Introducing Sexualization, Media, & Society

As the inaugural editorial board, we are honored to announce the introduction of Sexualization, Media, & Society (SMS), a new research journal intended to disseminate high-quality scholarship examining the influence of sexualized media in all forms on individuals, relationships, communities, and society. Hosted by Wheelock College and Virginia Commonwealth University, this new journal adopts a critical perspective aiming to integrate social, behavioral, political, economic, ethical, cultural, and health research into a comprehensive academic and professional resource. Around the time of this writing, Fifty Shades of Grey (James, 2011), an erotic tale about an emotionally troubled business magnate who seduces a virginal college student into the world of bondage-discipline-sadomasochism (BDSM) in his ‘‘Red Room of Pain,’’ has become a global phenomenon. The book has been translated into 52 languages and sold more than 100 million copies, and the movie has grossed over US$550 million dollars in the 3 months since it first opened. The success of this book has inspired two sequels (Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed; James, 2012a, 2012b) and a vast array of products and activities, including dominatrixthemed yoga classes, cookbooks (Fifty Shades of Chicken; Fowler, 2012), nail polish, body lotions, wines, and, of course, lingerie and ‘‘adult toys’’ (Herships, 2015). Despite its evident commercial success, the Fifty Shades enterprise has not been without controversy. Numerous media critics, popular culture analysts, and an array of scholars are spending increasingly large amounts of ink discussing the merits and impact of the book and film (Bonomi, Altenburger, & Walton, 2013; Comella, 2013; Downing, 2013; Hollomotz, 2013). This increasing commercialization of sex is not limited to books and films marketed to adults. Scholars and journalists have documented the prominence of sexual themes in nearly every aspect of children’s lives, including advertising, clothes, accessories, toys and games, music, and other entertainment media. For example, the hit television show Toddlers and Tiaras has been intensely criticized for its sexualization of young girls (Henson, 2011). The show outraged viewers when it released images of a 3-year-old contestant dressed as a prostitute, an imitation of the outfit worn by Julia Robert’s character in the opening scenes of Pretty Woman (Ziskin & Marshall, 1990). Marketers target tween girls between the ages of 9 and 12 to sell them padded push-up bras, kiddy thongs stamped with slogans that scream ‘‘juicy’’ or ‘‘wink, wink,’’ and even bikini waxes (Durham, 2008; Krupnick, 2011). Along with beauty tips, teen magazines cover flirty innuendos and relationship advice, such as ‘‘Hooking Up Do’s and Don’ts’’ (Gunter, 2014; Zurbriggen & Roberts, 2012). Access to and production of a wide array of intensely sexualized material is increasingly available through the Internet. It is estimated that 12% of all Internet websites are pornographic, 40 million Americans regularly visit pornography online, 35% of all Internet downloads are pornographic, and 25% of all search engine requests, or 68 million per day, relate to sex (Weiss, 2013). Pornography is now the first and major form of sex education for adolescents and young adults (Hunter, Figueredo, & Malamuth, 2010; Sabina, Wolak, & Finkelhor, 2008). Recently, Google attempted to limit explicit sexual content in Google blogs. Almost immediately, the backlash against Google erupted, swiftly and effectively. Within 3 days of first reports, the company issued a statement indicating they were not moving forward with this change (O’Connor, 2015). Google was attempting to respond to a digital environment where commercial pornography is a massive economic force (Johnson, 2010) dominated by images of violence and aggression (Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer, Sun, & Liberman, 2010). As these stories indicate, issues surrounding sexually explicit material are highly contentious and increasingly in the public discourse. Among academics, pornography has endured as one of the most combative and divisive areas of research, splitting feminist researchers across the academy into warring factions. The Internet has only intensified these debates now that access to sexual material for people of all ages and for all types of tastes or preferences is practically unlimited. The explosion of hypersexualized media raises questions community practitioners, activists, academics, politicians and health care professionals are just beginning to ask. What effects do these materials have on individuals, couples, families, communities, and societies? How should we balance the importance of freedoms of speech and expression with limitations by age, content, or labor protections? Are there political, health, or psychological effects at the production, distribution, and consumption levels? If so, what might these be and how ought our polity to respond to such effects? How do these images shape Sexualization, Media, & Society April-June, 2015: 1-4 a The Author(s) 2015 DOI: 10.1177/2374623815588763 sme.sagepub.com