Not what Rand said

[NatGertler]

Here we go again: right wing think tank The Rand Corporation has concluded that the recent uptick in teenage pregnancy is due to... sexy TV shows. Like GOSSIP GIRL, which, among other things, gives teenage guys the idea that it's cool to sleep around. Teenage guys watch GOSSIP GIRL?

A lot of the coverage of the Rand Corp study on TV and pregnancy has thrown in assumptions our colorful descriptives that aren't there... and the invocation of Gossip Girl is a clear example. Rand didn't actually list the specific shows they were talking about... and if they had, Gossip Girl would not have been included, as that show began after their data-gathering ended. But articles keep mentioning that show.

The study did not say TV caused a recent uptick in teenage pregnancy. They know better than that. The second sentence of their summary notes that "[teen pregnancy] rates have declined since 1991".

As for this being some reflection of Rand's leanings: Rand tends to study what they're hired to study, and they usually do a thorough job of it.

[Dennis]

There are teens who like to have babies. I think everyone knows what a condom is, even young teens. Everyone is on the internet. Some kids are just careless. It's like a kid who holds up a 7-11 for a few bucks - just a kid with no damn sense.

What is this cultural repression actually doing? This culture is increasingly sexual and crass. Look at any message board where young people post, which seems like most message boards. How sexual do you want this culture to be?

[Dennis]

What if some weird time travel conspiracy thingy happened, and Gossip Girl aired on TV in the 1950s. Would that not have an effect on the culture?

Isn't this the way to change the culture in the Middle East? Start building our own schools or provide free internet in Iraq, and show Gossip Girl all day long to the kids. That's how to win culture wars.

[Agent Helix]

I thought Rand just whined and moaned all the time about how mean Moiraine was to him.

[Lord Destiny]

From observing the patterns at my school, there is a fairly reliable commonality regarding teen pregnancy...

...lower income, low to middle academic performance, and their mothers got pregnant early too.

Some kids are simply more sexually active at younger ages. It has nothing to do with TV or anything else. However, a pro-active sexual education program could reduce the pregnancies. (Nothing will reduce the sexual activity.)

The kids who are ready for sex will go have sex. You can't stop it. You can only help to prevent the pregnancy.

And those kids who are not ready for sex are in NO DANGER of having sex. No amount of sex ed or free condoms or oversexed TV shows will rush their progress and get any of those kids laid.

[Buzz Dixon]

Most alcoholics start drinking in their early teens. Does drinking early make them alcoholics? Or do alcoholics discover liquor sooner than non-alcoholics?

I think a similar question could be asked of this survey: Are teens who watch these shows more likely to become pregnant, or are teens who are more likely to become pregnant watching these shows?

[MartinRedmond]

I'm all for contraceptives and sex education being given in highschools. But I don't like entertainment that encourages teenagers to sleep around.

On the other hand, alot of entertainment is wishfulfilment, which can safely satisfy needs and wants from a viewer.

[NatGertler]

Causality is always a hard question to prove... but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't raise the question. Unfortunately, in this censorious world, even raising the question seems to give ammo to those who would curtail freedoms.

(And if teenage boys who watch Gossip Girl are the ones getting girls pregnant, it's because they're watching it with girls, it's the only reason they're watching, while the boys watching Battlestar Galactica are doing so alone.)

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I think a similar question could be asked of this survey: Are teens who watch these shows more likely to become pregnant, or are teens who are more likely to become pregnant watching these shows?

I think teens who are having sex are more likely to get pregnant.

I can honestly say, that having erections led to me having sex, way more than any show, movie or any other form of media ever.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

while the boys watching Battlestar Galactica are doing so alone.)

I get what you're trying to say, but my female housemate loves watching Galactica with me, where my male housemate doesn't.

[Drusilla lives!]

... Isn't this the way to change the culture in the Middle East? Start building our own schools or provide free internet in Iraq, and show Gossip Girl all day long to the kids. That's how to win culture wars.

Let's not do this... let them do it... eventually.

[Paradox]

Lord Destiny takes an odd tack:

The kids who are ready for sex will go have sex.

Part of the problem is that the kids who AREN'T ready for sex often will, too.

[Drusilla lives!]

Part of the problem is that the kids who AREN'T ready for sex often will, too.

Is your avatar blowing flames out of her ass or am I just seeing things???



I guess she was... honestly, I thought I saw some bush as well. I'm not a prude but I think your new one is more appropriate for CBR dude.

[Steven Grant]

Part of the problem is that the kids who AREN'T ready for sex often will, too.

And this is different from any other era in history how?

- Grant

[JCAll]

But I don't like entertainment that encourages teenagers to sleep around.

Yet one more reason to encourage the reemergence of the classic slasher movie.

If teens are being told in one ear that having sex will make them cool and popular while at the same time being told in the other that having sex will get your face cut off by big guys in hockey masks, maybe they'll realize that they're not really being told anything worth listening too and be encouraged to make their own decisions.