Violence and sex in the media: Where do we draw the line?

WARNING: May include images disturbing to some audiences.

            In contemporary times, violence and sex has made its way into the media in vast abundance. For an adult, it may seem as though sexy and violent themes in movies and television is simply entertaining, but the repetition of these sexy and violent themes is having a negative impact on children. It is fair to say that media should not be censored, but are we letting our children be negatively impacted by violence and sex in the media?

            During the times of early film, sex and violence was not allowed on the screen because of the Hollywood production code. Sex and violence were simply implied and graphic detail and images were omitted from the screen. In recent times, we have allowed much more sex and violence in the media and on screen in explicit detail. Child psychologist Dr. Debra Kowalski, explains, "With children having so much exposure to the media, the messages that come across are very important and they shape how a child sees the world and what a child sees as important. A lot of the messages related to violence and sexuality can negatively impact a child." There are also current studies being conducted by Michael Suman, coordinator of The Center for Communications Policy at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has done a three year analysis of the effects of violence and sex in the media, on children. He has concluded that Violence depicted repetitiously in the media has three types of negative effects on children. It increases violence because children see people behave violently, and children often imitate what they are seeing on a regular basis. It desensitizes children because they see heinous things in the media, and they become used to passively accepting offensive and crazy behaviors. And the last idea is that it causes children to become fearful because they get the false notion that violence is always happening, and danger is always in inch away. The overabundance of violence and sex is misleading to children, and they start to believe that it is overabundant in the real world as well.

            In the movie Hostel II (2005) three American students who are on a trip, are lured into a European hostel, where they are sold to the highest bidder who's fondest wish is to kill them slowly, in any way they like. The movie depicts violence, sex, sadism, and torture in graphic and bloody detail. This movie is rated R, and a child who is under 17 can see this movie as long as a parent or guardian permits. A problem here is that parents no longer have as much control over what their child is doing, or watching on television. Recently, I saw the movie Hostel was available on On Demand. On Demand is a program for people who have Comcast, and basically, you can watch the content on demand by simply clicking an OK button. If a child wanted to see this movie without their parent or guardian, it would be very easy for them to do so. On television, there is a program called “The First 48”, and it airs on A&E. This show is a real life account of gruesome murders, and details about the violent and vicious acts are elaborate, and disturbing images are inevitable. This show has a disclaimer at the beginning of the episode, warning of the material, but anyone can view this channel and this show. On MTV, there is an extremely popular show entitled “The Jersey Shore”. On this show a group of roommates typically drink a large amount of alcohol, go out to a club, and “smoosh” attractive people they meet along the way. In this show, sex is a common theme, and it seems as though the roommates are usually involved with new sexual encounters every night. MTV is available for anyone who has cable, including children. Sometimes, parents may not be able to monitor what their children watch on TV because they may be at work while their child is at home, or the child may have their own personal TV.

            The uprising of sex and violence in the media is a danger to our children because children are still forming their concept of reality. As children see an overrepresentation of sex and violence, it becomes commonplace in their schema of reality. So where do we draw the line? I don’t think the media should censor itself; instead we should police the little ones, and maybe try our best to change some of our own personal media patterns at home.          

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Fragmented Quotes, . "TV and Film Violence." www.cybercollege.com. Cyber College, 2011. Web. 20 Feb 2012. http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm.

"Key Facts: TV Violence." . The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003. Web. 20 Feb 2012. <http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/Key-Facts-TV-Violence.pdf>.