Sexual Content on Television

After reading chapter 8, I became more aware of why I hate MTV. I've always disapproved of this network and everything from its programs, commercials, and music videos. When I was younger and up until the age of 18, my father would block this channel from our television to keep me from tuning in. I would often be upset at this because, of course, that's all you're friends are watching and that's what I had socially learned to be a current representation of pop culture.

I wince now at the fact that I depended on it for entertainment as much as I did. I now cringe whenever I turn and see the demoralizing of youth advertised in an entertaining way to the majority of the youth in this country. I am appreciative that my father was in tune and cared about me enough to want to keep me from being persuaded by this trash. I wish more parents would do the same.

MTV may be a joke to you and I, but it is not one well received by adolescents. All, if not most, of the programs aired are dramatized situations between young adults based around sexual instances, partying, and fighting. This is not including videos aired which are also expressively, if not directly, sexual in content. The growing viewership worries me in that this is the generation that will be leading the next. If television continues to become more liberal in content and holds back more and more in censorship, we should definitely fear for the future of youth. A study by mediawise.org adds these findings:

Sexual Imagery, Violence, Alcohol and Tobacco Portrayal in Music Videos [On MTV]

• In one study 75% of concept music videos (those that told a story) involve sexual imagery and more than half involve violence - usually against women (Pediatrics, 2001).
• An analysis of music videos found that nearly one-fourth of all MTV videos portray overt violence and depict weapon carrying with attractive role models being aggressors in more than 80% of the violent videos (DuRant, 1997).
• One-fourth of all MTV videos contain alcohol or tobacco use (DuRant, 1997).
• A longitudinal study found a positive correlation between TV and music video viewing and alcohol consumption among teens (Robinson, 1998).

If we continue to have negative findings when researching the correlation between television and teen behavior, what will be enough before media responds?