CJCS 2 (1) pp. 77–92 Intellect Limited 2010
Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies
Volume 2 Number 1
© 2010 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/cjcs.2.1.77_1
ELKE VAN DAMME
Ghent University and Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO)
Gender and sexual
scripts in popular US
teen series: A study on
the gendered discourses
in One Tree Hill and
Gossip Girl
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
In recent years, research focusing on the representation of youth and sexuality in the
media has gained momentum. The sexual content in programmes can sometimes be
characterized as ‘hypersexual’, and, according to Jacobson, we find such hypersexual
representation in two-thirds of television programmes. Not only do the media offer
teenagers more sexual content than previously, but the nature of the content itself has
changed. Sexual acts are more explicitly depicted or referenced, the teenagers shown
have their first sexual contact at an earlier age, and sexuality is no longer exclusively
part of a committed relationship. We live in a mediated reality, and it is therefore
necessary to study the content of contemporary media programmes directed at teenagers. This article examines the represented gender scripts in two popular US teen
series (One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl) using a qualitative textual film analysis.
gender
sexuality
gender roles
teen series
representation
textual analysis
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Specifically, it focuses on the relation between gender and sexuality. Several stereotypical gender scripts are revealed, although more positive and emancipative
discourses are found as well. A tendency to ‘casualize’ sexuality is noticed, which
pinpoints the possibility that it may be time to reconsider sexual licence in the twenty-first century as part of youth-as-fun instead of youth-as-trouble.
The media industry and media context are global in many ways, also
regarding gender messages.
(Jacobson 2005: 11)
INTRODUCTION
Time and again the mass media, especially television and the Internet, are held
responsible for all kinds of social ills and negative behaviour involving children
and teenagers (Gerbner and Gross 1976; Morgan 2007). Parents, politicians and
academics are most concerned about young people, given that, at the age of
eighteen at least, they spend more time in front of the television and computers
than in any other daily activity (Ralph et al. 1999: 105; Weimann 2000). It could
be said that the media are predominantly present in the everyday lives of teenagers (Osgerby 2004: 6). Concerns about the possible effects and impact of media
content are not new: anxieties have existed since the media came into existence,
and the same tendencies appear whenever a new media type is developed. A
similar kind of fear was expressed about early media such as films and comic
books (Critcher 2006), but new media, like the Internet and game consoles, have
also been studied (Mazzarella 2007). According to several authors (Morgan 2007;
Signorielli 2007; Bindig 2008), television remains the world’s primary storyteller,
which is why this medium has quite possibly become one of the most common
learning environments in the world. The world of television, which shows and
tells us how society is organized and how daily life works, is presented primarily
in the form of highly consistent and repetitive entertainment (Mirzoeff 1998: 1,
6; Morgan 2007). As Buckingham (2003: 3–5) argues, the media do not offer a
translucent window on the world. However, they do shape our view of reality and
offer us tools to interpret our relationships and define our identities. Unlike the
work of cultivation theorists, this article assumes that young viewers do not simply adopt the reality represented on screen as their own. From the point of view of
cultural studies, the role of screen reality is more nuanced and complex. From
this perspective, the media are not the sole distributors of meaning; peers, parents and school are other socialization agents in the lives of teenagers that need
to be taken into account. Moreover, viewers are not passive victims of media
content, but are seen to be media-literate. However, since we live in a mediated
reality, it is necessary to study the content of contemporary media programmes
directed at teenagers. As Bindig states, ‘[…] while it would be ridiculous to think
that viewers imitate exactly what is portrayed in the media that surround them,
it would be similarly naive to believe that the messages of the media are meaningless’ (Bindig 2008: 5). Consequently, youth media can provide a site for teen
identity construction (Bindig 2008: 14), and hence the evaluation of teen television content is absolutely crucial.
Gender and other ideological issues such as class and sexuality are intertwined and cannot be fully separated (Bindig 2008: 21), which is why we will
analyse the gender representations of a group of teenagers in the popular
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Gender and sexual scripts in popular US teen series
US teen series One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl, with specific emphasis on their
relationship with sexuality. Before this, in the next three sections, we briefly
examine the meanings of the key concepts of gender and representation, and
review studies focusing on the representations of teens.
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER
Biological determination assumes that we are born as a man or a woman,
whereas cultural theories affirm that we have to learn our gender identities and
how to be a man or a woman. This article follows a non-essentialist view of
gender, believing that it is through civilization and socialization that a human
being is constructed as feminine or masculine (Lorber 1997: 35; Gunter 1995:
2). Gender is created and recreated out of human interactions and social life,
and forms a major part of the texture and order of that social life (West and
Zimmerman 1987); gender is thus socially constructed and cannot be equated
with biological and physiological differences. A specific set of roles, constructed
by cultural traditions, moral codes, economy and politics (Jacobson 2005: 6) is
attached to a gender identity. These roles are not stable, but rather differ across
time and space (Butler 2006: 91; Nayak and Kehily 2008: 175). Adolescents
develop their personal sexual behaviour according to the gendered scripts their
society advocates. School, parents, peers and the mass media are agencies and
tools that help us along in our gendered world, specifically young people. Gender
is therefore both ascribed and achieved (West and Zimmerman 1987), and is,
according to Butler, ‘[…] an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in
an exterior space through a stylized repetition of acts’ (Butler 2006: 191). Gender is
thus performative (Butler 2006: xv), and, in most societies, it is ranked according to
prestige and power and is therefore unequal. Men are attributed greater worth
and importance than women of the same race and class, even if their activities
are similar or alike (as in the glass-ceiling syndrome). This stratification is not
only reflected and constructed in the media (Lorber 1997: 40–3); the media
‘[…] also contribute to the construction of hegemonic definitions that often
appear to be self-evident […]. Generally, stereotyping in the media context
follows patterns of power by diminishing those with little power and influence’
(Jacobson 2005: 5). When assumptions are made about a person only on the
basis of gender, we speak of gender stereotyping. Female stereotypes follow
themes such as appearance, sexuality, relationships and traditional gender roles
like housekeeping; stereotyping of masculinity is organized around taciturnity,
aggression and violence (Jacobson 2005: 6, 25–6).
REPRESENTATIONS OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
In Media Power and Class Power (1986), Hall calls the ubiquitous visual culture
the ‘machinery of representation’. Representation can be defined as a production of meaning through language: it connects meaning and language to
culture. To give meaning to these representations, we must share the same
conceptual maps and speak the same language (Hall 2003: 15–31).
Representation means using language to say something meaningful
about, or to represent, the world meaningfully, to other people. […]
Because we interpret the world in roughly similar ways, we are able to
build up a shared culture of meanings and thus construct a social world
which we inhabit together.
(Hall 2003: 15–8)
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Although images can bear a close resemblance to the objects to which they
refer, they are still signs that carry meaning, and have to be interpreted (Hall
2003: 18). Media do not reflect or present reality; they interpret and provide a
possible presentation of reality. Media representations of youth, then, are not
straightforward reflections of young people’s culture and lifestyles; ‘instead,
they offer a particular interpretation of youth, constructing images of young
people that are infused by a wealth of social meanings’ (Osgerby 2004: 60).
The construction of a self-identity is a lifelong and dynamic process, and
young people are situated in a crucial phase of that construction process.
Exploring values and beliefs about relationships and sexuality, next to developing a healthy understanding of their own gendered, sexual behaviour, is
at the core of that identity construction, in which media products targeted
to teens may function as virtual toolkits of many different possible identities (Brown et al. 2002: 12; Eyal et al. 2007: 316). Previous research (Brown
et al. 1990; Davis 2004) confirms that television (among other sources) is a
key source for information about gender and sexual and romantic scripts, as
well as for norms about sexual and gender-related behaviour. According to
Buckingham, television functions ‘[…] as a symbolic resource which young
people use in making sense of their experiences in relating to others and in
organizing their daily lives’ (Buckingham 1993:13). Soaps and shows aimed
at a teenage audience can thus extend the repertoire of youthful knowledge
about society and sex. In accordance with Cope-Farrar and Kunkel, we define
the representation of sex in this article
[…] as any depiction of talk or behaviour that involves sexuality, sexual suggestiveness, or sexual activities/relationships. […] To be considered sexual
behaviour, physical actions must imply potential or likely sexual intimacy
between the participants. […] Physical flirting or passionate kissing were
included, depending on the context in which they were presented.
(Cope-Farrar and Kunkel 2002: 63)
THE TEENAGE WORLD ON TELEVISION
Research on representations of youth finds a recurring duality in which a
negative, stereotypical representation refers to youth-as-trouble (youth crime,
violence and sexual licence) and a positive representation refers to youth-asfun (freedom, hope and fun) (Hebdige 1979; Osgerby 2004: 71). Recent studies stress that sexual messages are more abundant in popular programmes
involving teens than they used to be, and that the sexual content itself has
changed as well: characters have their first sexual encounter at a younger age
and these sexual encounters do not necessarily take place within a committed relationship (Buckingham and Bragg 2004). Concerns arise when teenage sexual licence and casual sex, and also the increasing sexual content in
teen television programmes, are seen as troubled (Eyal et al. 2007: 317). One
of the concerns expressed is that today’s sexual portrayals in the media are
‘too explicit’, ‘too much’ and ‘too unrealistic’ for young viewers (Ward et al.
2002: 96). This ‘hypersexual’ media content, as Jacobson (2005) calls it, should
be nuanced, in our opinion. There is, in fact, little or no explicit representation
of sexual intimacy visible in teen series. It is true, however, that explicit sexual
references in talk involving sexual relationships are more evident than before,
as is implied sexual behaviour between characters. Whereas in the 1990s,
series like Dawson’s Creek focused on the romantic and affective aspects of
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Gender and sexual scripts in popular US teen series
relationship (Bindig 2008), it is clear that the sexual aspect has become one of
the core themes of recent teen series. Sexual relationships are often just for
fun (with no serious commitment), which raises the question of whether the
time has come to reconsider sexual licence as part of youth-as-fun instead of
youth-as-trouble, as is conventional (Hebdige 1979).
Scholars mostly focus on young children, and teenagers have received
little attention in the past. For general findings about the portrayals of teenage
boys and girls, we refer to Heintz-Knowles (1995, 2000) and others (it should
be noted that most studies use quantitative content analysis instead of the
qualitative approach we use in this study). Young people in prime-time
programmes are often portrayed in roles in which they cope with problems
involving romance, friendship, popularity and family issues, and many of these
problems are solved without help from adults (cf. super-individuals; Aubrun
and Grady 2000: 8). Indeed, teenagers are more likely to be represented as
autonomous rather than in a mentoring relationship (Heintz-Knowles 2000).
Heintz-Knowles (1995) argues that teenagers in entertainment television
are not motivated or driven by school-related issues, but rather by peer
relationships, sport and hobbies, family, and romance. In television series, young
people who are sexually active rarely take any precautions to protect themselves
against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. More importantly, these
characters seldom experience negative consequences as a result of their sexual
activities (Aubrey 2004), and having sex is suggested as normative if you are in
a committed relationship (Gunter 1995: 5).
When we take a closer look at the findings about female teen characters in
television teen fiction, we notice contradictory findings, on the one hand confirming and on the other confounding gender stereotypes. Female characters
are often portrayed as damaged and wounded stereotypes of teenage girls,
and the way a girl looks is depicted as more important than being intelligent.
Plots involving teenage girls are centred on dating and shopping (Signorielli
2007: 174–5). Female characters at high school typically plan to attend college
and many of them serve as positive role models of independent women who
can solve their own and others’ problems; however, the same programmes
contain many stereotypical messages about relationships, careers and appearance. We see young women rather than men participating in stereotypical
female activities such as grooming and preening, doing the dishes, cooking,
and shopping, and girls are often portrayed as sneaky. The majority of the
girls represented are seen as thin or very thin, and the physical appearance of
more than a quarter of them is acknowledged by other characters (Jacobson
2005: 27–9; Signorielli 2007: 174–75; Nayak and Kehily 2008: 147).
Female characters are often degraded as sexual objects (Bindig 2008: 26)
and depicted as bad when they utter their sexual desires openly. Remarkably,
girls in teen programmes initiate sexual dialogue more than they initiate sex
itself, but when they do, they experience more negative consequences than
boys (Aubrey 2004: 510). Boys, on the other hand, get more consistent media
messages about how to be a man – though stereotypes are found as well.
Teenage boys are often seen drinking and smoking, and are depicted using
physical force more than girls. Male characters often have athletic, muscled bodies, which are highlighted by the clothes they wear. Their physical
appearance is, as opposed to that of female characters, seldom the subject of
discussion. Male characters are portrayed through their abilities and talents,
not their looks (Brown et al. 2002: 3; Signorielli 2007: 174–5). A particularly
worrying aspect in the portrayals has emerged in the context of images of
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sexual behaviour and sex (Gunter 1995; Kellner 1995), in that both sex and
sexuality are depicted in a clichéd and stereotypical way. A boy has sex with
as many girls as he can because a ‘real man’ never says no when the opportunity for sex crosses his path (Brown et al. 2002: 3; Signorielli 2007: 174–5).
This sexual double standard results in boys’ sexuality being encouraged and
rewarded, with male characters portrayed as active choosers or even as predators, contrasting with the passivity, restriction and compliance of female sexuality (Aubrey 2004: 506). ‘The stereotypical media concept of sexuality is built
around the female as the object of desire and the male as active chooser of the
object’ (Jacobson 2005: 14). According to Schor (2004, cited in Bindig 2008: 16)
‘teen media depict a manipulated and gratuitous sexuality, based on unrealistic body images, constraining gender stereotypes and, all too frequently, the
degradation of women’. Studies focusing on gender representations in music
videos confirm the same stereotypes for both men and women (Kaplan 1997).
These portrayals may function as role models for young people and contribute
to their gender-role socialization and identity construction (Gunter 1995: 4).
As Jacobson (2005: 27–9) concludes, masculinity is depicted as superior to
femininity, even in teen series.
LOOKING INTO THE WORLD OF TEEN SERIES:
METHODOLOGY
Textual analyses, which are usually interpretative and thus qualitative, aim
to understand latent meanings. They have been successfully transferred and
incorporated in the area of film studies (Larsen 2002: 117–20). This kind of
film analysis, which is mostly a narrative analysis based on the screenplay,
is an exploration at the level of the content of the representational strategies
used in the audio-visual text, but also includes cinematographic elements,
since gendered media messages are not always verbalized but are still charged
with gender codes and markers (Jacobson 2005: 18). Gender roles linked
with sexual relationships refer to kissing, dating, sexual (suggested) intercourse, safe sex, sexual innuendo and the sexual double standard. Non-sexual
gendered roles refer to the (a-)gendered stereotypes regarding household,
school-related topics, sports, etc. We explored these gendered representations of teenagers by means of a qualitative textual film analysis (Bordwell and
Thompson 1993). Each selected episode was first subdivided into sequences
and then each sequence was studied for spoken language, facial expressions,
body language and framing. Because of the importance of plot and character
development in the series, we first need to clarify the nature of the sample.
Systematically, the first and last episodes and episodes eight and sixteen were
studied for each season examined. For Gossip Girl we also added episodes four
and twelve because this series had only two aired seasons when this study
was carried out, in contrast to the four One Tree Hill seasons examined. This
resulted in a sample of approximately eighteen hours of television fiction, representing sixteen One Tree Hill episodes (the first, eighth, sixteenth and last
episode of every season that was released on DVD before June 2008), and
eleven episodes of Gossip Girl (the first, fourth, eighth, twelfth and sixteenth
episode of season one, and the same for season two, except for the last episode, which had not been aired when this article was being written).
One Tree Hill (hereafter OTH) first aired in the United States on
23 September 2003, and the seventh season is currently showing in America
on the non-paying CW Television Network. The series has been nominated
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Gender and sexual scripts in popular US teen series
for a Teen Choice Award 23 times and won twice,1 a fact that reflects its
importance in popular teen media. It focuses on the life of several teenagers
in Tree Hill, a small but eventful city in North Carolina. The storyline is developed around the high-school basketball team and the different relationships,
whether friendship, romantic or sexual, between the male characters Lucas
and Nathan and their female (girl)friends Peyton, Brooke and Haley. Gossip
Girl (hereafter GG) was first shown on the same CW Television Network, on
19 September 2007, and the third season is being aired at the time of writing.
The series has won eleven awards out of sixteen nominations,2 including the
Teen Choice Award for best breakout show and best television show drama
in 2008, which highlights its popularity amongst teenagers. It tells the story
of several teenagers (and their families), some of whom live on the Upper
East Side of Manhattan, and others who, instead of being escorted around in
a limousine, travel by train from Brooklyn to New York city. These teenagers
are about to make the most vital decision in their young lives – what university to attend – while they experiment with love, sex and drugs. ‘Gossip Girl’
refers to the female voice-over that spreads gossip and rumours about the
main female characters, Blair and Serena, and their male counterparts, Chuck,
Nate and Dan.
1. http://www.imdb.
com/title/tt0368530/
awards. Accessed
30 September 2008.
2. http://www.imdb.
com/title/tt0397442/
awards. Accessed
15 May 2009.
NON-SEXUAL GENDER ROLES IN OTH AND GG
The main female characters in OTH are depicted as (passive) sidekicks to
the main male characters who do things actively. The series is constructed
around basketball, which brings and keeps the community together: the male
teenagers do sports and the girls are cheerleaders. The storylines are built
around the male basketball players and we follow the story through their eyes,
which is a typical example of the male viewpoint (Mulvey 1975). Because of
the female voice-over, this male viewpoint is not consistent in GG, especially
at the beginning of the series when we follow the popularity clash between
Serena and Blair. Boys are looked at as well. Nevertheless, the active/passive
(male/female) dichotomy dominates the storylines, as illustrated by recurring
examples of helpless girls who are saved by strong, heroic boys. In OTH,
Nathan and Lucas run into their high school although there is a shooting
going on, because they want to save Haley and Peyton at all costs. The same
tendency, though less pronounced, is noticed in GG: boys not only save
helpless girls, but sometimes need to be saved as well (e.g. Nate, when he gets
into trouble during an illegal poker game). There are, however, two episodes
in the OTH sample that contain female heroes: in one of them Brooke and
Peyton fight Peyton’s male stalker together (cf. super-individuals; Aubrun and
Grady 2000). The recurring examples of female and male characters achieving
their dreams before graduating and being successful (OTH) or attending their
preferred university (GG) are another element that shows teens as superindividuals. These examples also illustrate the idea of the ‘American dream’,
which everyone can aspire to if they have enough willpower and tenacity. A
rather stereotypical and gendered representation of female ambitions can be
found in the example of Haley (OTH) and her music career. She leaves behind
the community, her husband and her friends for a career as a singer. This
is a representation of emancipation for a female who makes a radical career
choice; in the end, however, she comes back to her family and friends.
Both the male and female characters have eventful lives, but we notice a
distinction in the way they cope with events. Girls often appear crying over
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problems in their relationships; male characters, on the other hand, handle problems in a much more taciturn manner – without emotions. When
Brooke ends her friendship with Peyton, we see them crying and yelling
and they are not afraid to use physical violence. When Nathan tells Lucas
their friendship is over, few words are used and we register a lack of emotion (OTH). Boys are supposed to control their emotions, especially sadness,
while girls are allowed to display them freely. We often see girls giggling
and chatting, and when they feel sad or suffer from premenstrual tension,
they eat away their misery with chocolates and sweets. Boys, on the other
hand, get drunk or look for a one-night stand. According to Brown et al.
(2002: 3), teenage boys are seen drinking and smoking more often than
girls. However, GG shows both groups of teenagers smoking and drinking. The rich teenagers in the series regularly drink champagne and strong
drinks, reflecting their lifestyle.
OTH contains the same female stereotypes as found by Signorielli
(2007: 174–5): girls are shown as damaged (due to their eventful lives),
and looking good is more important than being smart. The character of
Brooke is the perfect example: she fails her calculus exam, takes painkillers for fun and forgets to get petrol. Her biggest concerns are her physical appearance and boys. In GG, physical appearance is also appraised
and is one of the main concerns of the female characters. A girl’s appearance is often addressed by others (cf. Nayak and Kehily 2008), although
being accepted into the best university is considered more important.
Brooke and the other female characters in both series are often dressed
in an extremely feminine and sexual manner (miniskirts, high heels
and showing deep cleavage); Brooke does not look like the average
16- or 17-year-old. Brooke knows that she is beautiful and envied; she is a
typical example of the popular, beautiful and successful teenager who goes
shopping more often than she opens a book (OTH). Male stereotypes are
found as well. Popular male teenagers in both series are muscular and regularly use/abuse their gender-related physical power (cf. Signorielli 2007:
174–5): they are more likely to hurt someone than get hurt. Both series
contain examples of male (teenage) characters not respecting girls’ sexual
boundaries, for example Chuck, who forces himself on Jenny. There are
some examples of female characters fighting as well, although the fighting
itself is clearly gendered (the girls scratch, ruin each other’s clothes and pull
hair; the boys use their fists, aiming at their opponent’s face and stomach).
Time and again, teenage girls see each other as rivals or competitors in
relationships of both friendship and love. It appears that boys and girls cannot
have a friendship with one another without having a sexual or love relationship as well. Blair (GG), for instance, refers to the friendship between Dan
and Vanessa as a problem, especially since Vanessa is beautiful. And indeed
this friendship provokes competition between Vanessa and Serena, Dan’s
current girlfriend. Girls are rivals when it comes to being the most popular at
school, and physical appearance is the most important element in this popularity battle; this highlights once again the importance of physical appearance
for female characters (Nayak and Kehily 2008: 147). Male teenagers in GG
are concerned about their looks as well: they wear designer clothes, which
gives them status. However, they are never shown shopping or busy with
their appearance, but the fact that they always look good illustrates that they
are indeed concerned about it. Most female characters in both series are thin
or very thin (cf. Signorielli 2007), and gender-stereotypical references towards
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diets and eating disorders are made in GG. Blair, for example, is already
skinny when her mother advises her to stick to low-fat yoghurt, whereupon
Blair exclaims that she has already lost two pounds. OTH shows stereotypical
cheerleaders with perfect, slim bodies; the basketball players are stereotypical examples of jocks with athletic bodies; and romantic relationships involve
popular and attractive characters. We can conclude that a person’s physical
appearance is very important for the teenagers in both OTH and GG.
Nayak and Kehily (2008) observe that female characters in general are
often portrayed as sneaky, and the same tendency is noticeable in the two
series examined here, evidenced even in the title of the series GG. In general,
girls are portrayed as persons causing trouble. Three specific examples support this finding: Rachel lies about being pregnant (OTH), Vanessa keeps a
letter Jenny sent to Nathan (GG) and girls reveal secrets to hurt the feelings of
others. GG nuances this negative gender stereotype and connects it to boys as
well, as when Chuck, who plays a dirty game to win Blair’s heart, threatens to
tell Nate about Blair’s and his sexual escapades in the back of his limousine.
Most of the results show a high incidence of stereotypical portrayals of
both female and male teenagers. However, there are a few (positive) nonstereotypical representations as well. First, there is Jake, who runs a singleparent household with his 1-year-old daughter since the mother left after she
gave birth (OTH). Similarly, Rufus takes care of his two teenage children after
their mother leaves because she needs more freedom (GG). Also positive in
both series is the treatment of group identity. We can distinguish two separate
groups of friends at the beginning of both series: the popular group contains
the jocks and cheerleaders who are envied for their status, while the unpopular group consists of brainy teens who are not basketball players or cheerleaders (OTH). Financial status is the main criterion for distinguishing between
groups in GG. This dichotomy between two subcultures (see Hebdige 1979)
is a common theme in high-school teen series, and can even be found in old
teen films like Rebel Without a Cause. Neither group has any positive contact
with the other at the beginning of the first season, but this situation changes
dramatically in the course of the same season. Black and white, girls and
boys, sporty and less sporty, rich and less rich – they all get along. This plot
development is once again a representation of the American dream (Schwarz
1997): the boundaries of class, ethnicity, gender and subcultures are transgressed and a diverse ‘American’ community is developed.
SEXUAL GENDER ROLES IN OTH AND GG
Several authors (e.g. Jacobson 2005; Nayak and Kehily 2008; Bindig 2008) have
concluded that female characters in teen media dramas are often degraded as
sexual objects, and OTH and GG are no exceptions. There are various ways
in which this degradation becomes manifest in our research sample. The simplest manifestation is, of course, visual depiction of the female body. In our
sample, this was found only in OTH, where the camera regularly wanders
over a female character’s figure from head to toe, highlighting her slim, perfect
body. Another means of degradation is in the scheming of female characters,
who regularly use their female curves to get what they want or to intimidate a
boy. Brooke, for instance, shows her underwear to get some painkillers from
a young physiotherapist (OTH); Blair wears a miniskirt revealing her long
legs and underwear so as to drive Chuck crazy (GG). No example of male
characters using their body in similar ways is found in the sample. Female
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characters are also literally objectified. For example, at a basketball game, they
can unknowingly be the real trophy the guys are playing for. This is the case
with both Peyton (OTH) and Dorota (GG). In GG, female bodies and their
sexuality are mentioned as part of the consumer culture (‘goods’ you pay for)
or as a prize to be claimed by boys. During Ivy Week, for instance, the girls
are paid to give male attendants (sexual) pleasure and are mentioned in the
same context as served drinks and food. Blair organizes a scavenger hunt at
the prom for her boyfriend Nate: if he finds Blair before midnight, he can
claim his prize. Chuck adds a bet to the hunt: if Nate does not find her in
time, Chuck himself will collect the prize. We can link this kind of degradation
with the oft-noted active/passive distinction between male and female characters and their sexuality (Mulvey 1975; Jacobson 2005) and the traditional
gender roles in which a woman is supposed to serve her man, including with
her body. Serena, for example, wants to thank her partner Erin properly by
having sex because he agreed to join her at an important charity event. Chuck
abuses his male dominance and physical power when he forces himself on
Jenny. She voices her objections, but Chuck ignores them. In the end, she
is saved by her brother (active, heroic male versus passive, female victim). It
is noteworthy that, in GG, male characters are objectified as well, although
more subtly and less explicitly. Some of the teenage girls use one boy to make
another boy jealous. Georgina, for instance, tries to sleep with Dan – Serena’s
boyfriend – because the two girls are locked in a game of who can hurt the
other more. Sometimes, two teenagers use each other for their own reasons:
Jenny is dating the rich – and gay – Asher in order to climb the social ladder,
whereas Asher is using Jenny to conceal his sexual orientation.
Mostly, boys are easily seduced. This is explicitly stated when Brooke,
showing her breasts to a group of boys in a boat, informs Peyton that men
are so easy (OTH). Even Dan (GG) makes a similar statement: ‘Chuck is still a
man. Be present everywhere, it will drive him crazy’. The sexual double standard (Aubrey 2004) is also evident in both series: a man is always in the mood
for sex and never says no to an opportunity for sex, as when Lucas accepts
Nicki’s offer to go out with him and have sex later that night, even though
they have just met (OTH). In contrast to OTH, GG contains some counterexamples in which male characters decline the opportunity for sex. Dan, for
example, regards sex as precious and does not sleep around with random girls
(GG). Brooke is prepared to understand that Lucas cheated on her because
boys ‘screw girls over’ all the time, but not that Peyton did so, a clear manifestation of different standards for boys and girls (OTH). The double standard that girls who sleep around are ‘slutty’ is actually addressed in the series:
Haley, Peyton, Brooke and Anna agree that they should stop abiding by the
double standards created by men and just be happy (OTH). As this article is
based on a sample of episodes only, it was not possible to investigate whether
their behaviour does indeed change.
In both OTH and GG, having a (sexual) partner is important in the teenagers’ process of identity construction. Especially when a relationship fails,
(male and female) teenagers realize they have lost themselves while giving
their heart to the person they loved. Teenagers think about who they are and
reflect on who they want to be through (sexual) relationships. Love is not
always considered to be negative. On the contrary, it is idealized in certain
situations and portrayed as capable of overcoming and challenging everything. Dan refers to his relationship with Serena as the single greatest time
of his life and says he would do it all over again, even though they have
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broken up (GG). Sex is a normal step in a romantic relationship, and one
that is taken rapidly and sometimes even hastily – without talking it through
with the partner. There are, however, two important exceptions in our sample
of OTH episodes. First, because Haley is afraid to have sex for the first time
and decides to wait until she is married, her partner, Nathan, who has a hard
time accepting her decision, visits porn sites in order to cope with his sexual
frustrations. Later he admits he wants to wait too and to help her overcome
her fear. The second example is the ‘clean teens’, a group of teenagers (mostly
girls) who are against sex before marriage. They, however, are scorned and
considered to be freaks, and the group quietly fades away. The connection
between sexuality and teenagers groping for boundaries, values and norms is
drawn in this subplot. The teenagers are searching for their own sexual identities, and relationships make them reflect about themselves and who or how
they want to be. In GG we find that having sex with your partner gives you a
higher social status, but lying about it is unforgivable and results in the opposite (e.g. Jenny).
The sexual act is often implied in both series, but no overt portrayals of
intercourse occur, probably due to the programming time, the targeted audience, and dominant norms and values. Silverman et al. (1979) found that
sexual behaviour was about to take place or had just happened but was not
visible in prime-time programmes. Passionate kissing and embracing were
the most common acts in our sample, which confirms the results of CopeFarrar and Kunkel (2002). When our attention is drawn to sexual behaviour
(from passionate kissing to sexual intercourse), in both series girls initiate and
decide when it will happen. Serena tells Erin she wants to have sex with him
later that night (GG); Brooke sets the rules of the casual relationship between
Lucas and herself (in OTH), Marvin leaving Rachel behind in a motel room
before they have sex is a counterexample and goes against the sexual double
standard as well). By this means, female sexuality as passive and restricted
(Aubrey 2004: 506) is transformed into a more positive, active and emancipative gender script. However, the aforementioned ‘problem’ of objectification
of the female body and sexuality (performed by both boys and girls) places
this emancipative female gender script in a more negative perspective.
Sexual intercourse is mostly depicted in an unrealistic and idealistic manner, as illustrated by the following two examples. Haley and Nathan have sex
two weeks after she has given birth and when Brooke undresses in front of her
boyfriend he says it is the best day of his life (OTH). One example, from GG,
shows how this idealization of sexual intercourse is broken and the impression is given that sex can destroy the happiness between two characters:
Serena does not want to rush things with Erin since they are doing so well. In
general, sex takes place smoothly and easily and the use of contraceptives is
never mentioned in the series; neither are sexually transmitted diseases. The
only negative consequence connected to sex in our sample is a possible (teen)
pregnancy in OTH. The possible emotional consequences of sexual interaction are rarely addressed in either series, confirming Aubrey’s (2004) findings.
The only such example is found in GG, when Blair feels ashamed that she
has lost her virginity to Chuck – who she is not dating – in the back of his
limousine. This exception can be seen as rather stereotypical in that emotions
are once again connected to females. Sexual interaction is contextualized as a
political statement just once, in GG, in the character of Lexi, who sleeps with
boys on the first date as a blow against male domination. In the light of the
dominant double sexual standard, however, it is questionable whether Lexi’s
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stance achieves the desired result or whether it is instead a confirmation of
the double standard. This is yet another example of the objectification of the
female body and sexuality, and, moreover, one of ‘false’ empowerment.
Generally, the impression is given that the teenagers represented are very
sexually active. This impression is strengthened when we take a closer look at
the recurring examples of casual sex. Peyton desires to have casual sex with
Lucas; Brooke and Felix were once friends ‘with benefits’ (a friend called on
for sex) (OTH); and Chuck has casual sex with numerous girls (GG). The
fun element is very important (it’s just sex) in these kinds of sexual flings (cf.
youth-as-fun versus youth-as-trouble; Hebdige 1979). Both series, however,
also contain several examples of teenagers who do not rush into sexual affairs.
In these cases, sex is portrayed as meaningful, and this can become explicit,
as in one conversation between Dan and Serena (GG). However, the lack of
reference to contraceptives and safe sex in (casual) sexual relationships can be
considered problematic.
Explicit sexual reference in talk between characters is recurrent in both
series. In the OTH sample, it only occurs between female characters. In GG
we notice the same tendency, although Chuck has some sexually coloured
conversations with Blair. Such talk amongst female teenagers may be considered an emancipative gender script in which teenage girls are depicted
as active sexual creatures, instead of passive and compliant. Another positive and emancipative gender script can be found in the sequence in which
the impression of masturbation by a female teenager is given (GG), which
was unique in the research sample. Both series contain several other more
traditional (and stereotypical) gendered discourses. Romantic relationships
involve two popular and attractive characters: physical appearance is very
important for OTH’s teenagers (both girls and boys). We can state the same
for GG’s main characters and add in wealth and status. The same series shows
Chuck as the stereotypical man who is afraid to commit to one woman: he
is in love with Blair but leaves her because he refuses to ‘play husband and
wife’, although this leaves him alone with his heartache and seeking random sexual contacts. Three examples illustrate stereotypical representations
of teenage male fantasies: Nate has a (sexual) relationship with an older married woman; Dan falls in love with a young female teacher (who will be fired
if the school board finds out that they have had a relationship); and Chuck
(who is a minor) has (paid) sex with numerous older women (GG). This last
example of paid sex and a threesome can also be seen as an incorporation of
porn culture into the daily lives of teenagers as well as another example of
‘casualizing’ (paid-for) sex.
CONCLUSION
The above analysis of the series OTH and GG has revealed several stereotypical
gender scripts, although more positive and emancipative discourses regarding
both female and male characters are also found. The findings confirm previous research results but nuance some of them. In general, it seems that GG
contains more diverse gendered representations than OTH. New York (GG)
symbolizes the exuberant and modern way of life with fewer gender stereotypes, while Tree Hill (OTH) equates to the more traditional, gender-stereotypical and patriarchal community, even though paradoxical messages can be
found in both series. The male viewpoint and the corresponding active/passive dichotomy (Mulvey 1975) can be found in both series, though examples
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of the female viewpoint and objectification of boys can also be found in GG.
Boys are portrayed as heroes more often than girls, who are often passive victims who need to be saved. Female characters are depicted as very emotional
creatures who are mostly concerned about their looks, while boys are more
rational, hardly show any emotion, and regularly make use of their physical
force. Teenage girls are repeatedly portrayed as sneaky and causing trouble,
although the boys in GG cause trouble as well. Most female characters in the
series are thin or very thin and their physical appearance is often referred to
by others (cf. Nayak and Kehily 2008).
The analysis of sexual scripts in relation to gender has revealed that female
characters are often degraded as sexual objects in both series, which confirms
the results of previous studies (Jacobson 2005; Nayak and Kehily 2008; Bindig
2008). This degradation and objectification becomes visible in different ways:
girls use their bodies to seduce and intimidate a boy to get something done;
specific female areas like breasts and thighs are highlighted by (subtle) screenshots; and girls can be the real trophy boys play for during a game. Female
characters often objectify their own sexuality and see it as a prize a boy can
claim or as a way to thank him for his efforts. In GG, female characters are
even mentioned as part of the consumer culture and as goods you pay for. It is
worthy of note that in the same series, boys are used and objectified by girls,
although in less explicit and subtler ways. The sexual double standard is also
recognizable in both series: male teenagers who sleep around are depicted as
cool while girls who do the same are portrayed as ‘slutty’ (cf. Aubrey 2004).
Male sexuality is depicted as insatiable, so a real man never says no when
the possibility to have (casual) sex is offered. However, there are a few counterexamples of boys refusing that offer, thereby giving greater value to sexual
interaction. Sex is often implied, but neither the use of contraceptives nor
sexually transmitted diseases is ever mentioned in our sample, which confirms Aubrey’s (2004) findings. The only negative consequence connected to
sex is a possible teen pregnancy, and the emotional consequences of sex are
for the most part non-explored. Although sex is idealized to a great extent, it
is also often minimized. This finding is supported by the regularly recurring
examples of casual, commitment-free sex, where teenagers in the series have
sex just for fun. Hebdige (1979) regards teens’ sexual licence as troubled. In
the light of the findings here, however, this equation may need to be reconsidered. Twenty-first century teenagers and (casual) sex are intermingled in
contemporary teen fiction, where sex has become part of the ‘having fun’ culture amongst teenagers. However, the lack of reference to contraceptives and
safe sex in (casual) sexual relationships, as well as the lack of talk about the
emotional consequences of sexual intercourse, can be considered problematic.
The role of television, however, should not be exaggerated; there are other
socializing influences and agents in the lives of adolescents (Cope-Farrar and
Kunkel 2002: 75).
In both series, when sexual activity takes place, it is decided upon by
female characters, which may be seen as a positive and emancipative gender script. The aforementioned ‘problem’ of objectification of the female body
and sexuality, however, casts this script into a more negative light. Girls often
use sexually suggestive discourse, and this strengthens the impression that
the represented female teenagers are very sexually active. This impression –
of sexually active (male and female) teenagers – increases when we take all
the examples of casual, non-committed sex into account. We can conclude
that, whereas teen fiction in the 1990s (Bindig 2008) focused on the romantic
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and affective aspects of a relationship, OTH and GG are built around sexual
relationships between the main characters. Finally, it can be stated that in the
teen series studied here, sexuality is being ‘casualized’.
Further research focusing on non-heterosexual relationships, on the differences between representations in US and non-US teen series, and on
audience reception would be valuable. It is important that more diverse representations of both male and female teenagers are offered, and that writers and producers present young viewers with fewer stereotypical images and
incorporate positive and more realistic examples of a teenager’s life in series
watched by teenagers. In the words of Douglas, ‘media [is] still are our worst
enemy and our best ally in our ongoing struggle for equality, respect and love’
(1994: 294).
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SUGGESTED CITATION
Damme, E. V. (2010), ‘Gender and sexual scripts in popular US teen series: A
study on the gendered discourses in One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl’, Catalan
Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies 2: 1, pp. 77–92, doi: 10.1386/
cjcs.2.1.77_1
CONTRIBUTOR DETAILS
Elke Van Damme is a Researcher at the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO)
(2008–2012) and a member of the Centre for Cinema and Media Studies
attached to the Department of Communication Studies of Ghent University,
Belgium. Her PhD focuses on how teenagers are depicted in contemporary
Flemish media, with specific emphasis on gender, sexuality and identity, and
the possible interpretations and meanings with which teenage viewers may
invest these depictions.
Contact: Universiteit Gent, Vakgroep Communicatiewetenschappen, Elke Van
Damme, Korte meer 7/11, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
E-mail: [email protected]
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