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Sexually Charged TV Might Raise Risk of Teen Pregnancy

You are busy watching your favorite romcom. The sexually-intensive jokes, the double innuendos, and the carefree take on sex may seem rib ticklingly funny to you, but you may want to tone it down a bit or switch channels altogether while watching steamy scenes and sex offensive jokes when your teen is around. Why? Not just because it might be a tad uncomfortable for you as a parent to enjoy these adult scenes with your children, but according to a new study published in a medical journal, watching such promiscuous behavior regularly can leave a distinctly negative impact on your teen.

Teenage, as most adults know, can be a difficult time, especially in terms of understanding the bodily changes and also conforming to undue peer pressure. Often, sex happens to be a subject of concern and coolness quotient for kids with raging hormones. Watching the cute and bubbly Sarah Michelle Gellar or the beautiful Megan Fox playing young, coquettish high school girls, who use their feline charms to attract men, may seem innocuous and plain entertaining for an adult. However, for an impressionable mind, such as your teenage daughter, it is a confirmed license to such behavior.

Losing virginity becomes the gate pass to enter the hip group in school. But, what they don’t realize or understand is that irresponsible sex can have consequences, such as unwanted pregnancy. Changing boyfriends or girlfriends is portrayed as “cool” on television today. Safe sex, consequences, substance abuse all takes a backseat in the race to snatch some TRPs.

Many teenage girls who regularly download much of these convoluted messages from television are more prone to indulging in risky behavior and ending up pregnant as oppose to those girls who don’t watch any or less sexually charged shows. Although, the relation between watching and performing is not so simple or direct, what the study intends to showcase is that constant exposure to anything negative can have an impact on your child on a subconscious level. In other words, he or she may not immediately jump the gun just because they happen to see their favorite movie star doing it on television, but over a period of time, the more they are subjected to such ideas and behavior, more the chances of them ultimately doing it.

This is not to say that controlling the TV remote will help matters. Your teenager also has access to resources such as the Internet. Therefore, the risk still exists. What you as a parent can do is to set examples. Guide them on what is acceptable and what can be problematic. Do not impose or be authoritative. Remember your own rebellious days? Curbing only adds fire to the fuel.

Do not hesitate to teach your kids about safe sex and contraception. If you find this daunting or embarrassing, then enroll in a sex education class with your child. The idea is to empower your child with the right knowledge to avoid the pitfalls of ignorance and pressure.

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