Most Inaccurate Portrayal Of Sex And Relationships example essay topic

It is 8: 30 Monday night and the whole family is in the living room watching the Fox network's primetime hit "Ally McBeal". Suddenly, just after the program resumes after a painstakingly long commercial break, you see a man and a woman lying in bed talking to each other after having a night of hot, passionate sex. You look down and see your ten year old son or daughter lying on the floor just staring at the TV, taking it all in. You begin channel surfing, and end up on channel 3, CBS. There is a brand new sitcom being aired called "Some of My Best Friends". Almost immediately after you and your family begin viewing this program, two men, both proclaiming to be gay, begin kissing and embracing each other.

Upset by all of this "garbage", you turn off the TV and decide to try and find something a little more "educational" to do. Sex. It seems to be everywhere on television today. From sitcoms to reality shows to dramas to soap operas, sex is one of the leading factors in most television programs. A recent study showed that 3 out of 4 primetime programs portray sex in relationships and 68% of all television programs contain sexual content (Cutler, Jacqueline, TV Data Features Syndicate March 24, 2001).

There are exceptions to this, however, with networks occasionally focusing on education and children's programming, but the mainstream of primetime television programs tends to focus on sex. But how accurate is television's portrayal of sex in the real world? Does everything turn out like it does on shows such as "Sex in the City" or "Temptation Island"? Or are these sexual messages just an obvious ploy to help boost ratings? Recently I have watched several shows I thought would help answer these questions. The programs I have researched are "Friends", one of NBC's highest rated shows, "Everybody Loves Raymond", a family sitcom on CBS, and "Days of Our Lives", one of NBC's daytime soap operas.

In viewing these shows I hope to compare the key message behind sex and relationships in these programs to real life. I will also compare relationships between love and sex, anger and love, friendship and romantic love, and alternatives to heterosexual relationships. The first television program I researched is the critically acclaimed NBC sitcom, "Friends". Upon viewing this show, I found several different fallacies between this show and real life. One aspect that is falsely portrayed is the act of sex in relationships. In one episode, one of the main characters ended up sleeping with his date even though they had just met each other the day before and had only gone out on one date.

In the very same episode, another of the main characters had sex with a woman that he had just met less than ten minutes before. In reality, the norm (or the desired norm) is to wait until a couple has been going out for a while and gets to know each other better before having sex. In some cases, it is the norm to wait until marriage before having sex. There are many exceptions to these norms, but most people like to believe that they hold true. Another aspect that is falsely portrayed is the representation of love and sex. This show sends several different messages about love and sex, some of them completely contradicting the others.

The one thing that caught my attention the most though, was the act of casual sex, or the act of sex without love. In one of the episodes mentioned earlier, one of the main characters had slept with a woman he only had met the day before. The following morning, the main character told his roommate that", [Their] relationship had no 'spark', and [he] only slept with her because she was willing to do so". This proves that in this show, most relationships are based on sexual attraction, instead of cognitive relationships. Then he asked his roommate to break up with the woman for him, since he had to leave. In reality, most people like to believe that sex is a sign of love and, although there are also many exceptions to this rule, many still try and live by it.

Today there are also many fears about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases being spread. The characters on "Friends" seem to be completely immune and ignorant of sexually transmitted diseases while having sex with many different partners. Finally, another aspect that is falsely portrayed in this show is homosexuality. It seems that almost everywhere the main characters go there are homosexuals that are either hanging around the main characters or are attracted to them. In reality, the homosexual population only makes up around 10-12% of the U.S. population, so it would be unlikely that the main characters would run into that many homosexuals in the small areas where they live. The next show that I have researched is the CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond".

Even though this show falls into the same category as "Friends", the shows are very different. One difference is that the main character in "Everybody Loves Raymond" is married. On "Friends", all of the main characters are single, and they have sexual relations more frequently. "Everybody Loves Raymond" does not present as much sex as most sitcoms such as "Friends", but it does show a fallacy between anger, love, and relationships. In the episodes that I watched, the main character almost always seemed to deliberately try to make his wife angry with him by making remarks that either degraded her or women in general. This occurred throughout most of the show, but by the end of the episode, the main character and his wife always seemed to miraculously forget about what they were arguing about and act like nothing ever happened, which usually ended up with them having sex.

Then, almost immediately thereafter, the main character did something to make his wife mad at him once more. In reality, most married couples try to avoid arguments whenever possible. The ones that do end up arguing all the time usually are not as forgiving and eventually end up getting a separation or divorce. Compared to shows such as "Friends", "Everybody Loves Raymond" portrays sex and family relationships more accurately, but it is inaccurate in its representation of anger in relationships. The final show that I researched was NBC's hit soap opera "Days of Our Lives".

Compared to the other programs I have watched and researched, this show portrayed sex and relationships even more inaccurately. Numerous times in each episode, someone was either cheating on his or her spouse, or cheating on another loved one by sleeping with another person of the opposite sex. There are numerous "love triangles" in this program, and sex seems to be the only basis of most of their relationships. The couples that do end up having sex seem to have rather unusual conversations both before and after sleeping with each other. In one episode, one of the main characters talked about putting his child (which he had with another woman) up for adoption right before having sex with another woman who also had children. It also seemed as though everybody that ended up having sex was cheating with one of their best friends' lovers.

In real life this happens occasionally, but most people try to prevent it in fear that they will lose a friendship. Out of all the shows I have watched and researched, "Days of Our Lives" seems to have the most inaccurate portrayal of sex and relationships. Finally, one thing I noticed in all three programs I reviewed was endogamy. Not once, in any of these shows, has there been an interracial relationship or marriage. This sends the message that people of a certain race or culture should marry someone that is like them. There have been rumors, however, of a new character on "Friends" that is going to be African-American.

If this character does appear, then maybe it will encourage more programs to end endogamy and introduce characters of different race and cultures. The average teen views nearly 15,000 sexual references, innuendoes, and jokes on television every year, according to "Electronic Babysitter Overexposes Youth to Sex", a CNN report by Holly Firfer. If these messages are inaccurate, what kind of messages are teens receiving? In the same article, Firfer gave reasons for sex on television. First, Americans seem to eat it up with a spoon. Second, Hollywood has a lack of real writing talent, so why bother with an "intelligent" story?

This seems to be very true, since every year there are more television shows being produced that primarily focus on sex. When will this sexual addiction cease? There is much more in this world than sex, and television should try to portray real life situations as accurately as possible..