Expanding Sexual Entertainment
The use of sex to sell products, as well as to entertain, is
increasing and can be expected to do so. The concept that "sex sells" is
so well established that we need not belabor the point here. The
explicitness of sexual advertising, however, may be curbed by recent
research finding that highly explicit sexual content is so diverting that
the viewer or reader tends to overlook the product entirely.
Sexual stereotyping will also be less prevalent in advertising in
years to come. All this means, however, is that women will not be singled
out as sex objects; they'll have plenty of male company, as is already
the case. The female "bimbo" is now joined by the male "bimbo" in
ever-increasing numbers. Sexist advertising is still prevalent (e.g.,
male-oriented beer commercials) but should diminish as women gain in
social and political power.
There's no doubt that films and TV have become more sexually
permissive in the last two decades and are likely to continue in that
direction for some time to come. But all this will surely pale alongside
the brave (or brazen) new world of "cybersex" and virtual reality, the
first erotic emanations of which may well be experienced by Americans in
the coming two decades. Virtual reality aims to be just that--artificial,
electronically induced experiences that are virtually indistinguishable
from the real thing.
The sexual revolution, far from over, is in for some new, hightech
curves.
FROM BIOLOGY TO PSYCHOLOGY: THE NEW FAMILY OF THE MIND
Despite recent pronouncements that the traditional family is making
a comeback, the evidence suggests that over the next two decades the
nuclear family will share the same future as nuclear arms: there will be
fewer of them, but those that remain will be better cared for.
Demographers now believe that the number of families consisting of
married couples with children will dwindle by yet another 12 percent by
the year 2000. Meanwhile, single-parent households will continue to
increase (up 41 percent over the past decade.) And household size will
continue to decline (2.63 people in 1990 versus 3.14 in 1970). The number
of households maintained by women, with no males present, has increased
300 percent since 1950 and will continue to rise into the 21st
century.
Particularly alarming to some is the fact that an increasing number
of people are choosing never to marry. And, throughout the developed
world, the one-person household is now the fastest growing household
category. To the traditionalists, this trend seems insidious--more than
25 percent of all households in the United States now consist of just one
person.
There can be no doubt: the nuclear family has been vastly
diminished, and it will continue to decline for some years, but at a more
gradual pace. Indeed, there is a good chance that it will enjoy more
stability in the next two decades than it did in the last two. Many of
the very forces that were said to be weakening the traditional family may
now make it stronger, though not more prevalent. Developing social
changes have made traditional marriage more elective today, so that those
who choose it may, increasingly, some psychologists believe, represent a
subpopulation better suited to the institution and thus more likely to
make a go of it.
As we try to understand new forms of family, we need to realize
that the "traditional" family is not particularly traditional. Neither is
it necessarily the healthiest form of family. The nuclear family has
existed for only a brief moment in human history. Moreover, most people
don't realize that no sooner had the nuclear family form peaked around
the turn of the last century than erosion set in, which has continued
ever since. For the past hundred years, reality has chipped away at this
social icon, with increasing divorce and the movement of more women into
the labor force. Yet our need for nurturance, security, and connectedness
continues and, if anything, grows more acute as our illusions about the
traditional family dissipate.
Our longing for more satisfying sources of nurturance has led us to
virtually redefine the family, in terms of behavior, language, and law.
These dramatic changes will intensify over the next two decades. The
politics of family will be entirely transformed in that period. The
process will not be without interruptions or setbacks. Some lower-court
rulings may be overturned by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, the
traditional family will be revived in the headline from time to time, but
the economic and psychological forces that for decades have been shaping
these changes toward a more diverse family will continue to do so.
SUBTRENDS
Deceptively Declining Divorce Rate
The "good news" is largely illusory. Our prodigious national
divorce rate, which more than doubled in one recent 10-year period, now
shows signs of stabilization or even decline. Still, 50 percent of all
marriages will break up in the next several years. And the leveling of
the divorce rate is not due to stronger marriage but to less marriage.
More people are skipping marriage altogether and are cohabiting
instead.
Tags:
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population pressures,
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sex out of wedlock,
sexual equality,
sexual excesses,
sexual images,
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traditional family values,
traditional values,
wedlock births,
women in the workplace
