I’d like to make clear that my problem is not that teens have sex and drink alcohol, though I don’t particularly like the thought, it’s something so widespread that nothing you do is going to stop it.
But the way media portrays it in increasingly explicit ways seems to glorify and perpetuate it, and I find that kind of disgusting. I feel like we need to better educate our children of consequences in a better way than we currently are.
There is some dissonance between those two paragraphs. You seem to think there is something we can do and I agree.
It does come down to parenting like mfm says, although I depart from him in wanting to limit their access to certain media. And I don’t think the fact that it’s not 1958 means anything.
I don’t watch much TV (and don’t know what shows you’re referencing) but I’ve been long appalled by what is normalized by many shows that aren’t explicit.
TV isn’t a representative medium. The Parents Television Council seeks to “protect children and families from graphic sex, violence and profanity in the media, because of their proven long-term harmful effects.”