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Erotic content on the Internet can be more deleterious than pornography. Illustration: Seedfeeder, Wikipedia

 

The moral, religious and the provisions created by the country call on control and management of explicit and disturbing content. If the new generations’ awareness on general media culture is raised, the level of such media content will be proportionally lowered

 

Author: Agron Vrangalla

 

The media influence on various social categories has always been a hot topic, aside from the fact that some contemporary theoreticians do not believe that dealing with media effect is rational.  The main reason is that the “effects” or the influence do not exclusively arise from the media, but they are consequence of the several socialization “agencies”, such as the family, older siblings, school, society and lastly, the media.

Nevertheless, the media effects are evident in the society. They are based on active learning, as grounds for socialization and fixating of the attention on the importance of “reading” the media or on media literacy. Media education is the thing that can have positive influence on diversification of various media content. This way, the new generations will have the opportunity to create a clearer image based on what’s shown in the media. Nowadays, the media culture is one whole of required abilities, so the reality can be distinguished from fantasy and manipulations in the media content.

 

WHERE THE KARDASHIAN SISTERS HAD DINNER!?

Most common deleterious elements, especially for children and teenagers, are the scenes with violence, content that stimulates increase of fear, also known as horror, sexual content, moments of abusing drugs, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, other health concerning issues and so forth. With the appearance of the Internet, the absorption of such content has increased. But this does not mean that such content was or wasn’t covered by newspapers, magazines, audio materials, TV, cinema etc. The phenomenon that has widely spread in many world websites, without skipping the Macedonian websites, is precisely the usage of such content with the aim to increase the number of clicks.

The uncontrollable and unjustified publishing of Kim Kardashian’s photos, for instance, speaks about the websites’ pervert orientation in order to provoke human’s emotions and desires. In reality, we all know that Kardashians’ dinner, or who has Amber Rose spent the night with, are utterly irrelevant occurrences. Such prototypes are not absent in the Albanian media world, such as Shkendije Mujaj, Kallashi or any other “celebrity”. If you have noticed, these characters most often have zero talents, and if they didn’t have their smooth physique (this is always a matter of perception), they would have never gained the fame they enjoy today. But why this entire interest for using these social phenomena?! Very simple: collecting more clicks in times when the media are inept at offering something important to the audience.

Please pay attention when it comes to the below 18 year old public! Photos or videos with erotic nuances published on the news websites are more dangerous than the pornographic websites themselves. Because, at the end of the day, there are programs and options that can block the adult content websites. But, what should be done with similar content published on news websites? Above all, this is violation of that medium’s standards, because it represents itself as “news medium”, and then it publishes news that are difficult for classifying in the “pink” category!

“An American study has found that 90% of the TV programs contain sexual content, whereas 60-75% of the music videos have such content. This doesn’t always mean displaying sexual scenes. Discussion with sexual nuances or the visual euphemisms, as well as the sexual behaviorism, can be also included. (Source: Elizabeth M. Perse, Effects of Sexually Explicit Media Content, 2008).

 

MEDIA AND SEXUAL BEHAVIORISM

It is worth mentioning that such content do not provide minors with sexual education. On the contrary, they deteriorate their education in this social area. Through this content, the young audience thinks that this is what the human needs, or that these are the female models that should be admired. So, the male fantasy creates a completely wrong perception of the opposite sex. The reality, on the other hand, differs from virtuality, but the constant imposing of such content has negative effect on the creation of a sound view on reality. This includes mixing of feelings, unfulfilling of expectations, desire for staying connected with the virtual and alienating from reality, losing self-confidence, social deprivation etc.

Oftentimes, such content is defined as erotic or pornographic, albeit these two terms are different. The term “erotic” originates from the ancient Greek language which means eros (love), and refers to sexually explicit content. The term “pornography”, on the other hand, also originates from the Greek language, and was used by writers to describe prostitutes. This terms covers the violence and actions that degrade and humiliate women.

 

MORAL ASPECTS  

The sexual content packed like this causes impediments or social dissatisfactions, creating a wrong or unhealthy knowledge about sex. Abundance of such content could corrupt people’s moral values. Sexual media content could also motivate people to mix their social roles.

Because of this reason, the moral, religious and the provisions created by the country call on control and management of explicit and disturbing content. If the new generations’ awareness on general media culture is raised, the level of such media content will be proportionally lowered. The audience’s demands will grow in quality and will force the media to think a bit more, especially in the moments when publishing news such as: “Russian model doesn’t leave anything to fantasy”.

 

 

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This journalistic lesson was created within the framework of the USAID Media Strengthening in Macedonia Project - Media Fact-Checking Service Component,, mplemented by Metamorphosis. The journalistic lesson is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, USAID or the United States Government. For more information on the work of USAID in Macedonia please visit its website (http://macedonia.usaid.gov) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia).

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