Society develops culture: culture reflects society. People seem to think there is some effort to exert control over individuals this is nonsense. The ONLY way a society can exert control over a culture is to be willing to cut people's heads off if you don't go with the program.
Media reflects the culture as it changes... the media doesn't really control anything unless you happen to be willing to be influenced.
@PowerQuest is correct, people are tribal and are more comfortable when they comport to a tribe, this is especially true for women. But in a modern free market economy, any culture can have sub-cultures, sub-cultures will always exist and go underground when they are repressed. Example, we have had a gay sub-culture since the dawn of man, efforts to suppress this only drives it underground... we don't have more gay people now, it's pretty much the same percentage, the only thing that has changed is societal acceptance.
Look... the human conflict with civilization has been ongoing since humans first discovered agriculture and animal domestication. This is illustrated in the Book of Genesis, with the conflict between Cain and Abel. It was a conflict between society types. Cain represented a culture that is tied to a place: Abel represented freedom... which God favored. But.... humans deviated from nature, opting for agricultural civilization needing dedicated land and use of domesticated animals to that effort... why did this prevail? Simple, agriculture provided a means for societal development and a society will ALWAYS prevail over individualism.
People often wonder why European culture dominated the world (complete with colonization). It had nothing to do with race or racial superiority, Europe just happened to located in a part of the world where mass production of agricultural product and the availability of animals suitable for domestication allowed for the development of civilization... in addition the geography of Europe allowed for the development of multiple cultures which improved with competition with each other. Competition always drives improvement.
We have been dealing with the conflict between individual freedom and a functional civilization for thousands of years. The more freedom humans have, the more unstable society becomes. It really is that simple. The ONLY way civilization works, with individual freedom, is when everyone is okay with what individuals do as long as it does not interfere with others individual freedom. This might be asking too much of human beings since there will always be conflict. Here in the USA, we have conservatives and progressives constantly at odds with each other, BOTH sides claim to be champions of individual freedom, but the truth is neither side gives a sh1t about individual freedom, both sides believe society should comport to their version of society. The side willing to exert their will by force will win, but the win will be temporary because no one can keep up violent repression forever.
Human nature wants freedom: society fights against this. And society always changes over time to comport with human nature until such time that the society becomes so unstable that it fails.
Anyway sorry for the rant... but like the OP said, individuals will always figure out a way to prevail, even if they have to go underground, form black markets and operate. If you don't think there are a lot of atheists in Saudi Arabia you are living in a dream world... they are there, they just go though societal motions, and pray three times a day facing Mecca all the while thinking "This is so fvcking stupid."