Media’s Role on Rape, Incest and Pedophilia
Monday, March 26, 2007 | 1:26 PM
Gelo and Ton converse about the media – television/screen, print, etc. – and its power on three of the society’s chief problems: Rape, incest and pedophilia.
Ton: What do you suppose?
Gelo: I think we should eat. There’s this great new recipe at the KIPLog Food Blog that makes me (SLURP) salivate.
Ton: Come on, Gelo.
Gelo: Aha! You’re demanding to engage me into a conversation that we both know you already have things to say about.
Ton: Precisely.
Gelo: Seriously though, I view the media as nothing more than its root - medium - an intervening substance through which signals can travel as a means for communication.
Gelo says: ...I view the media as nothing more than its root - medium...
Ton: You’re saying that media has no influence whatsoever on rape, incest or pedophilia.
Gelo: I believe that it does have an influence, just that it can’t be blamed for why these three issues recur. Again, it’s just a medium, merely a carrier of something.
Ton: Ever see those children dancing ocho-ocho (a dance move here in the Philippines, literally meaning eight-eight, and is purportedly suggesting a sexual theme)?
Gelo: Yes. What are you saying?
Ton: Well, psychology tells us that there’s a subsequent behavior to a stimulus. An advertisement projects images, gives information, and conveys subliminal messages, which serve as stimuli to the human mind. Teenagers today have gone remote from how the teenagers were, say, 50 years ago. They no longer wear long skirts or puffed sleeves or conservative dresses. What do we see on TV and magazines, even in broadsheets? Spaghetti straps, tight-fitting jeans, short skirts.
Gelo: Hmmm.
Ton: Teens are motivated to follow what’s IN, and that motivation, media, causes the obsession, and obsession rarely doesn’t worsen.
Ton Says: ...and that motivation, media, causes the obsession, and obsession rarely doesn’t worsen.
Gelo: But you also have to consider – other than psychology – the laws of physics.
Ton: The what?
Gelo: For example, someone gets electrocuted upon touching water – your medium – that has strong electric current running through it. In this case, you can’t blame water for conducting electricity. When there’s a sexually suggestive theme shown on TV, you can’t hold TV responsible for it. To a certain extent, the blame is put on those on both ends of the tunnel. And for this reason, we have concepts such as censorship or classification.
Ton: Yes. But although a Parental Guidance message is flashed on screen, you would rarely see a parent actually doing something about it. Therefore the effect – children’s minds are filled with garbage. And this sexual trash stays with them until they grow old. Children are less mature individuals, thus less discriminating of external stimulus, as compared to adults, and become more vulnerable.
Gelo: Yes, you’re right. It’s difficult to assess the extent to which media must be blamed for rape, incest and pedophilia, though. I guess you can say it’s just a matter of perspective now.
Ton: Too many external factors interplay but there is no denying that mass media has its own share of culpability. So… how do we end this?
Gelo: It just does. Ahhh. Food for the mind. I’m okay now. (BURP)
Labels: Conversations, Society
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