With MTV's Skins, Enough Is Enough
The program, Skins, on MTV is an in your face and very popular British series that depicted the interactions and relationships of high school kids. So are we a little more uptight about these things or is the show bordering on child pornography?
Taco Bell pulled their sponsorship, and thousands of people have worked themselves up to a boil. Even executives at the network themselves are worried about the content, especially a scene in the upcoming third episode where a 17-year-old is shown naked from behind while he runs down the street hiding his erection.
Once we understand the real issues at play here it gets more disgusting and, in my opinion, is clearly a case of reckless child pornography. When MTV producers and directors put children under age 18 in sexually explicit situations for the express viewing of adults over age 18, that is almost the definition of child pornography. I have heard the argument that kids make mistakes and that art imitates life blah, blah, blah. I know that teenagers are going to have sex and that they’re going to make poor choices that will have profound effects on them in their lifetime.
The kids who are acting in Skins are not polished professional actors, they are high school kids themselves being used by TV executives targeting a show for adult viewers' sick obsession with sex. Children engaged and glorifying sex and drug use is not appropriate material for either children or adults. It’s only material for sick adults who themselves engage in lascivious behavior.
Teenagers are going to have sex regardless of whether Skins is on the air. It’s been going on since forever, and it will continue happening forever. MTV has no bearing on the hows and whens of teenage sexual activity, but it does have a responsibility not to break the law in delivering a message. The network has a responsibility to show material realistically and tastefully. The program may have done a great job of developing honest characters, but so are pornstars honest characters.
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