Let's Talk About Sex

This week’s reading provided me some interesting statistics that I had never known before. I especially liked the charts that the author gave along with her research. The charts gave me clear images of the statistics which made it easier to understand all this information. Some things I found interesting was that levels of implied intercourse was a lot higher than actual intercourse on television. I feel this would lead any young viewer to believe just because an actor is talking about it means they are indeed doing it. It pointed out to me where some young teens could be influenced by these types of shows. It was also interesting to see levels of sex talk and intercourse on these shows decreased over time. I am not sure why this happened, but I feel it may have to do with the FFC becoming stricter. I was surprised to see unmarried intercourse was at its peak in the 1980s and then dramatically decreased over the years. I would have assumed it would have been at its peak in the 2000s because it has become increasingly popular for couples to live with each other and have children out of wedlock as the years have gone on.

I really like all the information provided from this study but. if it were more up to date the statistics would be greatly different now. One area I think would have the biggest change would be the levels of explicit intercourse. These days I do not believe it is such a “rare sight” as the author had mentioned. Show like Skins is a perfect example of this. These actors are also portraying young teenagers in high school which makes their explicit actions even more outlandish. Aside from non-fiction shows, there are so many more reality shows on air now than there were in 2004 that would prove these statistics wrong. When it comes to the topic of sexual content on TV I am neither for nor against it. I believe it is a parent’s job to decide what is suitable for their child to be watching. Sheltering a child is not the route to go either but, I do feel it is necessary to expose them to more forward TV shows when they are at an appropriate age. I recall hearing sexual words on TV that I didn’t know the meaning of and sat back and watched my family laugh while I was out of the loop. If I would have asked my parents what those words meant I’m sure my TV privileges would have be monitored more closely. Ultimately, I enjoyed this week’s reading and found a lot of my assumptions about sexual content on TV in previous years were very wrong!