This article uses women's firsthand experiences as the basis from which to explore how social constructions of sexual disease and feminine morality merge to threaten women's sexual selves during sexually transmitted disease (STD) diagnostic interactions. Constant comparative analysis of interview data reveals how forty‐three women made sense of this stage in their moral careers. Adding to interactionist literature on gender and chronic illness, this article expands discussions of tribal stigma to the intrapersonal realm. The data show how these women learned to view herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV) as symbols of impurity, antithetical to feminine ideals of sexual morality. Socialized to fear a caste system that divides women according to perceptions of moral transgression, the women viewed official medical diagnoses as having the potential to brand them not only as diseased but also as immoral. Tribal stigma provides the theoretical framework for analyzing why and how STD diagnostic interactions may be the catalysts for women to symbolically redefine themselves as bad girls and fallen women.
Focused on Canada and the United States, Sext Up Kids (2012) aims to raise awareness about how and why the increasing sexualization of mainstream media results in the damaging sexualization of childhood. Within the limitations of heteronormativity, this documentary strives to make a causal link between young people's use of social media and their sexual attitudes and behaviors. The film spotlights key findings of recent research studies from a range of academic disciplines. Viewers are informed of new dangers posed by a volatile mixture of hypersexual pop culture and technology, with a particular focus on smartphones and social media. Sext Up Kids skillfully uses expert testimonials, statistics, and case studies to reveal significant threats to our children's mental health, physical health, and social well-being. In particular, a disturbing new set of norms have resulted in increasing numbers of tweens and teens using social media to consume and produce sexually explicit material.The film's argument builds from a foundation of examining how today's efforts to market to children and teens contribute to the sexualization of children. Viewers learn a disturbing motto from the marketing industry: KAGOY, the acronym for ''kids are getting older younger.'' Examples of children's clothing, including a French lingerie line for girls 4 to 12 years old, show us how advertisers are ''making prepubescent girls look like porn stars.'' We see how pressures to look sexy at younger ages come with pressures to act sexy at younger ages. These images are juxtaposed against statistics about younger boys having increased access to internet pornography. Research findings sound the alarm that boys overconsumption of pornography may rob them of their abilities to enjoy healthy sex lives.The roots of the pornification (Paasonen, Nikunen, and Saarenmaa 2007) of youth are traced to ever-younger boys accessing hardcore porn via the Internet and to girls idolizing hyperfeminine role models, starting with ''playing princess'' as Humanity & Society 37(3) 259-261
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