What Is The Media Telling Our Kids?
here has always been adult content in the forms of the radio and in movies, but I know never to the degree of what it is now. I remember being a kid and sneaking and watch Jason movies. Wow, how times have changed.
There are a lot of people out there that say that you should monitor your children and that you as the parent are responsible for what your child see’s or hears. Ummmm….well, I can agree with some of that but when every time you turn around you are hearing about sex and pulling condoms from a drawer, look on television and see young people acting like retarded animals or cartoons like Family Guy on, you wonder what exactly as a parent you are supposed to do? If I did ever figure out how to program my television to prevent the kids from seeing certain things, then I probably would never be able to watch anything myself.
And let’s face it, even if you spent your life sheltering your child from all that’s on the radio and television, isn’t it highly likely that they are going to go to school and be clued in there? So while as a parent your job is to raise your own children, teach them values and do your best to protect them from vulgar and overly exploitative material, aren’t our children inevitably going to be exposed to the world around them and be sucked into at least some of it? Where is the responsibility of society and the world when it comes to the messages that it’s sending to our young people? Parent’s cannot do it alone.
I know I grew up with Madonna and Janet Jackson who were definitely used sexuality in their performances. But Madonna in herself, wasn’t that sexual in my opinion. She was more like a stick with a boostea trying to spit on status quo and religion. And while Janet did occasionally show some cleavage and go dancing down a beach or something, it wasn’t overtly sexual or showing her crotch all up in the camera.
I get that pop stars now like Rihanna and Katie Perry feel they have to push the envelope and go further than they have before to be different and show people something they have never seen, but where will it all end? It’s no wonder Miley felt the need as only a teenager to use a stripper pole in her performance. It was definitely something that had never been done before at such an early age. I get that expressing yourself in a sexual way as a young girl is a natural part of growing up, but how easy is it for them to get stuck in that box where they soon forget about anything else that they also are? Are our female pop singers really just turning into strippers now with decent voices? Is the radio just a place for all the guys out there to express how much they think about sex and just want to get laid? Seriously.
I’m not sure where all of this going, who will stop it, if it can be stopped or what it’s going to mean for our future population and what they feel the need to do to fit in or be accepted? While some other countries don’t look at sex as so taboo or controversial like we in the U.S. seem to, when it is shown or talked about there it’s not meant to prove a point or push some type of envelope in such distasteful ways. I think our whole view in this country of sex, what it means and the role it plays in our lives is warped. It’s all been pushed down our throats for the mighty dollar and what it means for our kids who are still learning and growing about themselves and their place in the world, I’m not quite sure.