When the sixth season of “Game Of Thrones” premiered Sunday, one thing fans expected was plenty of sex scenes.

Dim lighting, blankets made out of wolf fur and sexual tension that can only be satiated in the bedroom — “Game of Thrones” isn’t shy when it comes to intercourse. In fact, the show often features rape, incest, sexual infidelity and prostitution.

These portrayals of sex in the media may influence society’s sexual interactions. In the college setting, many of my girlfriends have told me their hook ups are especially aggressive in bed.

I was once asked to recreate the Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen wedding night from “Game of Thrones.” Not knowing what this scene was, I was appalled when I found out it was the night of her sexual assault. His request was a direct reference to this episode.

“I think violence in sex is more universally received because it translates better,” said Keith Giglio, a screenwriting professor at Syracuse University. “If you take a gun out and shoot, everyone is going to react. You see someone naked, everyone is going to react. I think the need for global eyeballs affects the content on television.”

I don’t think the media has ever felt a sense of responsibility for its viewers. They think about what makes money. Maybe during the time of family hour, when everyone would gather around the television to watch a show, there was more censorship with nudity. However, since the advent of the internet and streaming content there seems to be much more availability of sex on screens.

Sex is the gateway for getting attention.

“HBO with ‘Game of Thrones’ does the term ‘sexposition,’” Giglio said. “Exposition is when you’re watching a show like ‘Scandal’ and Kerry Washington tells you everything. ‘Sexposition’ is when everybody has a conversation but they’re naked. It’s eye candy.”

Sex on television led to another kind of plot and spoke on a different rhetoric of sexual health. Flipping through television channels during my adolescent years, I’d pass shows like “16 and Pregnant,” reruns of “Zoey 101” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” These shows all had one commonality — pregnancy.

From relationship struggles to tough decisions that I could never imagine having to deal with as an adolescent, “16 and Pregnant” follows the lives of teenagers throughout their pregnancies. Since its inception in 2009, the success from “16 and Pregnant” shot teenagers into stardom with a spinoff series called “Teen Mom.”

It was suddenly much easier to profit off an unwanted pregnancy. It made me think that if I got pregnant as a teenager, I could easily make a living selling my story. Sure, my parents would be livid, but I could call up MTV and use it for dynamic storytelling.

Growing up, these shows made me correlate sex with pregnancy. But at the same time, they also glamourized sex and pregnancy.

I can’t recall an actual episode where a guy stopped foreplay to put on a condom.

“You don’t see it because of the Motion Picture Association of America film rating
system,” Giglio said. “It’s sexism at its worst in Hollywood. But if you show an erection on film, it’s an NC-17.”

I firmly believe humans are creatures of habit. I think if someone sees enough sex in a certain type of light, they’re more willing to copy it.

“Does the media reflect what’s happening in society?” Giglio asked. “Or does society reflect what’s happening in movies? Many think (the education aspect) slows down the scene.”

This could very well explain why much of the time, people don’t want to stop foreplay and put on a condom. It might offer reason as to why casual sex has become so popular.

Giglio added that today, there’s an emptiness to sex in the media. Morality drives the plot, but sex gets you into it — it draws people in.

But the media isn’t the best place to learn new sex moves or how to even practice safe sex. It does offer a door to talk about intercourse, but it shouldn’t be the end of the conversation. The best way to communicate about sex is to have relevant conversation and just walk through it.

Isabella Ong is a sophomore television, radio and film major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. She can be reached on Twitter @isabella_ong.

Published on April 27, 2016 at 8:14 pm