Like that Doublemint commercial that used to say “Double Your Pleasure,” a new study conducted by RAND and funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development finds teens who watch a lot of sex-themed TV are twice as likely to have sex. Additionally, it was found that 12 year olds who view lots of sexually charged content act like 14 or 15 year olds who view the least amount. That explains the proliferation of Thirteen-like teenagers strutting around the mall looking like 18 year old hookers.
The study fuels the age old argument of whether media causes changes in societal behavior or whether it simply mirrors it. Kids will imitate what they perceive to be cool. Much of what we see in media does make sex cool. Everyone wants to be attractive and to be desired and that yearning for desire usually manifests itself in the form of clothing and actions designed to get that attention. It’s not always that a teen wants physical attention but simply any form of attention and media has instructed kids that looking hot is cool and helps them get what they want. Oh yes, this is blatant generalization but it’s a game of one-upmanship – what can one do that will get one noticed more? It’s like the Guinness Book of World Records. To “win,” the skirts get shorter, the pants get lower, the thongs get higher, the boobs get uncovered and pretty soon everyone’s fucking instead off studying.
It’s impossible to go back but perhaps we are on the cusp of a generational climax in which we collectively reach a peak celebu-media fueled societal climax, retreat in the afterglow, take a few years off to recover, then re-angage thrusting ourselves urgently, helplessly and uncontrollably towards another inevitable, even more intense, cultural climax.
