Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The MTV generation
2 comments
By: Anonymous - from the series of guest posts written by Dr. Baldwin's students at Michigan State University.
Is TV sending the wrong message to young girls? This question is nothing new and everyone has heard it before. But what is anyone doing about it? All I see are more and more shows portraying women and young girls in a negative light. Whether it is in the hugely popular movie series Twilight, where Bella finds herself unable to survive without a guy by her side to take care of her, or all of the MTV shows, like Jersey Shore, which is centered around women who are solely interested in drinking and hooking up with men. Then you have The Hills, a show that shows a group of girlfriend who care about designer labels and being famous. They don’t act like friends, instead it’s all about the drama and them betraying one another, doing spiteful and hurtful things. These are not the types of people young girls should be looking up to. When they watch shows like this it makes it okay and validates the fact that being a bad friend and person is okay, that drinking so much that you can no longer make sound judgments is just another weekend, that sleeping with around and hooking up with random guys is no big deal, and that loosing yourself to a man is acceptable.
It's time someone stands up and pulls this type of media from airing. Sure it may be entertaining, but what is it doing society? Not only are girls being told that that is how you should act, it’s telling boys that that’s what you should expect girls to act like. I find this to be a sad truth, I see so many girls that feel the pressure that society is putting on them to act that way. I also see the regrets they have in the morning when the walk through the halls of the dorm, and they can’t remember what they did the night before or where they were. Unfortunately everyone else can see what they did because it’s plastered all over Facebook. It’s hard enough to grow up and be in college, trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life and studying to get good grades. We don’t need the added pressures society puts on us.
Is TV sending the wrong message to young girls? This question is nothing new and everyone has heard it before. But what is anyone doing about it? All I see are more and more shows portraying women and young girls in a negative light. Whether it is in the hugely popular movie series Twilight, where Bella finds herself unable to survive without a guy by her side to take care of her, or all of the MTV shows, like Jersey Shore, which is centered around women who are solely interested in drinking and hooking up with men. Then you have The Hills, a show that shows a group of girlfriend who care about designer labels and being famous. They don’t act like friends, instead it’s all about the drama and them betraying one another, doing spiteful and hurtful things. These are not the types of people young girls should be looking up to. When they watch shows like this it makes it okay and validates the fact that being a bad friend and person is okay, that drinking so much that you can no longer make sound judgments is just another weekend, that sleeping with around and hooking up with random guys is no big deal, and that loosing yourself to a man is acceptable.
It's time someone stands up and pulls this type of media from airing. Sure it may be entertaining, but what is it doing society? Not only are girls being told that that is how you should act, it’s telling boys that that’s what you should expect girls to act like. I find this to be a sad truth, I see so many girls that feel the pressure that society is putting on them to act that way. I also see the regrets they have in the morning when the walk through the halls of the dorm, and they can’t remember what they did the night before or where they were. Unfortunately everyone else can see what they did because it’s plastered all over Facebook. It’s hard enough to grow up and be in college, trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life and studying to get good grades. We don’t need the added pressures society puts on us.
Posts
February 15, 2010 at 1:40 AM
Well honestly, i do not feel like the MTV shows should be pulled off the air. They are solely for entertainment. Of course they show the wrong message and portray certain people as whores or bad friends, but society should be able to comprehend that this is just a show and not all women act this way. Parents should also be keeping young children from watching these shows and getting the wrong impression. If a kid is watching that show and actually believes they're supposed to act that way then they're obviously too young to be watching MTV and it is their parents fault for not blocking that channel from them. Therefore, parenting is also a big factor in these children who are acting the whores and terrible people. Not just the shows on MTV.
February 21, 2010 at 1:34 AM
I agree with Kelsey, MTV is showing all these reality shows that features girls who are out of control and MTV is creating this for entertainments. I believe that this is wrong that using girls to entertain. It gives off wrong impression to people and children.