If you have a pulse,
you know by now that the halftime show at this year's Super
Bowl launched an avalanche of public complaints, prompted
hearings by the FCC, and triggered multiple legislative
proposals to curb TV indecency. How could an incident that
lasted two seconds spark such a reaction? The reason is
that the "wardrobe malfunction" coalesced three
major cultural tornadoes into one "perfect storm."
The first issue whipping people into a frenzy is parents'
growing concern that the media's portrayal of sex as recreation
has a big effect on their kids. The reactions of parents
and non-parents to the halftime show were quite different.
A lot of people without kids wondered what the big deal
was. Most parents, on the other hand, got a rare glimpse
at what teens watch all the time - content that is highly
sexually charged - and were astounded. Parents worry about
the attitudes and values their kids pick up from TV. That's
why our surveys at the National Institute on Media and the
Family show that almost four out of five parents worry that
media portrayals of recreational sex shape their kids' attitudes
and values.
The second force at work in this national controversy is
television's determination to push the limits on sexual
content. Almost two out of three programs now contain sexual
content. The percentage is even higher for the shows that
are most popular with teens. Eighty-four percent of those
shows have depictions of sex or dialog about sex. Music
videos regularly pair sex with violence.
The third phenomenon is the invasion of explicit sexual
content into prime time broadcast TV. The Super Bowl is
arguably the family TV event of the year. It is the one
program that programmers and advertisers expect literally
everyone to watch. This year's combination of the sexually
oriented commercials and the sexually provocative halftime
show had parents squirming all night. And then, it happened.
Justin Timberlake ripped Janet Jackson's shirt off in a
mock assault and exposed her breast. Those two seconds were
symbolic of everything parents were worried about and became
the outlet for the frustration that has been building for
years.
Is the worry legitimate? Yes. Nobody really disputes that
media depictions affect attitudes and behavior. A recent
study found that teens who watch sexually oriented music
videos are more likely to consider sex a reasonable recreational
activity than teens who don't. After all, if we believe
Sesame Street taught our four-year-old something then we'd
better believe MTV (producers of the halftime show) teaches
our fourteen-year-old something. The 2004 Super Bowl taught
us all that parents aren't willing to cede their kids' sexual
education to advertisers desperate to make a buck and unimaginative
programmers who rely on shock value. Let's hope Hollywood
and Madison Avenue take the hint.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediafamily.org).
His next book, Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide
to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen will be
released this summer.
