that we are finally becoming more open and healthy about sexuality?

Nope, we may be more open about sex, but it’s definitely not moving in a healthy direction and it’s not just the result of a natural return to stasis, we have been groomed, programmed for this and I can prove it.

What is grooming behavior?

According to speakfully.com, grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with someone so they can manipulate, exploit and/or abuse them. According to that definition, most of us have been the victims a form of grooming behavior through the cartoons and movies we’ve been watching since we were kids. To make that case, first we’ll have to show that a relationship of trust and emotional connection was intentionally established and then we’ll have to prove the more difficult point that it was made with the intent to manipulate, exploit or abuse.

That’s a big claim, but let's look at it. Is there a relationship between the media distributors and producers and the viewer? In reality, the entire industry is a type of creator and audience relationship. In fact, WholeHeartEd seeks to establish a very similar type of relationship with our viewers every week. As our viewers, there is a certain level of trust that you are giving us when you watch our videos and take our advice. So, when does this relationship go wrong? There are two different types of messages that you will be exposed to as you watch videos, listen to music and turn on the TV, the direct and the subliminal. Direct messages are ones that are apparent, clear and self-evidently communicated. Direct messaging engages your pre-frontal cortex by presenting clear information for you and allowing you to filter it’s validity based on your understanding of the information, supporting facts and what you already know or believe to be true. Subliminal messages, on the other hand, are hidden messages that the conscious mind doesn’t pick up on. Because of this, they bypass the higher thinking parts of the brain and, according to a 2016 article in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness, can have longer lasting effects than initially thought.

According to that study, subliminal messages can be used to change our thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and actions, particularly when we already have predisposition or desire towards what the messages are relaying. So, when a child is watching their favorite cartoon, they are already in a more suggestive state. That’s why companies pay so much money to advertise their products during the commercial breaks. Messages within the shows themselves can be even more effective, especially when they are subliminal and repeated consistently over time. That means that there is a level of trust and vulnerability to influence all of us and especially kids when we watch these types of shows. That is a lot of responsibility on the part of the creators. Are they being responsible with that trust or have they taken advantage of that? We’ve established evidence for a trusting relationship, but what about intent to manipulate, exploit or abuse. Are there examples of powerful people in entertainment media who have shown a willingness to manipulate, exploit or abuse others, specifically in a sexual way?

John Kricfalusi, the creator of the Nickelodeon’s wildly popular the Ren & Stimpy show, was accused of sexually abusing and manipulating two women while they were minors. Actor Steven Wilder plead guilty to two felonies in connection with allegations of sexually abusing a girl when she was 14. Bryan Singer, director of the 2000’s X-Men Franchise was sued for raping a 17 year old boy. Chris Savino, animator and creator of Nickelodeon’s “The Loud House,” was fired after multiple women accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior in the work place. Jon Heely, the director of music publishing for Disney, was charged with 3 felony counts of child sexual abuse and John Lasseter, former CEO of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, resigned amid multiple allegations of sexually harassing women with some allegations going back more than a decade. These are just a few notable examples, of which there are literally hundreds, of producers, writers, actors, actresses, and more at just about every level of influence in the entertainment industry who have been publicly accused of sexual exploitation and misconduct, many of them with minors.

So, if this was all going on in real life, it would be extremely naïve to believe that the sexual messages hidden and not so hidden in their products aimed at children are really just harmless jokes. In truth, many of those so-called jokes, were intentionally placed there by people who went on to actually act on their perverse sexual impulses, and these are just the ones we know about. We haven’t even touched on the allegations of predatory sexual behavior carried out by some of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world. With all of these types of people, subliminally influencing the sexual beliefs and practices of children and teens for the last few decades, what are the results? When teenage girls become sexually active, they are 3 times as likely to become depressed while teenage boys who become sexually active are twice as likely to become depressed. When a teenage girl becomes sexually active, she is 3 times as likely to become suicidal while teenage boys who become sexually active are 8 times as likely to become suicidal.* We’ve known for the last 20 years that teen sexual behavior leads to increased depression and suicide rates, and yet we continue to target teens and even young children with these types of sexual messages.

So, what’s your takeaway from all of this? Does laying it all out there in the open maybe change the way you thought about some of this? Do you see it as a problem that’s too far gone and just throw your hands up in the air? Or, do you think we’re just making a big deal about nothing because we’re just promoters of the puritanical, sexually repressive past? This is one of the scary things going on that we are never supposed to talk about, so, let’s start talking. Leave your thoughts, questions and comments below!

* “Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely To Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide” – Kirk Johnson, Lauren Noyes, Robert Rector, The Heritage Foundation, June 3, 2003