TY - JOUR
T1 - Are We Past the Heterosexual Script? A Content Analysis of Contextual Cues Within the Heterosexual Script in Tween, Teen, and Young Adult Television Programs
AU - Terán, Larissa
AU - Roberts, Lindsay
AU - Yan, Kun
AU - Aubrey, Jennifer Stevens
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Mass Communication & Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In light of recent research establishing the prevalence of the heterosexual script on television (Aubrey et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2007), the present study investigated the context of the heterosexual script in 182 episodes of tween, teen, and young adult television programs. The following scripts were assessed: sex as masculinity (masculinity is achieved through sexuality), good girls (women are sexual gatekeepers), male commitment (men avoid commitment), and female commitment (women seek commitment). Results revealed that depictions of the heterosexual script varied with sexual behavior, sexual talk, and the composition of gender in conversation dyads but not with the gender of sexual initiators. Sex as masculinity was most likely to occur with intimate touching, talk about sexual interests, and mostly discussed within female-female dyads. The good girls script was most likely to occur with instances of intimate touching and talk about sexual advice, whereas male commitment was most likely to occur in portrayals of intercourse and talk about sexual experiences. Lastly, female commitment was most likely to occur in talk toward sex and in male-male dyads.
AB - In light of recent research establishing the prevalence of the heterosexual script on television (Aubrey et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2007), the present study investigated the context of the heterosexual script in 182 episodes of tween, teen, and young adult television programs. The following scripts were assessed: sex as masculinity (masculinity is achieved through sexuality), good girls (women are sexual gatekeepers), male commitment (men avoid commitment), and female commitment (women seek commitment). Results revealed that depictions of the heterosexual script varied with sexual behavior, sexual talk, and the composition of gender in conversation dyads but not with the gender of sexual initiators. Sex as masculinity was most likely to occur with intimate touching, talk about sexual interests, and mostly discussed within female-female dyads. The good girls script was most likely to occur with instances of intimate touching and talk about sexual advice, whereas male commitment was most likely to occur in portrayals of intercourse and talk about sexual experiences. Lastly, female commitment was most likely to occur in talk toward sex and in male-male dyads.
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U2 - 10.1080/15205436.2021.1962912
DO - 10.1080/15205436.2021.1962912
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112278241
SN - 1520-5436
VL - 25
SP - 361
EP - 382
JO - Mass Communication and Society
JF - Mass Communication and Society
IS - 3
ER -