Paniza 1

Dean Paniza
John Kubler
English 115
9 December 2014
The Raunchy Culture
One does not need to look farther to perceive that our society has succumbed to hypersexuality because it is in this generation where many people started to accept the raunchy culture.
Hyper-sexuality is seen and endorsed through numerous ways such as social media, social
networking, ads, magazines, billboards, and many more. This is whats slowly drowning us:
taking in the raunchy culture and submerging it under the category of normality. Our hypersexualized society causes people to sexually express themselves freely, make reckless decisions,
and neglect their well-being. Nowadays, it is also one of the reasons why relationships are solely
based on physical attraction and sex.
Sexual expressions, rash decisions, and health negligence are outcomes of hyper
sexualization, which leads society to an undesirable direction. Nowadays, teenagers are wearing
less clothes and being involve in activities that are inappropriate for them and it is all due to the
influence of mass media. In Generation M, a documentary which talks about misogyny in media
and culture, Jean Kilbourne, a widely known author for her work on the image of women in
advertising, claims that it is a terrible mistake, a sad mistake to see sexualize images of young
women of some kind of liberation and empowerment (Generation M). This idea correlates with
the notion: a subjective sense of empowerment is not enough to constitute real empowerment,
made by Sharon Lamb, a professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at
the University of Massachusetts Bostons, College of Education and Human Development

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(Peterson 1). People in todays generation, specifically women, do not possess real sexual agency
when they imitate their role models who are seen on televisions, magazines, or other type of
social media because it is happening in a culture where double standards is present. In other
words, these people that they look up to are only made up and unrealistic. By contrast, Lamb
suggests that rather than asking girls to look within to find authentic feelings of empowerment,
[feminists, social critics, moms, and dads] might instead give girls skill with which to critically
examine the culture that is shaping them so that they can make choices that might truly be
empowering (Lamb 3). Lamb suggests that girls should be more knowledgeable about the
culture and shape themselves according to what will benefit and empower them in the end such
as getting a better education to pursue high-paying careers. On the other hand, in Marjane
Satrapis autobiographical graphic novel titled, Persepolis, Marjane makes negligent and
reckless decisions because of hyper sexuality. For example, when Marji, the protagonist of the
novel, finally realizes her life revolves in Viennawhere she migratedshe decides it is time to
lose her virginity to Enrique, her current boyfriend. However, Marji wakes up the next morning
as much a virgin and as timid as the night before (Satrapi 217). Marji, after a long time arguing
with herself if she should abide by Europes principles when it comes to sex, finds the power to
make a bold decision and accepts sex as a form of intimacy and affection in a relationship.
However, when things does not go as expected, Marji feels inadequate for Enrique or anyone
else and even thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her with another girl; in short, her self esteem
diminishes and feels guilty and objectified because she was willing to break her principles just to
find out that she is unworthy of a love affair. Moreover, after her relationship with Enrique, a
new student named Jean-Paul takes interest on Marji. On the day of their first date, Jean-Paul
arrives half an hour late on their meeting place and while Marji is hoping to move him enough

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that hed take [her] hand, conspicuously placed on the table, Jean-Paul is more interested on
talking and getting help in math (221). In this scene, one can see that Marji is trying hard for
Jean-Paul to notice her by placing her hand on the tablehinting that he should hold it. This is
which is unusual because men tend to be the ones who chase women and make the first move on
a date. Again, Marji felt foolish because of her actions and kept on demeaning herself by
thinking she is not deserving of any guy; as a result, she became lonely and spend more time
tripping to forget about her disappointments and loneliness. In addition, on the day of her
birthday, Marji misses her train to Graz so she goes to Markus apartment, her boyfriend, to
surprise him with warm croissants but when she opens the door, Markus and another girl in bed,
welcomes her. This is a very heart breaking moment for Marjishe loses the only person who
cares the most about her and shows interest in herso she packs her bags and wanders in the
streets and soon, she runs out of money, becomes homeless, and almost dies because of sickness.
No one can blame Marji for neglecting her health and well being because Markus, according to
Marji, is the only one who gave importance to her when she have known seclusion; nevertheless,
Marji should know bettershe had known war and oppressionsshe should know that her body
is her treasure especially now that she is broke and alone in Vienna. Therefore, our hypersexualized society stimulates deviant actions and behaviors.
Even though hyper sexualization helps form and sustains relationships, it is also one of
the main reasons why relationships are insincere. In Crazy, Stupid, Love a romantic comedy
film that depicts the disputes and complications of three different relationshipas soon as Jacob,
a womanizer, starts to approach Hannah, a young and intelligent girl, the camera focuses on his
overall outstanding physical appearance. Later on, the film focuses on Jacob talking and taking
out different girls as if they were clothes that he has to change everyday. This reveals that a

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relationship can be formed in mere physical attraction. Subsequently, Cal and Emily, one of the
main couples in the movie, are having a relationship crisis because Emily is looking for
excitement in their relationship while Cal seems like he lost his sexual drive. As a result, Emily
cheats on him and requests a divorce because she feels guilty for doing him wrong. Because Cal
cannot satisfy Emilys sexual desire, he has to suffer the pain of going through a divorce and
being separate from his wife. It suggests that hyper sexualization have influenced the reason of
being in a relationship, which in this case is sex. Moreover, the divorce causes Cal to be
miserable and therefore spends his nights in the bar and meets Jacob; he learns to find his
manliness back through Jacobs help of transforming him into a connoisseur that he is. After
Cals transformation, the first girl he interacts with in the bar is named Kate, a woman who has
been sober for a couple years and is most likely looking for a fling. Cal is successful on taking
her home but never calls her again when he promises to; this creates tension between the two
when they meet again because Kate turns out to be Cals sons English teacher. It is surprising
how they form a bond in such a short amount of time because of common motivationsex.
Thus, this reveals that relationships can be created and maintained by hyper sexuality but it will
never be genuine.
Considering myself as an adult now, I have witnessed and experienced a lot in life, either
it is about love, breakups, and life in general. I became aware of my surroundings and how things
work in reality. Two close friends of mine recently had a cool off after being together for three
years because the guy cheated on the girl with another co-worker. Despite of what happened, she
still loves and accepts him as if nothing happened, while the guy needs time to reflect on what he
should do. Although it was done insincerely, they got back together because he asked her to be
his girlfriend again. Currently, I found out that he completely falls out of love for her and he is

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only using her for sex and does not want to tell her because he is afraid to be lonely and he is
scared that she will eventually move on from him. It is very selfish of the guy to use her and not
tell her about how he truly feels; as a man, if he ever respected her out of the three years that they
have been together, he should stop pretending and playing with her heart because she has the
right to know. This portrays how hyper sexualization impacts relationships, which leads society
to a negative direction.
Despite the fact that society could never restart to the point where hyper sexuality was
not pervasive, the only possible solution that society can do is to avoid encouragement of hyper
sexualization and educate the people, as Lamb suggested. We can prevent the encouragement of
hyper sexualization by putting an end to the photoshopped images that could be found on
endorsements in fashion, social media, social networking, ads, and many more, which people
tends to imitate. It would also help shrink the growing hyper sexualization if people find
solidarity on imposing bad reputation to anyone associated with it.

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Works Cited
Crazy, Stupid, Love. Dir. Glenn Ficarra, John Requa. 2011. Film.
Generation M: Misogyny in Media and Culture. Documentary
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books,2003. Print.
Sharon Lamb. Porn as a Pathway to Empowerment? A Response to Petersons Commentary.
Pdf.
Zoe Peterson. What is Sexual Empowerment? A Multidimensional and Process-Oriented
Approach to Adolescent Girls Sexual Empowerment. Pdf.