How Gossip Girl can be detrimental to a young woman's sexual script

           

           I decided to watch a few seasons of Gossip Girl during my freshman year in college when I needed a show to pass my time. I was intrigued by the show because it had crazy plot twists and it focused on main topics discussed among typical college students: sex and alcohol. I never personally felt connected to the show because it seemed extremely dramatic and fake with the glamorized lifestyle and the unrealistic portrayals of women. But I was still interested in the show for some reason and I could not figure out why. Maybe it was the attractive characters, or the intriguing plots that would arise and then trail off into the following season that would keep me hooked. It took me almost half a season to comprehend that these characters were actually in high school.

            Within the first three minutes of the episode the main characters of the show are at a party with their parents and either have a drink in their hand, or are sneaking off into a room to have sex. What kind of lifestyle is this promoting for adolescences? Surely these norms seem unrealistic, but maybe not all adolescents see their behavior as unacceptable. I remember having a conversation with my sister who was 14 at the time she was watching Gossip Girl. Her eyes were glowing as she was constantly engaged in the show. She told me that there was nothing wrong with the characters’ behavior and that it was okay for her to watch because she was not going to partake in any sort of behavior like that. But the way she watched the show it was evident that she was absorbing some sort of information about sexual scripts.

            In the study done by Brown, White, and Nikopoulou (called Disinterest, Intrigue, Resistance: Early Adolescent Girls’ use of Sexual Media Content, they focus on three type of adolescent girls: Disinterested, Intrigued, and Resistant. They examine the biological stage of the girls in each group and analyze how each group views sexuality in the media and in their daily lives. The Intrigued group is extremely relevant to Gossip Girl in the sense that these types of girls are the ones who will most likely engage in the show. The article defines intrigued girls as newly fascinated with the world of romance, sex, and relationships and they use media to get information on these subjects. These girls are at the stage where they begin to care about their appearance by applying makeup in order to obtain the ideal look to attract boys. Since the attraction of boys is new to them, they become fascinated with what they view in the media because it is a gateway to gather information and understand the way other adolescences their age act. They search for sexual media because it is a subject that is unfamiliar and intriguing.

            So what is the problem with Intrigued girls seeking out sexual media as a way to gather information? Gossip Girl is a great example of how this could be a problem. Because all the characters in Gossip Girl are involved in sex and alcohol they present the idea to girls that these actions are perceived as normal. What 15 year old girl is dressed in expensive clothes, drinking a glass of champagne, and sneaking away to have sex with their boyfriend at a dinner party with their parents? The show presents these scripts as normal, thus presenting to the public that these actions are justified. This is extremely problematic for girls in the Intrigued group because these girls are absorbing these sexual scripts and using them as a guide for their own sexual relationships.

One main character plot is between two characters Blaire and Chuck. Blaire and Chuck are seen to be madly in love, but fight all the time, and when they are apart they do everything in their power to make the other jealous. Is this a healthy relationship script for young women to be absorbing? Absolutely not. Obviously this is presented in the media because it provides drama and keeps the audience hooked. And it works because young women aspire to be like Blaire and Chuck and have the relationship they have. The whole series revolves around Chuck refusing to be with Blaire because his work is too important and she distracts him and gets in the way. So as a result he sleeps with prostitutes and drinks himself to sleep all the time. While he is doing this Blaire is constantly thinking and dreaming of being his girlfriend, while waiting for him to get his work and life together so they can finally be a couple. This is hinting at the idea that women always will wait for men as long as it takes because that is how true love works. This script is disgusting in many ways and completely baffles me that this sort of media is present in a TV series involving high school lives.

 

From my own experience with the show and from the reaction I have seen in my sister, I find it disturbing that such a show is set and displayed for young girls to watch. The show may be targeting what young girls find amusement in, such as sex, drugs, drama, because this is the kind of media that sells. In a way the creators and producers of Gossip Girl are geniuses. They target directly to the Intriguing adolescents who crave this media content. But what they might not realize are all the dangerous effects this kind of media has on adolescences, specifically young girls to whom the media targets. If young developing girls are turning to Gossip Girl for information on their sexual relationships then we have a huge problem arising within society. It is no coincidence that younger generations are becoming sexually active sooner.

References:

Brown, J., White, A., Nikopoulou, L. (1987). Disinterest, Intrigue, Resistance: Early Adolescent Girls’ use of Sexual Media Content. Center for Population Options.