Teenagers can be corrupted by Hollywood

Excerpted from "Teenagers 'can be corrupted' by Hollywood sex scenes," The Telegraph, by Andrew Hough. July 18, 2012--Watching sex scenes in Hollywood films can make children more promiscuous and sexually active from a younger age, a new study has suggested. Psychologists concluded that teenagers exposed to more sex on screen in popular films are likely to have sexual relations with more people and without using condoms. The study, based on nearly 700 popular films, found that watching love scenes could "fundamentally influence" a teenager's personality. The researchers from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire concluded youngsters were more prone to take risks in their future relationships. They also concluded that for every hour of exposure to sexual content on-screen, participants were more than five times more likely to lose their virginity within six years.

"Adolescents who are exposed to more sexual content in movies start having sex at younger ages, have more sexual partners, and are less likely to use condoms with casual sexual partners," said Dr. Ross O'Hara, who led the study. "This study, and its confluence with other work, strongly suggests that parents need to restrict their children from seeing sexual content in movies at young ages." The findings provided a link between exposure to sex on screen and sexual behavior. Participants also said they tried to mimic love scenes they had seen on screen in the real world. The researchers also assessed the sexual content of 684 of the biggest grossing films released between 1998 and 2004. They found some of the most popular films from that time included scenes of a sexual nature, ranging from sexual scenes to heavy kissing. More than a third of G-rated movies were found to contain "sexual content" compared to more than half of PG films and four in five R-rated movies.

Dr. O'Hara said that the combination of sexually explicit films and adolescence had a profound impact on their behavior. He found that the “wild hormonal surges of adolescence” made cautious thinking amongst teenagers more difficult. He said that while more than half of adolescents use movies and the media as their “greatest source of sexual information” many could not differentiate between what they saw on a screen and what they confronted in real life. Dr. O'Hara added: “These movies appear to fundamentally influence their personality through changes in sensation-seeking, which has far-reaching implications for all of their risk-taking behaviors.” Full story can be found here.

CMDA Member and Moral Revolution Board member and “Ask the Doc” blogger Andre' Van Mol, MD: "The longitudinal study of U.S. adolescents by O’Hara, et al., found that higher movie sexual exposure (MSE) predicted, both indirectly and directly, earlier age of sexual debut, more partners, more frequent unprotected intercourse and a rise in the normal increase in teen sensation seeking for both genders. They calculated a five-fold increased risk and found that the risky sexual behavior persisted into adulthood. The authors cited previous work ‘positing that the effect of media on sexual behavior is driven by acquisition and activation of sexual scripts . . . [which] provide behavioral options in social situations.’ No surprises there.

"Be careful little eyes what you see, or as scripture instructs in Ecclesiastes 1:8, '…the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing' and in Matthew 6:22, 'The lamp of the body is the eye…' (ESV, ASV). Exposure is not inert.

"Media relentlessly comes after our children with its ‘sexual script.’ Simple avoidance will not do. Christian parents need to be proactive. Open communication with our children about sex needs to occur early, clearly and often. Explain the dos, hows and whys more than just the don’ts. We shouldn’t assume understanding based on terse answers and must provide a whole-picture approach. God gave us a sex drive, and our job is its management. We can provide God-and-life-affirming scripts through Scripture, a Christian worldview and our own testimony, remembering Revelations 19:10, ‘…For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’ (ESV).

"My wife and I try to limit our children to pre-recorded movies and programming, but when surprised by inappropriate content, I tend to immediately ask my children, ‘What is the director wanting you to believe?’ and follow that with a redirecting question such as ‘What is the truth?’ or ‘What does God think about that?’
"A further resource to consider is Dr. Joe McIlhaney’s book Hooked, which is full of great information and guidance on the topic of casual sex and our children.”

CMDA Ethics Statement: Human Sexuality
U.S. Pediatricians Decry Media's Portrayal of Sex