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Since we had been talking about sex and media I looked for an article that proved that sex on tv promoted young teen first times sex. This article says that seeing sexual shows between the ages of 12-14 increases young sex by about 30%. This is crazy. I don't know if kids are just naive or their parents didn't teach them correctly. How many tv shows are violent and have death in them? Lots, and you can't tell me that that they aren't watching that or playing video games that include violence. So if they are watching and playing these games is this to say that it increases violence? I know there are a few studies that do show this but its not quite as highly talked about. I know that parents talk to their children about the violence they see and that the deaths aren't real (or at least my parents did) and it was all about making tv, none of it was real. I don't think that parents have the same little chat with their kids about the sex they see on tv which I think is wrong. They should explain to their children what sex is all about. I know that having that chat is not a fun time, but if they're watching it at an early age, they probably need the talk at an early time.
Sorry guys, I know I'm running behind on putting this up again.
You make a really good point. I remember a few years ago when there was such debate about video games, TV shows, and movies that showed a lot of violence. Some people even tried to blame events like school shootings on the fact that violence is so common in the media.
ReplyDeleteI think sex (or violence) in the media can be somewhat of a good thing if it opens communication between parents and children. Obviously, children should not be exposed to sex/violence if they are too young to handle it or too young to comprehend that this is just television. However, children who are old enough or mature enough may actually benefit from this exposure. For example, when 16&Pregnant first aired, my mom and I would watch some of the shows together. I was already about sixteen when these shows started out, so I already knew about sex, contraceptives, pregnancy, and STDs. However, if I had been a bit younger, it would have been a great way for my mother to lead into a conversation about these subjects.
I think that would be an effective way to keep me informed. I would be able to see the "reality" of teen pregnancy, and then have conversations about that with my mother.
By using the show to open up communication, it would be much more convenient and less awkward than just sitting down at the kitchen table for "the talk". Basically, I think shows that expose some controversial topics can be acceptable in moderation if parents are keeping a close eye on what their child is being exposed to, and if they make sure they are available to have any conversations or answer any questions that come up.
I definitely agree that media exposure plays an influential role in childhood development today. Children growing up are bombarded by the technological advances of todays fast pace world. Even more than ever, media is more readily available to children than it has even been before. For example, my twelve year old sixth grade brother is in a class of 60 students, and probably half of them have iPhones that they can readily use to get on the intent and look up whatever they feel like. Going along with that, media aimed at young children, at least that I have seen at my own home, include subtle sexual references. Preventing exposure to these kind of media sources is a hard thing to do because these sexual innuendos are everywhere. In my own experience, my own parents did not give me the talk and probably still wouldn't to this day. In a case like this, I feel like parents shouldn't just say don't have sex. But, they should explain all the different aspects of sex: why people have sex, the round about age and circumstances the having sexual parents is morally and socially acceptable, the possible consequences of sex, etc. Having parents having a talk like this with their children is important now more than ever because the age young people are having sex decreases and the age of actual exposure to sexual activities.
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