The Church Report

An Education Your Teen Doesn’t Need

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Melissa Henson

By Melissa Henson

Less than a month ago, convicted child-rapist Roman Polanski was apprehended by authorities in Switzerland. His peers in the entertainment industry were quick to leap to his defense. Some even went so far as to claim that 13 in Hollywood isn’t really 13.

In light of this revelation, what are we to make of reports that an upcoming episode of the CW’s Gossip Girl – which is set in high school – will feature major characters in a ménage à trois?
After all, in Hollywood it would seem, a high-schooler isn’t really a high-schooler. So it shouldn’t surprise us when scriptwriters feature teenaged characters engaging in behaviors heretofore associated primarily with the adult film industry, should it?

Isn’t the idea of a network trying to lure adult viewers with promises of teenagers engaged in a threesome – well, kind of creepy? Haven’t we already heard enough horror stories about children being kidnapped, raped and exploited by perverts and pedophiles that we as a culture should be wary of creating a perception that teenaged children are seducers and sexual adventurers, ready and willing to engage in XXX-rated activities? Do we really need television programs sending the reassuring message to would-be child predators that kids are eager to engage in this kind of behavior?

And if this programming decision is really aimed at kids, are the ramifications any better?

Television is profoundly influential in the lives of children, especially when it comes to sexual decision making. It has even been described as a “sexual super-peer,” signifying television’s power to amplify, many times over, the peer-pressure teens are already feeling to become sexually active.

Television influences behavior by altering a teen’s perception of how many of their peers are sexually active and how much sexual experience they are expected to have. When television portrays attractive, popular teenage characters as sexually advanced, it sends a powerful message to young viewers that there is an expectation that they, too, should be that advanced; and in fact, there might be something wrong with them if they aren’t.

Teens are aware that television influences their behavior. According to one survey, a third of youths 12 and older say the media encourages them to have sex by making it seem like “everybody does it.”

At least half a dozen studies in the past few years have documented a strong correlation between exposure to adult media content as children and early onset of sexual activity among teens. Viewing of sexual media content has even been found to be predictive of teen pregnancy.

As one researcher who has seen these effects first-hand observed, “Children have neither the life experience nor the brain development to fully differentiate between a reality they are moving toward and a fiction meant solely to entertain. Children learn from media, and when they watch media with sexual references and innuendos, our research suggests they are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier in life.”

Gossip Girl routinely depicts teenage characters engaging in promiscuous and consequence-free sexual behavior, and that’s bad enough. But now it has gone too far by establishing a precedent and expectation that teenagers should engage in behaviors that not only increase health risks for those involved, but which are emotionally and psychologically damaging, as well.

Let’s hope the CW’s affiliates come to their senses and refuse to air this episode of Gossip Girl; they'd be doing their teenage viewers, and the parents who care about them, a favor.

Melissa Henson is the Director of Communications and Public Education for the Parents Television Council (www.parentstv.org), a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. Ms. Henson is a noted expert on entertainment industry trends and the impact of entertainment media on children and popular culture. She has worked for the organization for over 10 years and has produced a number of groundbreaking studies that document the levels of graphic sex, violence and profanity on television.