Bring Back Shame and Prudery (Vanity)

Vanity ^ | 2-6-2004 | Me, Judith Anne

[Judith Anne]

Can people's behavior be changed? Can their expectations of consequences for lewdness be awakened? Most of us don't go around flashing breasts, bumping and grinding, tearing off clothes, or singing sexually aggressive songs...

I'm not a kid anymore...I do feel sorry for little girls and boys today, they have an entire industry battering their brains with soft porn before they even get a chance to learn algebra...no wonder they don't have their minds on their schoolwork...

The blurring of the line between innocent youth and responsible adulthood occurs much much lower on the age scale now...didn't used to be that way. The natural modesty of a child, male or female, is constantly assaulted, not just by a half-time show, but by television, all the time. Kids don't need to see ads about erectile dysfunction, about treatments for Herpes, about feminine hygiene products, about movies whose theme is rape or pregnancy out of wedlock.

Can we change this? Make MTV a PPV channel, for instance (thanks to the FReeper who suggested it? Any ideas?

How do FReepers feel about this? I'd like to know, and my flame suit is ON.

[Judith Anne]

Okay, we've had some time to think about it and talk it over. I'd like to bring all viewpoints together here on this thread, if we can. I know it's bad luck to say, "please be civil," but please--be civil. Thanks! ;-D

[sarasota]

Since this episode I have been very sensitive to all the sexual innuendo across the board on network television. Oprah was talking to a couple yesterday who had a bedroom renovation and she said to them, "Now are you having more sex since this took place; that's what we really want to know." Sheesh.

[narby]

There needs to be an explicit "opt in" for all television channels, both cable and broadcast. If you don't select it somehow, you never see it. Not the even the menu on the cable menu.

I this could even be done on broadcast channels like CBS, if they made a provision in the remote control sequence.

They made the "V" chip a requirement, this could be an extention of it.

[Judith Anne]

I emailed the chairman of the FCC and asked him to take strong action on this violation of public decency by the Halftime show. Standards apparently DO exist, but are enforced, apparently, more in the breach than the observance. I also emailed McDonald's.

[Judith Anne]

I don't think you're the only one who's sensitized. I'm sick of titles like "Queer Eye" too.

[Integrityrocks]

I have already disconnected my cable TV as of last Fall. Where I live (Juneau, Alaska) you don't get any TV at all, unless you get cable. So, I don't even get the mainstream media without cable. Now, I'm even getting more and more selective about the movies I'll rent to watch, because the content is offending me (even without kids in the house). Once you disconnect yourself with the bombardment of "acceptable TV", your awareness level raises dramatically at what is offensive. I ache for the people still raising young children... I raised two sons on my own and I didn't have to deal with this issue.

[Judith Anne]

I agree. For my basic DirecTV package, I'm FORCED to support MTV because I can't opt out of it. I did recently cancel all the alphabet networks--I don't watch them, but had them on a "just in case there's something I want to see" basis. No more. And I told DirecTV why, too. And complained about being forced to support MTV.

[Scenic Sounds]

Thank you for posting this, Judith Anne.

We need to have an adult conversation in this country about the cultural suicide that has been taking place since the 1980's. Making MTV a pay per view site like the pervert sex channels would be a good first step.

[Judith Anne]

You're welcome.

Here's a thought--any church group that had a SuperBowl party for the kids, and allowed them to see the half-time show could probably be charged with showing inappropriate films to children...

[Cathryn Crawford]

We need to have an adult conversation in this country about the cultural suicide that has been taking place since the 1980's. Making MTV a pay per view site like the pervert sex channels would be a good first step.

Oh, absolutely. You have no idea how much I agree.

[Argh]

I'm not sure "prudity" is a word. "Prudery" is.

[P-Marlowe]

We could force them to be a pay per view or a pay channel by taking away the ability of advertisers to advertise without negative consequences.

We need to find out who sponsors MTV and tell them that as long as they sponser this filth, we will not purchase any of their products and we will agressively seek out and by from those who refuse to advertise on MTV.

Does anyone have a list. I refuse to watch it long enough to wait for a commercial.

[azhenfud]

Even as pathetically hard-up as the free-air broadcasts have become, it boils down to teaching the children in the home what's right and wrong, what's acceptable and what's not. Parents can't afford to just say "it's a choice" - it's a responsibility parents have to children.

Teaching by example - not only by switching off the obscene, Phaggotry, perverted, filthy - on TV as a start, but teaching the reason why it's turned off carries far more weight in influencing a child.

My family won't see Fear Factor, Survivor, or those hard-ups that can't get a date except on a TV arrangement. But my child knows why we won't be seeing the garbage.

The news media is almost as bad - how many unnecessary times has the Jackson-Timberlake flop-out been aired? More than necessary.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks, Argh. You're right.

Admin Moderator, could you please help me out and change that darn word in the title? (*embarrassed smile*).

[gcruse]

...didn't used to be that way

Tempest in a C-Cup

[Judith Anne]

We need to find out who sponsors MTV and tell them that as long as they sponser this filth, we will not purchase any of their products and we will agressively seek out and by from those who refuse to advertise on MTV.

Can anyone help us out here?

[William McKinley]

I would welcome a return to more modest times. It certainly would make parenting easier.

But I doubt the way will be through federal legislation. Or even statewide legislation.

It needs to be done on the county and town levels. It needs to be done using market forces when possible, rather than by government force, except when the locality is sufficiently cohesive on the matter.

And we need to do it in a way which convinces people of the merits of doing so, rather than convinces them that we are just a bunch of huffy old coots trying to spoil their fun.

[sarasota]

I watched The Awful Truth on E! New Live last night and the guy to does the pitch said he got tons of email indicating how sick of this type of "entertainment" people are. He was quite surprised, being on the liberal side of What's the big deal? There appears to be a real movement afoot...but what can one expect with the concert coming up with Beyonce, Alicia Keyes and Missy Eliot schedule for this summer?

[sarasota]

We just have to refuse to allow this stuff into the home. I was a bit heartened to hear that a school in Orange County CA told MTV they would now not allow them to film some "reality" at their school. Parental uproar. Orange County. Imagine.