Education Commons^™

From “The Coca-Cola Douche” To Embracing Pleasure: Media Representations And Irish Womens’ Lived Experiences Learning About Sexuality, Jaelynn Sutter, Taylon Mendenhall

SACAD: John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activity Days

Media, for better or worse, is a powerful social influence that runs much deeper than the daily news. Our qualitative survey-based study focuses on how Irish women learn about and understand sexuality; our findings demonstrate the significant role media plays in this development. Specifically, our survey indicates the influence of the media in Irish women's lives as it leads to societal expectations. More than half of our participants cited media as an integral tool in learning about sexuality, including magazines, television, movies, novels, and the Internet. For some, media use in understanding their own identities opened the door to empowerment …