Gen Z: More Than Just Hookups and Heartbreaks

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As someone who identifies with Gen Z, I’ve noticed a concerning trend in the media that portrays us, especially in TV shows and movies, as overly sexualized. It’s almost as if our entire existence is reduced to our flirtations, romantic entanglements, or sexual escapades rather than focusing on the more complex aspects of our lives. Like our intellectual pursuits, emotional growth, or the struggles we face in finding our identities.

This over-saturation of sexualized content doesn’t just affect how others view us. It also shapes how we see ourselves. We’re bombarded with portrayals of people our age, whether male or female, whose most significant traits revolve around their relationships or sexual encounters.

These portrayals don’t just ignore the real issues we care about; they often oversimplify and distort our experiences, making it seem like everything is about dating, hooking up, or being attractive.

The Harm of Over-Sexualizing Gen Z

The problem isn’t just the lack of diversity in how we’re represented. It’s the damaging narrative that it creates.

When TV shows focus almost entirely on the sexual lives of young characters, it implies that our primary concerns are sexual, leaving out the far more complex questions many of us are grappling…