Jun 22, 2006

As children become older, experts worry about the influence of sexual content, especially on adolescents and young teens. Children going through puberty develop an intense curiosity about sex, and if parents and schools aren’t supplying information, kids will seek knowledge elsewhere, says Jane Brown of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

“Parents may look embarrassed or be uncomfortable,” she says, “but the media aren’t.” The media may become a “super-peer,” she says, drawing teenagers toward sex because so many people seem to do it with so little consequence, and providing the social scripts for behavior.

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