"I Think We Should Have Sex"

I unfortunately could not find a youtube clip of the storyline I'm about to talk about, but if you have Netflix access- you're in luck! The content I'm going to discuss comes from the teen drama, and a current, personal binge-watching favorite of mine, Friday Night Lights.  The episode is titled, "I Think We Should Have Sex," and for those of you with Netflix access, it's episode 17 in the first season.

The episode focuses on two main leads: Julie Taylor and Matt Saracen. Julie Taylor is the daughter of the head football coach at Dillon High School, the state championship winning football team and to make things more complicated, Matt Saracen is the starting Quarterback. At this point in the show, Matt and Julie are exclusively dating each other and are starting to discuss their future relationship and intimacy.

Here's a little Youtube video I did find of Matt and Julie, just to illustrate how much all the show's fans love their relationship (there are an estimated 100 more just like this):

Back to the storyline- the episode begins with Julie telling Matt that she thinks they should have sex. Matt, a bit taken by surprise, agrees and throughout the episode we watch him buy condoms (yay Matt!), talk to his fellow football players and peers about sex, how to prepare and what to do etc. Meanwhile, Julie's mom sees Matt buying condoms at the local grocery store and a lot of discussions about sex ensue for Julie. This is where one of Maura Kelly's virginity loss narratives and sexual scripts comes into play.

Julie and her Parents 

Kelly writes about virginity loss narratives and sexual scripts in her 2010 essay "Virginity Loss Narratives in 'Teen Drama' Television Programs." For the sake of length, I'm only going to talk about the scripts I saw in this particular episode right now. In regard to Julie's parents, the Abstinence Script, specifically the Dangers of Sex, is utilized. This is evidenced by how Julie's mom stresses that sex has many dangers (both emotional and physical), how Julie is only 15 years old, and how sex is something that is very special. This last one kind of makes me want to code Julie's parents' narrative as Virginity as a Gift, because Kelly discussed how this script takes place when virginity is seen as special and something to hold on to until the time is right, but I think Dangers of Sex is more prominent. This however, is only one script that contributes to this particular storyline.

Matt and Julie 

Another script, arguably the most important script, occurs between Matt and Julie themselves. At the end of the episode, Matt and Julie meet up to finally have sex. But while they are kissing and getting intimate, Julie is so clearly uncomfortable that Matt finally says, "you know what? Let's not do this." While Julie protests a bit, Matt says that it is totally fine and the audience watches as a weight is almost visibly lifted off of Julie's shoulders. Kelly would have coded this as the Abstinence Script, Pleasure of virginity because it "portrayed [a] male who agreed to wait because their female partners were not ready for sex" (pp. 484, 2010). So, while Julie may have seemed to want to lose her virginity arguably because it felt like a rite of passage and it seemed appropriate, which both fall under the Management Script, the ultimate narrative portrayed was abstinence out of respect for each others' needs. The Management Script portrays virginity loss as "part of the process of growing up" (Kelly, 2010), which is evident in Julie's thought process in the show.

Matt and the Football Team 

A third, and small, narrative portrayed was pressure from Matt's fellow players and peers to have sex and lose virginity. This could be coded as The Urgency Script, the need to lose virginity because it is seen as stigmatized and negative (Kelly, 2010). Matt, however, did not succumb to this pressure and maintained an attitude of respect towards Julie throughout the episode and utilized responsible behavior in regard to sex by buying condoms and putting a lot of thought into being responsible. Again, can I just say, yay Matt?!

This brings me to my final discussion point: While I saw the last narrative of Matt's peers pressuring him to have sex as a small part of the storyline, would, say, a teenage football player who probably more easily identifies with Matt's peers see it as small? Or would they have seen this as the prominent message of the episode, therefore leaving the episode with an entirely different message about sex and sexual scripts than what I understood from the episode. This raises interesting questions and work for the future research in this field. How much does identifying with the character utilizing a certain sexual script impact a viewer's beliefs about sex. Does it matter at all? Or are adolescents capable of discerning the main and most prominent scripts apart from minor scripts that may come from more similar characters to themselves? I think this would be a very interesting topic for future research in this field and if I had to predict, with very little grounding in prior research, this could have a substantial impact on sexual scripts, viewers' beliefs, and behaviors.


References:

• Kelly, M.(2010). Virginity loss narratives in “teen drama” television programs.  Journal of Sex Research, 47(5), 479A489. doi: 10.1080/00224490903132044 
  

Like A Virgin?

The clip above comes from GLEE season one episode 15 : The Power of Madonna. As a GLEE fan myself (super sophisticated, I know), I remember watching this episode and having mixed emotions about it. But, before I go any further, let me break down what is going on and, who may be doing who. 

There are three couples featured, Will and Emma, Rachel and Jesse, and Finn and Santana. Let's get all the dirty deets!

Will & Emma

Will and Emma are both teachers at the McKinley High School. Will has recently filled for divorce against his wife who went super crazy and pretended she was pregnant for a long time to keep him around (she literally wore a pillow under her clothes for months). He is also a part time Spanish teacher/sub and the head of the Glee Club. Emma is the guidance consoler at school and the two have had a recent 'love connection'. Emma is known for being very quirky, OCD and very strange about intimacy and all forms of physical contact. 

Rachel & Jesse

Rachel and Jesse are both students at McKinley High School, well sort of. Rachel is the star of the Glee club and is a super type A controlling, nerdy, theatre geek. Jesse actually went to the rival high school and starred in their Glee Club, Vocal Adrenaline (no, I did not make that up). He started dating Rachel and decided to switch schools because it was apparently too hard to fully commit to her while they were opponents (can people just switch public schools in the middle of the year to date who they want?). He has a bad boy flare but can still burst into song and melt your heart.

Finn & Santana

Finn and Santana are both members of the Glee Club. Finn is an all American sweet heart. He is the captain of the football team and lead male vocalist in the Glee Club. He and Rachel used to have a 'thing' (awkward flirty, kinda dating for a few episodes). Santana is the resident sexy cheerleader. There are actually a few of these on the show but she is definitely the most sexual. She also is super sassy which can border on looking like she has a serious attitude problem (ironically this is because she has been dealing with her lesbian identity which she reveals later on).

The video clip is the 'climax' (see what I did there) of the episode. These three couples had been negotiating whether or not to take their relationship to the next level through out the episode. Adorably set to the Madonna classic, 'Like A Virgin' these couples explore their sexual desires.

Maura Kelly did an analysis of virginity loss narratives within teen dramas. To me this instance served as the perfect example to bring to life many of her ideas. Many teens get their ideas about virginity loss through social constructed meanings in the media (Kelly 2009). Media consumption is also correlated with increased or earlier sexual activity (Kelly 2009). What teens watch about sex and virginity does matter.

Will and Emma exemplify the management script (Kelly 2009). They talk about sex as a couple and discuss what they do and do not think is appropriate for them and their relationship. In the end they did not end up having sex. They framed this as a good choice for them as a couple because Emma was still struggling with her sexuality and will was still technically still married. The solution? Will decided not to date until his divorce was finalized and Emma decided to enroll in therapy to deal with her OCD and intimacy issues.

Rachel and Jesse's encounter can be thought through the lens of the abstinence script (Kelly 2009). Rachel views her virginity as a 'gift' and wants to have a 'magical' and romanic experience with someone she loves. Although she thinks she is in love with Jesse, he is pressuring her to have sex before she is fully ready. They do not end up having sex. Rachel ends up lying to Finn and tells him they had sex and it was no big deal to try and make him jealous.

Finn and Santana are the only couple who actually have sex. They fall into the urgency script (Kelly 2009). Santana convinces Finn that it is really lame that he is still a virgin. She has been known to sleep around and we be happy to help him lose the stigma of his virgin status. Everyone else's sexual encounters take place in their homes in beds but funnily enough Finn and Santana are in a motel (so cliche). Finn then lies to Rachel telling her they did not have sex and that he did not go through with it because he didn't have feelings for Santana.

As a show geared towards teens I was intrigued by they different ways sexual relationships and virginity loss were presented. Overall I think the message is mixed from showing different scripts and depictions. I hope that this sends the message to teens that they are in charge of their own sexuality and have the power to make their own decisions about sex. I know that some of the notions are still presented in obvious, and patriarchal ways but I think GLEE is taking a step in the right direction (after all they are the New Directions). And lets be honest a Madonna musical is always a winner in my book!

Citations

Kelly, M. (2009). Virginity loss narratives in "teen drama" television programs. Journal of Sex Research, 47(5), 479-489.