The Importance Of The Media Influence On Sexual Education

Parents and caregivers have an important role in influencing their adolescent about sexuality. They are the first to teach their children about sexual things such as the proper names for genitals, where babies come from, and their attitudes about behaviors like masturbation can influence if sexuality is something natural or something of which to be ashamed (Crooks & Baur, 2014). Parents are not the only influences children and adolescents have regarding sexuality. Other influences include: siblings, schools, and the media also influence them.
Infants and children express themselves in a sexual manner and how the parent responds to these actions can have a large effect on how the child expresses sexuality as an adult (Crooks & Baur, 2014).

There is a link between early sexual encounters and exposure to sexually explicit content in the media (Agarwal &Dhanasekaran, 2013). Junior and high school is different for teens nowadays than it was for me. The Internet was around, but connection was slow. Television shows had innuendo, but not nearly as blatant about sexual matters as many of the shows have now. A study showed that watching two or more hours of television each day without parental regulation is associated with increased risk of engaging in sexual activity within a year (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2013). I did not watch a lot of television while growing up. It was not because my parents were overly strict about it; it was because I was a very active adolescent. I participated in dance, played volleyball and basketball, had a lawn mowing business, and took care of my grandma. Even though I was so active the media still played a role in developing my view of sexuality. My best friend and I would read Cosmopolitan magazine together and discuss or laugh about what we were learning. I felt like something was wrong with me because the magazines would talk about dating in high school and I knew that no one was interested in me. I believed, again, that this was because of my appearance and I would allow different magazines to influence what I thought about my appearance and why I was sexually