I’ll admit to having a more European point of view when it comes to sexual content. I’m far more concerned about my kids seeing too much violence ( so no way to Halo 4 despite the pleading) than I am about seeing real people make love. That doesn’t mean I think watching porn is okay (in fact I think it gives young men the wrong view about typical bodies and what sex is like), but it means I don’t get my panties in a knot about nudity of sexual innuendos in front of my tweens.
Well there is a new study out there that suggests I may need to tighten up and pay more attention to what my kids are seeing. That sports means movies like Goon or Bad Teacher is off the table.
It turns out that children who watch films with a high sexual content tend to lose their virginity earlier and have more partners, recent research has indicated.
Not only are they more promiscuous, they are also more likely to engage in risky sex by not using condoms(Agh!)
“The six-year study of more than 1,200 teens refers to sexual content in films but campaigners against online porn say it could equally apply to videos on the internet.
They point out that children can now see a lot more sexual imagery online than they ever did at the cinema – meaning that the effect will be magnified. Researchers from Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university in the US, surveyed 684 top-grossing movies from 1998 to 2004, and then coded them for sexual content.Between the ages of ten and 15, the tendency to seek more novel and intense stimulation of all kinds peaks. The wild hormonal surges of adolescence makes judicious thinking a bit more difficult.
Dr O’Hara said that greater exposure to sexual content in movies at a young age actually led to a higher peak in ‘sensation-seeking’ during adolescence.”
So what does that mean for your kids? It means normalizing sexual behaviour early can lead to more promiscuous kids. Sigh. Another parenting thing to be worried about. All of this at a time when I’m just reading the new Psychology Today article that says “don’t hover over your kids, they do better with something called benign neglect”. If you can figure out how to better walk that line then definitely add your two cents below. Maybe we’ll figure it out together.
