America is a country run by pop culture. From the cars we drive to the clothes we wear, we try to model ourselves after the "haves". We look to the television, the radio, the movies and the magazines for salvation. We are in search of an escape to our everyday lives. The one message that is prevalent in all forms of media today is sex. We cannot leave our homes without having sex shoved in our faces. Even our monuments are phallic symbols. The idea is that cool people have sex and we as Americans want to be cool. We are a far cry from the times when premarital sex meant eternal damnation. Nowadays, we hand out condoms in high school and sex-ed is taught as early as junior high. Sex sells, and the corporate world is turning us into sex craving maniacs in order to turn over a profit. The biggest difference between the US and other developed countries is the way we handle pregnancy. Just like sex sells, it pays to have a kid. Our pregnant women are waited on hand and foot throughout the pregnancy, given all sorts of aid and encouraged to go through with the pregnancy. In other countries such as China and India, the population crisis means that pregnancy is frowned upon. Also, these other developed countries aren't as advanced in the corporate/media world as the US is. The best way to not be affected by the media is to have no contact with it to begin with. I believe that because we have more access to all stages of sex, sex itself is more prevalent. Sex is initiated easily seeing as though it is always on our minds as Americans. Our media not only entices sex, but it entices sexual behaviors. One example of this is the Oral sex "epidemic". However, we are reminded that sex leaves the bed room with you. Whether with a child being created, or a disease being contracted, or just a good experience being remembered. We are also reminded that we have access to emergency contraceptives such as the mourning after pill, and abortions.
