Industry & Economics
A Content Analysis of Youth Sexualized Language and Imagery in Adult Film Packaging, 1995–2007.
Open Access: No.
Abstract
This study defines youth sexualized language (YSL)—language that sexually objectifies young people/youth (i.e. individuals who look like they could be minors)—and youth sexualized imagery (YSI)—photographs, drawings, or other visual depictions that sexually objectify young people/youth—and quantifies the frequency of both in mainstream adult film packaging. A content analysis of 2,600 randomly selected mainstream adult film covers released from 1995 to 2007 revealed that over 20 per cent of covers contained YSL, YSI, or both, including references to and depictions of teens, braces, pigtails, stuffed animals, and school uniforms. The analysis also revealed that adult film covers containing YSL and/or YSI overwhelmingly sexualized characters coded as female rather than as male or transgendered.
Relevance
More than 20% of mainstream pornographic video covers had language that “sexually objectifies those who look like they might be minors (i.e. those who are under 18 years of age). Likewise, more than 20% of mainstream pornographic videos had visual imagery that did likewise. The imagery included braces, cheerleading outfits, children’s clothing, pigtails, and schoolgirl uniforms; the language included cute, sweet, school, teen, and innocent. Finally, the overwhelming majority of these child-like sexualized images and language (94%) were female. “On the whole, the present study suggests that mainstream adult film companies are marking 20 to 22 per cent of their films in ways that glorify young female sex partners.”
Citation
Robin, J. E. (2010). A Content Analysis of Youth Sexualized Language and Imagery in Adult Film Packaging, 1995–2007. Journal of Children and Media, 4(4), 371-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2010.510005
