Dear Secret Life of the American Teenager,
this letter will be short.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
I teach 12-14 year olds the benefits of safe sex. Although we do stress that abstinence until you are ready is the best way to go (and that 12, 13 and 14 is a bit young to be having sex), we don't want unprepared kids out there having sex, getting all kinds of nasty STDs and getting knocked up. So, the group I work with takes the smart approach and we teach kids safe practices that they can use later in life.
I get all sorts of questions, and today one of them came from the cutest little girl sitting in the back row: "But if I use a condom, won't it seem like I was planning on having sex? And then people will think I'm a whore."
I was shocked.
"Who told you that?" I asked. She hesitated for a moment and then quietly said, "I saw it on Secret Life of the American Teenager."
The woman whom I teach with was just as shocked as I. Slack jawed, we started at each, and then the class, for about 3 minutes before she was brave enough to say, "What else has this show taught you?"
For the rest of the session, pudgy little hands flew up in the air, each child politely waiting their turn to fill us in on the lessons your show was broadcasting. Most memorably to me was this line:
"If I hadn't had such great sex, Dad would have never died. It's my fault, because I had fantastic sex."
One more time now, for the back row. WTF?!
I have never been so shocked and disgusted in all my life! I understand that there are a lot of people out there who believe teaching abstinence in school is the best approach to sex education (one I disagree with, but I digress...), but your show telling kids that if they use condoms they are "too prepared" or that if they have great sex their father will die is just crossing the line.
How the hell on Earth are you still on air? Are parents really okay with their children watching this show? I would never in a million years want my kids to think having sex is bad, or deadly, or that if they use a condom they are whores because it seems like their are planning it. I would want my kids, and other people's kids as well, to be educated on sex.
I don't even know how to finish this letter. That's how fucking appalled I am.
A Woman Made of Dust
7 comments:
I agree! No freakin way my daughter will be watching that.
(Thanks for visiting coachyourmind... much appreciated).
-Dayne
Scary stuff! Of course, in retrospect, I remember that a lot of the shows I watched growing up weren't any more accurate in the portraying the facts about sex. I suppose Hollywood is just continuing its storied tradition of misinformation, but geez.
You'd think in this day and age they could get it right!
My God thats terrible - I can't believe they show such rubbish to kids. Yes IO agree it is better to wait until you are of legal aid but teaching lies helps no one. Tanks for posting
Kate
You're totally right. After my niece (13) told me about the show and the part about the girl's father dying because she had sex, I checked it out during a marathon they had on ABC Family.
You wouldn't believe some of the things they say on there. It's insanity.
Teaching safe sex to a bunch of teenagers and pre-teens is a smart approach. They will most likely have sex, why not teach them how to protect themselves?
Bad show...bad bad bad show.
God sorry for the spelling in the last post by the way!
Wow -- how can anyone justify airing that crap? Is that really the kind of message we want to send to our children? Thanks for the great post!
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