Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Will Adam Lambert's Antics Wake Up Parents?
It seemed like just another typical American Music Awards. Rihanna revealed...too much, Jay Z rapped about how great he is, Shakira did her little hip thing with a mic stand (I think I saw the mic stand smoking a cigarette just moments later), Gaga... well... was Gaga. But then, to top the night off, Adam gave one of the most graphically sexual performances I have ever seen on network TV.
I'm not talking about one incident...it was throughout the whole performance. Lambert grabbed one of his dancers head and simulated oral sex, he kissed a male band member in true 'Britney-Madonna' fashion, dragged dancers on a leash, and even flipped off the audience. Apparently West coast audiences didn't get to see some of the antics.
It seems that artists are testing the waters and seeing just how far they can push the envelope. That's what the rest of the entertainment industry is doing (Hey! Normal sex isn't even selling big anymore, let's try threesomes!)
The thing that has me scratching my head is, "Why are people so shocked?" Don't get me wrong... I'm glad that people are raising the questions as to if this is appropriate to show on TV. I'm just laughing that people have no problem with everything else we allow on TV.
Is this really that surprising?
Lambert wasn't shy about retorting to some of the criticism, calling it a double standard since women performers have been "pushing the envelope" for decades.
Some people are definitely upset, with almost every media outlet chiming in about the incident. USA TODAY is taking a poll: entertainment, or over the top?
I definitely think it's over the top. But so was Shakira... so were about 20 moments during the last MTV VMA's, so is every episode of CBS's Two and a Half Men.
Hmmmmmmm.
Maybe this will wake up some of the parents around the world as to what we are teaching this young generation.
I'm not talking about one incident...it was throughout the whole performance. Lambert grabbed one of his dancers head and simulated oral sex, he kissed a male band member in true 'Britney-Madonna' fashion, dragged dancers on a leash, and even flipped off the audience. Apparently West coast audiences didn't get to see some of the antics.
It seems that artists are testing the waters and seeing just how far they can push the envelope. That's what the rest of the entertainment industry is doing (Hey! Normal sex isn't even selling big anymore, let's try threesomes!)
The thing that has me scratching my head is, "Why are people so shocked?" Don't get me wrong... I'm glad that people are raising the questions as to if this is appropriate to show on TV. I'm just laughing that people have no problem with everything else we allow on TV.
Is this really that surprising?
Lambert wasn't shy about retorting to some of the criticism, calling it a double standard since women performers have been "pushing the envelope" for decades.
Some people are definitely upset, with almost every media outlet chiming in about the incident. USA TODAY is taking a poll: entertainment, or over the top?
I definitely think it's over the top. But so was Shakira... so were about 20 moments during the last MTV VMA's, so is every episode of CBS's Two and a Half Men.
Hmmmmmmm.
Maybe this will wake up some of the parents around the world as to what we are teaching this young generation.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Sexting??
I think sexting is probably one of the biggest youth culture issues addressed by the news-media in the last year. http://ping.fm/fSGJt even this week when we saw another suicide that began from a sexting incident.
Now MTV/Associated Press has taken a poll and shared their findings. I always find it ironic that MTV is doing these studies. I understand why they want to know this information-- so they can better understand the generation that they are pimping their smut too-- but I just wonder how MTV execs sleep at night when they discover the truth from all these polls.
Even Conan O Brian joked about this in his monologue last night, commenting that MTV was recommending that kids don't participate in sexting. He jested, "MTV says there's a time and a place to share these intimate moments... and that's on one of our 17 reality shows!" :)
Anyway... the AP article reporting on this study shares that more than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting in some form. I also found it interesting that only about half of the kids surveyed saw the issue as a big problem.
The article goes on to talk about the teen brain, arguing that teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions:
Research shows teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions consistently. By the mid-teens, the brain's reward centers, the parts involved in emotional arousal, are well-developed, making teens more vulnerable to peer pressure.
But it is not until the early 20s that the brain's frontal cortex, where reasoning connects with emotion, enabling people to weigh consequences, has finished forming.
Beyond feeling invincible, young people also have a much different view of sexual photos that might be posted online, Bogle said. They don't think about the idea that those photos might wind up in the hands of potential employers or college admissions officers, she said.
"Sometimes they think of it as a joke; they have a laugh about it," Bogle said. "In some cases, it's seen as flirtation. They're thinking of it as something far less serious and aren't thinking of it as consequences down the road or who can get hold of this information. They're also not thinking about worst-case scenarios that parents might worry about."
You can read the whole AP article here. ( http://ping.fm/2LnES )
Bottom line: continue to talk with our kids about these issues.
Now MTV/Associated Press has taken a poll and shared their findings. I always find it ironic that MTV is doing these studies. I understand why they want to know this information-- so they can better understand the generation that they are pimping their smut too-- but I just wonder how MTV execs sleep at night when they discover the truth from all these polls.
Even Conan O Brian joked about this in his monologue last night, commenting that MTV was recommending that kids don't participate in sexting. He jested, "MTV says there's a time and a place to share these intimate moments... and that's on one of our 17 reality shows!" :)
Anyway... the AP article reporting on this study shares that more than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting in some form. I also found it interesting that only about half of the kids surveyed saw the issue as a big problem.
The article goes on to talk about the teen brain, arguing that teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions:
Research shows teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions consistently. By the mid-teens, the brain's reward centers, the parts involved in emotional arousal, are well-developed, making teens more vulnerable to peer pressure.
But it is not until the early 20s that the brain's frontal cortex, where reasoning connects with emotion, enabling people to weigh consequences, has finished forming.
Beyond feeling invincible, young people also have a much different view of sexual photos that might be posted online, Bogle said. They don't think about the idea that those photos might wind up in the hands of potential employers or college admissions officers, she said.
"Sometimes they think of it as a joke; they have a laugh about it," Bogle said. "In some cases, it's seen as flirtation. They're thinking of it as something far less serious and aren't thinking of it as consequences down the road or who can get hold of this information. They're also not thinking about worst-case scenarios that parents might worry about."
You can read the whole AP article here. ( http://ping.fm/2LnES )
Bottom line: continue to talk with our kids about these issues.
Friday, December 4, 2009
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