TV Sex

Teenagers Christina Hoff, Mary Cloud and Scott Webb say characters in popular TV shows talk about sex a lot. “Yeah, it’s just like ‘Oh she had sex with him one night and then the other night she has sex with him,’ or the other way around, with a guy. And it’s just so promiscuous,” says Cloud. “It doesn’t really shock you anymore,” says Hoff. “When you grow up with it, it’s not as big a deal,” adds Webb.

But some experts like psychologist Dr. Betsy Gard think it is a big deal. “And I think it’s much more prevalent today than it was 20 years ago that, you know, sexuality is just kind of integrated into the programs.”

Researchers from the American Academy of Pediatrics developed a list of shows with sexual content. They found that the 10 percent of kids who watched those shows the most were twice as likely to have sexual intercourse the next year compared to kids who watched the least.

“The idea is ‘Well, gee if everybody in that show is doing it, probably everybody is doing it.’ And I think it overinflates the idea that this is a behavior or activity that everybody is engaging in,” says Dr. Gard.

Hoff thinks so too. “I think for some people they’ll just see it and they’ll just do it because it’s on TV and you know, it’s casual.”

Experts suggest parents watch programs with their kids to get an idea themselves what’s going on. “It’s something that then parents can talk about in terms of what they saw … what they liked, what they didn’t like,” says Dr. Gard. Because, she says, children are much less likely to be influenced by the values they see on tlevision if they know their parents strongly disagree. “Teens and young people do care what their parents think. And they do care what their parents’ feelings are. And if a parent expresses very strong dislike of a program and explains their reasons, that’s going to have an impact on the teen,” says Dr. Gard.

“And I think it’s kind of up to parents or some figure like that to say ‘Well that’s not the way it is, that’s just the way that it is on that TV show,’” says Cloud.

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. Adolescents who viewed more sexual content were more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced non-coital sexual activities. Youths in the top10th 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.

• 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-every-seven television programs includes a portrayal of sexual intercourse.
• Television programs with sexual content have an average of 4.4 scenes containing sexually related material per hour.
• 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 telvision programs by watching television with your teenagers and discussing your own beliefs about sex and the behaviors 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.

• 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.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Medical News Today
Pediatrics
Talk With Your Kids
USA Today