From another perspective

Leah Stanley’s editorial last week made a good point about celebrities and their influence on our society.

If you didn’t read it, you should pick up last week’s issue and flip to the variety section.

Have you ever noticed how middle school students and younger will start listening to a song or dancing to one because they are following the older crowd?

I noticed that, this past weekend. Most of the songs that college students and high school students listen to reference sex or relationships. R. Kelly’s new song, “Ignition” is a good example of this. Personally, I happen to like this song, but in my opinion the actual meanings of his metaphors are not appropriate for middle school students and younger to be listening to. But they are listening. Another example is Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliot’s song, “Work it.” I have seen children dancing to this song. I wonder if they really know what is it about.

My question is who is buying these children CDs. They are not of age to work or produce any sort of income except for an allowance. I just think parents should pay more attention to who their kids are listening to. If they paid more attention, would less high school students be having sex or living on the streets?

According to A.D.A.M healthcare services in Atlanta, “each year, almost one million teenage women (10 percent of all women aged 15 to19, and 19 percent of all those who have had sexual intercourse) become pregnant.”

The Health Behavior news service did a study in September on whether or not a close relationship with a child’s mom affects their sexual activity. They found that “teenagers who have close relationships with their mothers are more likely to delay sexual activity, than their
counterparts.”

According to the Annie E. Cassie Foundation, “When teens have sex: issues and trends,” reported rates of sexual activity have dropped more dramatically among male teens than among female teens. But the actual statistic that scares me is that according to Sexsmarts, 61 percent of parents of teenagers today don’t know that their children are having sex and/or have not talked to their children about sex. Children should hear about sex from their parents, not from a song on the radio, which is likely to give them the wrong idea.

Music is just one of the influences on teenagers today, and Leah’s right. Just imagine what positive influences celebrities could make on our future generations. Think about the lyrics of songs, the commercials and shows on TV and the movies in the theater.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 4 2003. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry