Sexualities and the Mass Media

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Sexualities and the Mass Media
The topic of this essay is the role of the mass media in the development of sexuality and sexual identity. The main argument of the paper is that the mass media is reinforcing heterosexuality as the only acceptable sexuality and as such plays an important role in the social construction of sexuality and provides social and moral regulation of sexuality. The paper will show that this role of the mass media is a consequence of heterosexual hegemony that predates the development of modern media and its various forms as well as the influence of social norms relating to sexuality. Sexuality is not the only socially constructed identity and it commonly interlocks and intersects with other identities. For the...

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