Does raunch culture in the media play a role in the female's creation of her personal ideals? An in depth look at the creation of female personal ideals and the rise of raunch culture in media

Media literacy can be defined as "the process of understanding and using mass media in an assertive and non-passive way. This includes an informed and critical understanding of media's nature, the techniques used by media and the impact of these techniques." (Center for Media Literacy, 2005) Media Literacy is becoming more important for today's young female students since the consumption of raunch culture, or the amalgamation of porn and current pop culture, has become more prevalent in recent years. To date, not much direct media interpretation instruction is mainstreamed in schools for these young women. For the purpose of this study and for clarity, the working definition for media will be "for profit mass-media."; Raunch media, a subset of for profit of mass media, is of special interest in this study because much of entertainment media promotes and supports the growth of raunch culture. This study wanted to bring focus on this specific type of entertainment media because of its' prevalence and controversy. Studies that have been done linking behaviors to media consumption supported the concerns of this study. If raunch culture is influencing young women today this study aims to discover what role raunch media plays in the behavior of young women and what they consider ideal.; As a prior secondary school teacher and as an educator in the collegiate setting, I have had first hand exchanges with young females who are familiar with raunch culture. I propose a two-pronged approach to this study. I propose a qualitative study of young college freshmen women asking them to critically reflect on their personal ideal self creation and their relationship with raunch culture in the media. I will do this through a series of checklists, a general questionnaire and exit interviews. I also propose descriptive analysis of the "ideal self checklists" the young females create and analyze. I plan to answer the following research question: "What role does raunch culture in the media play in the creation of the young female's ideal self?"; The young females complete a series of checklists and questionnaires. Primary data sources are derived from the checklists, questionnaires and exit interviews. Interviews are transcribed by hand and audio taped for validity precautions. All checklists are analyzed to provide a description of the population. Interviews and questionnaires are qualitatively analyzed to allow for critical analysis of the creation of the ideal self and the females' reflection on raunch culture. The goal of the study is to find out how the young females' ideal self takes shape in relation to their exposure to raunch culture in the media and how it affects their behavior.; The analysis of raunch culture is rising in popularity, but the commentaries I have read on raunch culture focus mainly on its general political influence and tend to overlook how raunch affects those in their formative years. By taking a closer look at the young female demographic, I am researching the possible influence raunch culture in media has on young women. Technology and in turn the consumption of media continues to evolve at an alarming rate and the more researchers can do to encourage the development of appropriate curriculum, the more education is doing to prepare the general population for the power of media communication.