This news clip from a media organization called Newsy reports on a study that found that men think about sex approximately 19 times a day, while women think about sex approximately 10 times a day. This contrast an often-heard saying that men think about sex every seven seconds, a much higher number.

discussion

Think about the participants who were used in this study – college-aged men and women. How might age play a role in the results of the study?

In what ways, if any, does the news report deal with the topic of age in relation to the study results?

critique

This news clip generalizes from a research study on college-aged students to speak much more broadly to how often “men” and “women” think about sex. At no point does it take into account that there might be differences across age groups, but rather assumes that the results of 18-22 speaks to how all men and women think and act. This can be seen as an example of media ignoring important differences across the life cycle, among other pertinent characteristics, and speaks to the way that research findings are often simplified and distorted in media.