Some Slant with Sex

Some Slant with Sex

This essay was much easier than the last essay one we had to do, however I still found it to be difficult. The only part that I enjoyed was that we got to choose what type of article we wanted to do. In my mind I thought it would be easy to just go out and find an article, however, I was wrong. I read maybe 6 or 7 articles and not one that I found had enough slant or bias in it for me to try and write a 6 page paper. After hearing one of the articles that we read in class it gave me an idea of a topic that I had heard of last year. I knew it was on either "Dateline" or "60 Minute's" so I went searching. I really liked my article because I had my own opinion on the subject so I found it was interesting to see some one else's point of view.

One part of the essay that I found to be extremely hard was to try and leave the article out and write mostly about language. This time the peer editing ground helped because I noticed how much of the article I was using, and also of the amount of topic sentences that I had that had nothing to do with language in and of itself. However, now after revising I believe what I have about the article is necessary in describing language. I used a lot of quotes for my article to describe exactly what I was trying to come across.

This essay was more complicated then I had originally thought. I really had to know what I was talking about in the essay so that the reader didn't get lost into what I was trying to explain. I tried to include all of the definitions to give the reader more info into my paper and I also tried to use my own examples to break down some of the more complicated definitions. Finding the charged words and all of the slant and bias was hard. I didn't expect to read my article over and over again as much as I did. The only parts that I really am unsure of are some of my own opinions of what some sentences are. For example, when I talked about fallacies I wasn't exactly sure if they fit with the fallacies that I stuck them with, however, they fit with the definitions that I was given. I feel confident that my essay is up to your standards. I went over the essay topic paper to make sure I included all of the topics you wanted covered and I also tried to make my thesis clearly defined. I worked extremely hard on this paper and I am hoping you can tell by my work.

According to Birk and Birk, "slant may be defined as the process of selecting (1) knowledge-factual and attitudinal (2) words; and (3) emphasis, to achieve the intention of the communicator"(399). In other words, using what you may know to try and get your point of view believed or to have influence on another person. Also, according to the writings of Postman and Powers bias is almost a question of "what do viewers have to know about language and pictures in order to be properly armed to defend themselves against the seductions of eloquence"(416). Language and pictures can have a huge affect on what people come to believe about a certain issue. Pictures for example speak only of particulars. They only show a thing or image, not all of the other things or images surrounding it. Both slant and bias have huge impacts to make people believe the things that they do. There is no such thing as no slant. It makes one wonder if everything people hear or see is the truth. This edition of 60 Minutes is balanced in slant on the subject of abstinence until marriage or the teaching of safe sex. This edition views both sides to get the audience to know what's going on and to give each individual their own right to choose what's best for them. Each side takes a stand and has its own chance to refute what is being said. To the reader it may look like the virginity pledge is a good idea, but all of the other facts may lead viewers to have a different opinion on the topic at hand. It's up to Bradley to work as a middle man to put the pieces together from Mr.Pattyn and Mr. Bearman standpoints.

Sex, is it good or evil until marriage? Sex is something that millions of people in the United States do everyday for pleasure, or the showing of emotion and love. In the United States the government has spent over $1 billion dollars to persuade young people that the only safe form of sex is within marriage, and that condoms are not as effective as people think. The argument that I am about to discuss uses the either/or argument. Many people believe that people should either teach safe sex or abstinence. Millions have taken the "pledge" to hold off on sex until they are married. However, what's right? Is it right only being informed on abstinence or should safe sex be stressed if sexual tendencies are around? Many are baffled at what to teach their children and in the 60 Minute edition called "The Pledge" they discuss the facts of sex and how it should be addressed. Ed Bradley, the news anchor, interviews the founder of "Silver Ring Thing," Denny Pattyn who believes sex should only be within marriage. Bradley also interviews Peter Bearman who says safe sex is necessary for people's safety.

Slant and bias in this article start off right away. Looking now at both sides of the article one can decide for ones self which is right. For example, starting off with the issue of virginity, Mr. Pattyn says "Our goal is to create a culture shift in America. We want to see the concept of abstinence be the norm rather than the exception" (3). Mr. Pattyn believes that if people give their children a condom and say "I want you to abstain for sex, but if you chose to do it, here is a condom," is sending kids mixed messages. He talks about how people have been deceived to believe that people can "have their cake and eat it too," which means having safe sex, is just not true. Pattyn says if that were true then people wouldn't be dying from sexually transmitted diseases. Mr. Bearman tries to balance out that statement in saying that " sexual education doesn't cause all of these negative outcomes, what causes these outcomes is kids who are having sex and not protecting themselves" (5). Bearmen says:

They've been taught that condoms don't work. They're fearful of them. They don't know how to use them. Their peers don't use them. They have no experience with them. They don't know how to get them. They're hard to get access to. For whatever reason they don't use them, that has long term consequences.... Adolescents who take virginity pledges, who remain virgins, that is who don't have vaginal sex, who technically remain virgins, are much more