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Sexting...An Offense or Just Offensive?
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| Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 | | CWK Producer |
“Every TV show now has like at least one character who is like a slut.”
– Katie, Age 14
Parents have heard a thousand times that sex is all over the media. And now it's online, too, as teens are sexting... sending nude or suggestive photos by cell phone, which in some states is now a criminal offense. Is the sheer volume of sexual images in the media harming our children? Or is it something else?
Movies like "A Guy Thing" begins with a bachelor (played by Jason Lee) hurrying a woman (Julia Stiles) out of bed after a drunken one-night stand. The scene is typical of how casual sex is portrayed on television and in the movies.
14-year-old Katie says, "Every TV show now has like at least one character who is like a slut."
Lawmakers around the country are deciding if teenage "sexting" – sending nude or sexually suggestive photos online is a serious crime. These provocative, sexual emails can have lasting negative consequences. And in the media, sex seems so casual in the movies and on TV.
The researchers fault Hollywood for showing constant sex –without consequences. Seventeen-year-old Bo says, "You never see abortion in movies or on TV." Alexandria, also 17, says, "Maybe you know they'll break up with their boyfriend, but there's nothing to really tell people that you need to be safe. There's nothing like people getting AIDS, or STDs or something like that."
Researchers say teens watching the movies get a clear message. "Risk is enjoyable, risk is exciting, risk-takers have much more fun in life," says Dr. Ralph DiClemente, an Emory University Professor.
While it's not always easy, experts encourage parents to talk with their kids about relationships, values – and the sexual messages kids get from the media.
DiClemente says, "It would be important to see people wrestling about the decision to engage in sex, and not take sex frivolously."
What We Need To Know
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, about 20 states have enacted or proposed measures that deal with teenage sexters – those who send sexually explicit photos over cell phones. According to the article, surveys have estimated the percentage of teenagers who have engaged in the behavior at anywhere from roughly 4% to 25%. Generally, the state legislation is aimed at treating minors in a more lenient fashion than if they were prosecuted under existing child-pornography or child-exploitation laws, which include the possibility of prison time and sex-offender status.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that portrayals of sex on entertainment television may contribute to precocious adolescent sex. Approximately two-thirds of television programs contain sexual content, and adolescents who viewed more sexual content were more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced non-coital sexual activities. Youths in the top 10th percentile of television sex viewing were twice as likely to have sex as those youths who were in the bottom 10th percentile of viewing.
Adolescence is a key period of sexual exploration and development. This is the time when teens begin to consider which sexual behaviors are enjoyable, moral and appropriate for their age group. Many teens become sexually active during this period; currently, 46 percent of high school students in the United States admit to having had sexual intercourse. Consider the following:
- By ninth grade, 34 percent of teens have had sexual intercourse. By 12th grade, this figure increases to 60 percent.
- On average, teens watch three hours of television every day.
- Watching a program that talked about sex was associated with the same risks as exposure to a program that depicted sexual behavior.
- Approximately one in seven television programs includes a portrayal of sexual intercourse.
- Television programs with sexual content have an average of 4.4 scenes per hour containing sexually related material.
- Youths who watched more depictions of sexual risks or safety were less likely to initiate intercourse.
Watching sex on television predicts and may hasten adolescent sexual initiation. Reducing the amount of sexual content in entertainment programming, reducing adolescent exposure to this content, or increasing references to and depictions of the possible negative consequences of sexual activity could delay when teens embark on sexual activities. A quarter of all sexually active teens will contract a sexually transmitted disease each year. According to 57 percent of adults and 72 percent of teens, the media has given "more attention" to teen pregnancy prevention in recent years.
Remember that as a parent you may be able to reduce the effects of sexual content in the media by watching television with your teenagers and discussing your own beliefs about sex and the behaviors being portrayed. Most parents say they have discussed sex with their teenagers, but far fewer teenagers say they had such talks with their parents. Sixty-nine percent of teens report that it would be "much easier" to postpone sexual activity if they could have "more open, honest conversations" about sex with their parents. In addition:
- About 60 percent of teens have a television in their bedroom. The only way to keep parental control of television viewing is to not let your teen have a television in the bedroom.
- Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier.
- Two-thirds of sexually experienced teens wish they had waited longer to have intercourse.
- Seventy-nine percent of teenage virgins are not embarrassed to tell others they have not had sex.
- Youngsters who receive little parental supervision may have more time and freedom to watch sexually based programming and more opportunities to engage in sexual activity.
