Boys Will Be Boys And Girls Better Be Prepared Analysis

As noted by Stacey J. T. Hust, Jane D. Brown, and Kelly Ladin L'Engle (2008) in Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Better Be Prepared: An Analysis of the Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young Adolescents' Media, there is “inaccurate, reinforced traditional gender stereotypes that males seek sex and females are responsible for protection against pregnancy”(Abstract). This causes what is known to many as “Slut-shaming,” or the act of socially humiliating a girl for having sex, usually multiple times or consistently. By creating the social norm that women are at fault for pregnancy, and whereas abstinence is the only 100% method to not getting pregnant, this encourages the idea that women should not engage in sex before marriage. Slut-shaming in no way

Especially the line, “I ought to say ‘no, no, no, sir’.” This is clearly stating that she has been taught all her life that she should save herself, and not allow such things to happen as the male character describes. An example of slut-shaming that can be found in television is the popular television show, 13 Reasons Why (Asher and Incaprera 2017). This is a Netflix television show about a girl who commits suicide and what led up to it. In the show, the male character, Justin, tells his friends that he had sex with a girl, Hannah, in order to fit in with the stereotype that guys are supposed to have sex often and enjoy it. Hannah, however, is shamed for this and other supposed acts of sexuality outside of the norm, which turn out to not be true (Richard 2017). In this scenario, we can clearly see the double standard for men and women in regards to their sexual promiscuity. As Leora Tanenbaum (2017) states in her article for HuffPost, “Slut-shaming is sexist because only girls and women are called to task for their sexuality, whether real or imagined; boys and men are congratulated for the exact same behavior. This is the essence of the sexual double standard: Boys will be boys, and girls will be

An example of this in music can be found in Taylor Swift’s (2009-2010) song, “Better than Revenge,” as pointed out by Metro’s author, Emma Kelly (2017). The lyrics Kelly is referring to are, “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think/ She’s an actress, whoa/ She’s better known for the things she does on the mattress.” This shows Swift blatantly shining a negative light on the sexual conduct of another girl, clearly insinuating throughout the rest of the song that this girl is known for her stupidity and promiscuity. The final example is from the Disney movie Beauty and The Beast (Trousdale and Wise 1991). Near the beginning of the movie, Belle, a young french girl, waltzes around her town singing. Gaston, a burly and large man, joins in, singing about how he will soon marry Belle. Three blonde girls can be seen in the square, all singing about how they would like to be Gaston’s wife, and clearly everything that came with that. These three women were even drawn to look over sexualized, and were portrayed as throwing themselves at Gaston and being very stupid (Rutherford-Morrison 2015). All of these examples show the imperceptible ways that media influences our day to day lives, shaping us to fit the roles society expects of us by positive and negative reinforcement from a very young