[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17637]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TV AFFECTS SEXUAL BEHAVIOR OF TEENS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, the programs that teenagers watch on 
television affect their behavior. Advertisers have known this for years 
and have cashed in on it.
  This week, we have a better idea of how television takes hold of our 
young people. A Rand Corporation study recently found that children who 
watch a lot of TV with sexual content are twice as likely to be 
sexually active as those with little exposure to televised sexual 
behavior.
  Sexuality is pervasive on television, present in more than two-thirds 
of all programming from innuendoes to actual depictions. Kids become 
absorbed with the characters in their favorite shows and begin to model 
their behavior. They are simply doing what their role models do. Sadly, 
the study found that doing what their favorite characters do results in 
regret, and they cited television as a factor in influencing their 
behavior.
  In a culture increasingly devoid of positive role models, television 
is filling the void; and many parents are dropping the ball. Excessive 
exposure to television hurts our kids. Parents need to turn off the TV 
before more damage is done to our Nation's kids.

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