Equipping Teens with Tools To Resist Sexually Explicit Media

Sexually explicit magazines, videos, video games, movies & TV, and Internet Web sites are all easily accessible to both adults and children.  Pornographers are master-marketers and many target children and adolescents. 

• Nine out of ten children aged between eight and sixteen have viewed pornography on the Internet. In most cases, the sex sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. ¹
• Nearly one-third (31%) of 8- to 18-year-olds have a computer in their bedroom, and one in five (20%) have an Internet connection there. ²  

The movie industry, teen magazines, and pornographic Web sites illustrate the proliferation of unhealthy sexual messages, violence, and negative language in the media.

• Of movies released today, 66% are R-rated.³
• The Federal Trade Commission found that 80% of the 44 studied R-rated films were actually being marketed to children under the age of 17. ⁴
• The greatest amount of sexual content in movies occurs as intercourse between unmarried people. ⁵
• Many popular magazines targeting teens, such as People, YM, Maxim, Seventeen, Glamour, Jane and Cosmo give advice about how to decide when to have sex.
• Teen girl magazines commonly devote 2.5 pages of each issue to explicit sexual issues. ⁶
• Up to 85% of teens say that they have read these types of magazines in the last 6 months. ⁷

How are adolescents impacted by sexually explicit media and pornography?

• Teens exposed to NC-17 movies are more likely to have multiple sex partners and sex more frequently.⁸
• The Internet makes it possible for pedophiles and sexual predators to have easy access to children.  It is estimated that 25 million children surf the Internet regularly.  In a national survey of young persons ages 10-17, one in five stated that they had been exposed to unwanted sexual solicitation while online in the past year. ⁹
• Unfortunately, many teen magazines give adolescents incorrect and even dangerous information on “safe sex” practices. 
• If adolescents have incorrect information they may make unhealthy choices.

How can parents better protect adolescents from pornography and equip them with skills to discern the content and message in current media sources?

• Keep the computer or TV in a public area, like the family room or kitchen, as parents need to be able to view what their children are watching.
• Spend time with children & teens watching TV, listening to “their” music, and being on the Internet.  Teach them to be discerning.
• Help children to set “bookmarks” for easy access to safe, fun, and educational sites.
• Show children what to do if they accidentally stumble onto a sexual or violent Internet site.
• Purchase a computer filter that will help prevent exposure to sexual or violent sites.
• Use available resources to learn about the content of movies or videos that children/adolescents want to see.
• Discuss the dangers of the Internet with children, especially concerning chat rooms.
• Set guidelines/rules for children concerning media and why some content is considered “unacceptable” to you as the parent/guardian.
• Enforce guidelines/rules by stating what consequences will result if they choose to go beyond the stated boundaries.

1. London School of Economics, January 2002.

2. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Study, March 2005.

3. The Medical Institute, 2004. Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors.

4. Federal Trade Commission.  “Marketing Violence Entertainment to Children,” Washington D.C., September 2000.

5. The Medical Institute, 2004. Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors.

6. Brow. J. & Witherspoon, E., 2002.  Mass Media and American Adolescents Health.  Journal of Adolescent Health, 31:153-70.

7. The Medical Institute, 2004.  Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors.

8. Ibid.

9. Online Victimization. NCMEC, June 2000.