by Tyler Adams

Created on: September 19, 2008

"Sex sells," as the saying goes. But does it really? More and more, television networks are pushing the envelope when it comes to showing sex on TV. And the reason they are doing it is because they think it's going to get more people to watch. However, when I think about the kinds of things that attract me to a certain movie or TV show, it is never because I'm going to get to see naked people or see two people performing sexual acts. Perhaps I'm naive, but I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way.

While I'm all for free speech and I'm not necessarily saying that television networks should be kept on an extremely tight leash, I do think that there are negative consequences of sex being emphasized in TV shows. For one thing, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, people's attitudes and beliefs are affected by the things that they see being portrayed on TV. I can't really say that if a person watches violent films and TV shows, they are going to eventually commit a mass school shooting, or if a person sees too much sex on TV that they will become sexually depraved, but I think that people's (especially young people's)ideas and beliefs about social norms and relationships are affected. Because I think that a lot of people just sort of assume that the shows we watch and the films we see are inspired by "real life". After all, the ideas for the stories have to come from somewhere right? The place they come from is the writers' imaginations and the view of life that they want to portray. They may use elements from real life, but most of the time they exaggerate these elements for dramatic effect. And since it is human nature to have an innate curiosity about sex, writers and producers are playing and gambling on a primal instinct, hoping that this is what will draw viewers in. But most of us as humans are not mindless drones who are at simply at the mercy of our most basic drives! The entertainment world doesn't give society enough credit. In this modern day and age, we know what we want and we know what we want to see.

There are people out there who really do want to see more sex on TV, and that is fine because that is their prerogative. But the problem that a lot of sex on TV creates is that it influences people's expectations about relationships. A young person may watch a TV show where two people meet for the first time and two seconds later they are in bed together, and that young person may internalize the idea that "this is how relationships work". Or there may be a TV show where it portrays two people who are just friends, but they have casual sex, and they may internalize the thought that "sex is no big deal". Sex in and of itself is not a bad thing at all, it is a healthy, normal part of life. But it has it's place. And the problem is that where and how sex fits into life is a personal matter. It's not something that should be viewed from a universal point of view. Emphasizing the sexual aspects of relationships on TV can leave young people feeling confused about the why's and how's of it all, especially when the why's and how's go against their personal beliefs and how they were brought up.

So, since it is such a personal matter and unique to every single person, that is the reason why I think blatant sex should be left out of TV shows; not because it is inherently dirty or wrong, but because sex should be something that people form their own opinions about how it fits into their life and works for them. Instead of focusing on sex, in my opinion Hollywood would do better to focus more on the things about life that truly are universal, the things that everyone can relate to. Those are the things that will make people watch.

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