Discourses of Sexual Morality in Sex and the City and Queer as Folk

disciplinary powers of school, church, and even the family, popular culture may assume increased importance in the regulation and/or production of moral standards. Regular consumption of the standard fare of soap operas, serial dramas, situation comedies, and advertisements provides a kind of cultural and social barometer of the mores of our time (Gauntlett 2 – 13; Rosenkoetter 463– 65; Salwen and Dupagne 545 – 47). With respect to sexual mores, then, programs with explicit sexual content are significant for the attitudes, morals, and standards they portray or implicitly endorse. This view of media is contrary to the ‘‘secularization thesis’’ which says that postmodern moral debates will be matters of personal opinion and that the ‘‘public sphere’’ will not deal with such questions. Rather, as Kenneth Thompson and Anita Sharma argue, ‘‘representations of sexuality in the mass media may lead to an accentuation of public disputes and debates over morals’’ (434). From this perspective, the ‘‘moral paradigms’’ which are portrayed in the mass media become the ‘‘primary context for moral knowledge’’ (Stivers 29). While scholars have noted how popular culture is used to construct ideas about sexuality (e.g., Wilcox; Brown), to make sexual choices (e.g., Keller & Brown), and to promote ideal sexual figures (e.g., Roberts), it is important to consider as well how popular culture provides a framework for ideas about sexual morality. The purpose of this paper is to explore the constructions of sexual morality in two cable television programs: Sex and the City and Queer as