I strongly belief sexual content on television is having a negative impact on the minds of children and adolescents because children are learning by observing others around them, consequences of dangerous sexual behaviors are scarce in programming, and television harmfully acts as the main information center that deceives innocent children about the real world.
Exposure to sexual television negatively influences adolescents’ sexual attitudes because adolescents see many characters and actors as normal human beings behaving just like the young viewers. Scholars Somers and Tynan assert that the actions of children are caused by viewing slightly older people engaging in similar activities the young viewers engage in (16). The characters are usually just a few years older, so they are illustrated as good role models to many young television viewers. If young viewers see their role models on television engaging in sex, eventually, the viewers will want to be involved in the same activity. This role modeling effect is valid and a reason to highlight because adolescents are highly imitative. Children do not learn ideas on their own. Instead, they seek out different resources, like television, for knowledge and advice. To add to that, Bleakley et al. claim that this imitation can be referred to as the Social Cognitive Theory that proposes teenagers who view characters on television having a good time while engaging in sex will have a higher chance of copying the actions of the characters (444). Teenagers learn by mocking the behaviors they see. In order to clarify, if characters on sexual programs like Sex and the City and That 70s Show do not use condoms during casual sex, the young imitators will look up to their favorite characters and view sex as a safe, inconsequential behavior. Hence, this imitative lifestyle of children makes parenting a difficult task. Without the proper guidance from responsible adults watching with their children, television programming manipulates children into thinking characters on television represent real people in the real world. In reality, children are observing actors who receive paychecks to behave artificially in a make-believe world. Many programs do not distinguish or differentiate the real world and the artificial world within the shows. In other words, the children do not fully understand what they are viewing because they are not media literate.
Similarly, it is important to realize that sexual content not only portrays sexually active, imitative actors, but the programming also dangerously and harmfully portrays the idea that sex is a wonderful source of safe, casual fun that has no consequences. Rebecca Collins et al. assert that the viewing of sexual content can influence children’s ideas of what is considered standard and customary in society. Television manipulates children into thinking having sex is one of the most important activities in life, a fact which can trigger sexual intercourse at younger ages (281). The truth is that sex sells. The sex industry is a billion dollar industry mainly because of its media content that reinforces positive images about casual sex. Television is an uncertain medium that avoids informing about the dangers of exhibiting risky behaviors. According to researchers Escobar-Chaves et al., children who view a massive amount of television will form most of their values and ideas around a make-believe life and less around real world experiences. This belief demonstrates and illuminates the Cultivation Theory (304). To stress, this idea is important because television programming illustrates sex as a phenomenon that is important to everyday life by portraying sex as an essential passageway from childhood to adulthood. Consequently, the television is dangerously acting as the portal or passageway into society. Many programs do not make distinctions between what is real and what is made-up, a fact that is misperceiving many young adults about the realities of life and the realities of the world and its people.
Doubtlessly, adolescents watch significant amounts of sexual television daily, and this repetition of sexual viewing is negatively informing teens’ undeveloped, immature minds. According to scholars Escobar-Chaves et al. and the Media Practice Model, many children find ideas, values, and behaviors in television very helpful in creating their identities and making important decisions (304). This media model matters because for most teenagers, most of the information, beliefs, and attitudes about sex come from the mass media, especially television. According to the University of Michigan Health System, nearly seven out of ten programs that children and teenagers most commonly view have images or dialogue of sex. Moreover, there is two times the amount of sexual content on television today than the amount of sexual content twelve years ago (Boyse). Parents who do not monitor their kids’ viewing habits let children have more freedom and choices in what they expose themselves to. This lack of parenting is dangerous because popular culture in the mass media can be far better educators of children than teachers, parents, and peers can. In fact, according to Deborah A. Fisher et al., research scientists from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, assert that about two out of five children in the U.S. believe that the sexual content on television is a good representation of actual life and the people in real life (530). Today, children are making choices in the real world based on what they view from television. If television programming does not inform about the negatives of sex, as a consequence, expect teen pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted disease rates to increase, and expect a dull-downed, uninformed young audience in the future.
Not only does sexual television programming negatively influence children, but sexual advertising detrimentally impacts adolescents as well. Sexual appeal is a common advertising technique used by advertisers because they know one fact: sex appeal works. This kind of appeal works great with television because television is a highly visual medium. Sex would be harder to appeal to a radio audience, for example. Escobar-Chaves et al. state that commercials are powerful. Although, adolescents nowadays are more media literate than in the past and can pick out the simplistic messages about sexual behavior. As a result, many advertisers are turning to unorthodox methods like buzz advertising to reach younger audiences (305). It is critical to understand that sexual content does not have to have a direct, conscious impact on teens’ sexual attitudes; advertising is using sex appeal on the subconscious level when young people do not even realize what is happening around them. Advertisers are always looking for ways to make money, but the advertisers cannot control who views their messages, especially when the viewers are children. To recapitulate, advertising is used in television as a persuasion and information device, a fact which is affecting where adolescents are getting their knowledge about sex.
Indubitably, sex on television has increasingly shown up in programming geared toward younger audiences in ways that teach viewers that sex is a positive, acceptable behavior in society that warrants no negative attributes. Strikingly, Escobar-Chaves et al. respond that the dangers of sex and information about the harmful effects of this activity are only present in about one out of every 100 programs that portray sexual imagery (311). Television is a window to the exterior world for many children who are at the most critical stages in their lives. Sexual messages are being incorporated and established in the young brains of children, a fact that influences adolescence. Adolescence includes years of temptation, trial, development, and gaining experience. When adolescents view sexual content on television, they are viewing peers taking part in a healthy, enjoyable, completely safe casual sex that is cool and pleasurable. To amplify, Rebecca Collins et al. assert the statistic that approximately just 14% of all sexual television programming contains themes of appropriate, acceptable sexual behavior (281). Not only credible, but this statistic is highly valuable because many sexual messages convey the feeling that nothing can go wrong with unprotected sex before marriage with multiple partners. Therefore, it is important to start media literacy at a young age. This media literacy starts with parents telling their teenagers which behaviors are acceptable and which behaviors are not because television is definitely not going to be a parent any time soon.
In addition, sexual content on television attracts and destructively affects younger audiences because much of this programming contains core values of typical teenagers and many shows portray lifestyles of young people. Fisher et al. found that half of the programs that typical teenagers watch, like The Simpsons and King of the Hill, contain acts of sex, and three quarters of admired programs contain some sort of dialogue about sex (549). Sexual content is potentially dangerous to the minds of children because the massive amount of sexual content can impact children’s views to what is considered healthy and normal. The quantity of sexual content has increased significantly since the advent of television in the 1950s, especially in the last two decades. In fact, researchers Rebecca L. Collins et al. declare that sex shows up in almost two-thirds of all shows with a mean of about four to five sights of sex every sixty minutes (281). This redundancy of sexual imagery really drives home the message into adolescents’ intellect causing them to think that sex has much more meaning than everyday life does. The repetition of sex gives the misperception that sex will help children develop every day, a fact causing adolescents to experience sex at younger ages than in the past.
Assuredly, exposure to sexual content on television can potentially form children’s sexual attitudes because this medium is the main way naive, innocent children learn about the real world and certain acceptable actions or behaviors (good or bad). Bleakley et al. reason that young people do not have the direct knowledge and understanding of the concepts of sex, so many of them discover and draw conclusions about the topic of sex from different media. Bleakley et al. argue that since content on television can impact the values and feelings of adolescents, then the sexual content can impact on whether or not adolescents participate in sexual activities (445). Bleakley et al. make a valid point because if children do not have any positive or negative attitudes about sexual behavior, then they are more vulnerable to television messages. Subsequently, if parents do not teach their young ones which behaviors are acceptable and which are not, adolescents will have to make their own judgments by forming their views around what the programming portrays.
Some researchers such as Escobar-Chaves et al. reason that television acts as a “Super Peer” where television is the dominant place for teenagers to go to find information about the outside world and about habitual activities. The Super-Peer Theory argues that television has a commanding control on teaching and molding young people over the influences of friends, family, and schools (305). The Super-Peer Theory is significant to comprehend because there is more sexual content on television than ever before. Therefore, if children are exposing themselves to more and more television, they run the risk of developing attitudes about sex that are not appropriate to society. In conclusion, a loss of innocence is occurring much faster for children today than ever before because children do not have the resources to distinguish what is morally right and what is undesirable or objectionable.
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