| In contemporary U.S. society, young women are bombarded with mixed messages about their sexuality. Educational programs warn teenage women against sexual activity, but contemporary cultural environments are saturated with images of sexualized female empowerment. In my evaluation of two abstinence-only sex education programs and three media sources that promote female hypersexuality, I argue that these mixed messages encourage young women to believe gender and racialized stereotypes about their sexuality. Furthermore, I believe that the patriarchal roots of these mixed messages are extensions of U.S. binary thinking, which encourages oppositional categories. This thesis focuses on how gender and racialized stereotypes in both education and media bolster intergender (male vs. female) and intragender (virgin vs. whore) binary logic. In order to demystify these mixed messages, teenage female sexual autonomy must be encouraged, especially through media literacy programs, federal funding for comprehensive sex education programs, and responsible adult listening and intervention. |
