Televised Violence and Sex

Televised Violence and Sex: What’s so bad about them?

Even today, there still exist a significant number of scholars who deem the banning of violent contents and sexual materials on television as entirely unnecessary. I, on the contrary, believe that violence and sex should be prohibited on television for it affects children’s level of aggression, desensitizes them to violence and fear in the real world, and creates misunderstandings about women’s status and roles in society.

One effect that violent contents and sexual materials have on television viewers is their significant influence on children’s aggressive behavior. There have been several studies conducted in the search for the long-suspected connection between such contents on television and young viewers’ increasing inclinations towards aggression. The years of research shows that only 10 to 20 percent of the total aggression variability of children can be attributed to their exposure to televised violence and sex (Josephson, 1995, p. 42). A 1995 poll on children aged 10 to 16 also showed that children viewers recognize that “what they see on television encourage them to take part in sexuality too soon.. [and] to engage in aggressive behavior more.” More than two-thirds of the respondents of the same age-group also said that they are influenced by what they see on television; and 62 percent said that sex on television and movies influence their peers to have sexual relationships when they are still too young. In an individual scale, the 20 percent composition may seem minimal, but the effective range of this figure is very widespread. This 20 percent of the total variability is present in over two-thirds of all children viewers. Additional to this, long-term studies by Leonard Eron of the University of Illinois have also lead to a conclusion that the more violent the programs children watch are, the more aggressive their behavior, both at the time and ten years later, will be. The fact that violent and...