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September 10, 2004
It’s big news on
NBC’s TODAY Show. Matt is worried. He is worried about
Katie and her two daughters. Are they watching television? And how
much?
Matt wants Katie to
know. A research study has just proven that the more kids watch “it,”
the more likely kids are to “do it.” Sex, that is. “Katie,” Matt
insists, “this study proves that television can influence teens to
have sex.” Katie barely lets him finish before responding.
“Duh!” she chides.
Matt tries again.
Does she know watching sex can be a negative influence on her two
girls? Katie interrupts him.
"Duh! Like I didn't
know that?”
It’s a lead story
for NBC’s TODAY Show. A very expensive year-long research
study by the Rand Corp. has come to the following conclusion.
“(A)dolescents who watched the most television with sexual content
were twice as likely to initiate sexual intercourse over the next year
as adolescents who watched the least amount of TV with sexual
content.”
“Duh?”
Isn’t this what
right-wing, idiotic, moralistic, radical, in-your-face,
Bible-thumping, puritanical, fundamentalists have been saying for
years? If we could wrangle a fundamentalist to the ground and force
him to quote scripture, he might moralize with a Proverb. Above
all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put
away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your
lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly
before you. (Prov 4:23-25 NIV)
Oh, that we had
heeded their pious, mean-spirited, fear-inducing, prurient advice in
the 1970s and taken steps to control the sexual content of our
culture. Oh, that we would refuse to let shows like Friends
and Sex in the City pander to our children in prime time. Oh,
that we would force MTV to become a pay-for-view station just
like Playboy.
Instead, we wait
thirty years for promiscuous sex to capture the hearts of a generation
of teens, for the number of unwed teen pregnancies to skyrocket, and
for an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases to plague us. Then
we hire a research firm to tell us what got us to this point.
Rebecca Collins is
the lead RAND psychologist who directed the study of nearly 1800 adolescents aged 12
to 17. They were asked about their television viewing habits and
their sexual behavior. One year later they were surveyed again.
The RAND study
results were published in the September issue of “Pediatrics.” Not
only does watching television impact our teens, but according to
Collins, “The impact of television viewing is so large that even a
moderate shift in the sexual content of adolescent TV watching could
have a substantial effect on their sexual behavior.”
In fact the impact
of television is even greater than the average person might suspect.
It makes little difference whether the TV show presents people talking
about sex or engaging in sex. Explaining this, Collins says, “Both
affect adolescents’ perceptions of what is normal sexual behavior and
propels their own sexual behavior.”
Duh!
Methinks I hear
another fundamentalist whispering in my ear. Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. (Phil 4:8 NIV)
“We found that we
could predict whether the kids went from being virgins to having had
sex over the course of that year using the information about which
shows that they watched,” Collins told NBC's Stephanie Stanton.
Duh!
Collins continues,
“It’s not just visuals…it’s the talk about sex, it’s the idea that TV
shows are always talking, and thinking, and acting sexually, and that
that’s what works its way into kids’ consciousness.”
Duh!
To be fair, we owe
Collins a debt of gratitude for putting common sense on the radar
screen for academicians and politicians who run from any hint of
fundamentalist morality, no matter how many centuries those morals
have served mankind. Collins and her colleagues have given parents a
reason to trust their own good judgment and take a stand for the noble
things of life…good clean television, where whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is admirable…those are the things…
we must talk
about…
think about…
and do.
No duh.
Copyright © 2004 Jane Jimenez
FOR MORE ON AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT
April 9, 2004 Dear
Paul
May 7, 2004
Thank You, Janet
See Archives
for past editorials.
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