Teens who watch the most sexual content (90th percentile) on TV are twice as likely to experience a pregnancy in the three-year period as those who watch the least (10th percentile).

salami

The bottom line isn’t sex – the bottom line is money from advertisers based on television ratings. Corporate television executives have tapped into what we’re all in denial about – these “teens” and “tweens” are in reality young adults who are sexually capable (politically incorrect as that is in the 21st century western 1st world context which continues to stretch and contort the definition of childhood and adulthood).

There’s no demand for clean TV because these children are coming full bloom into adulthood and rather than being taught by their families how and when it is properly expressed, it’s being taught by the TV because of the demand for such material begins at that age. Disney’s in on it as much as Cinemax.

Siraaj

You know, that article wouldn’t be up there if everyone just followed the sunnah.

Point is, something has to be done for each Muslim household. The care-free mentality that’s out there is super dangerous.

Especially with this whole new “tween” pre-14 year old sexualization on TV on “innocent” channels like The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. The after effects as the child grows up into high school, college, and eventually marriage can be highly problematic.

Thank you for posting the article. This issue really hits home. I work with high-risk youth (females) who are typically either pregnant or sexually active and even promiscuous, their ages range from 12-19. What’s crucial to understand is their motivation for being sexually active: aside from temptation/hormones, they are swimming in an ocean of isolation, desire for love, affection and fitting in, neglect and the list goes on. Our Muslim youth are not so different. They too are struggling with fitting in, creating an independent identity and perhaps balancing their faith with culture.

With an understanding of today’s youth, their struggles and current cultural trends, we can maybe do a mediocre job of nudging them in the right direction. The number one focus, however, isn’t any of the above – it’s the relationship. I can walk into any of my girl groups and talk about sex, relationships, music or even finance, but NONE of that matters unless they have a meaningful relationship with me as a person.

That’s one thing we need to see more of in our communities – Muslim and non-Muslim. It’s often underestimated how significant a single conversation with a teen can go. Many of them are thirsty for a trustworthy source they can turn to when they do have those difficult questions, questions they may be too embarrassed or afraid to ask their parents.

The post before asks what we are going to do. It’s simple. Connect with the youth in your communities (again, Muslim and non-Muslim). Have a conversation with the youth you see at your family parties all the time, but never really had a serious conversation with. Volunteer at the Masjid’s youth group. If you don’t have one, start one. Volunteer at a local non-profit which focuses on youth [ Girls Incorporated might be a good place to start ] There are numerous ways to get yourself involved and it doesn’t have to be done alone. I’m sure if you sent out an email to your list of contacts, you’d find enough people who want to do something, anything. InshAllah we can provide the much needed guidance to our youth today, but we have to be willing to put ourselves out there, be vulnerable in front of a group of teens and willing to understand them without judging them.

This is becoming an epidemic in our society. It is becoming acceptable and promoted within the media AND in families themselves. My wife had mentioned that one day when she was at the mall just before PROM time at our local high school she noticed a family searching for a prom dress for their teenage daughter. When the daughter came to the mother asking how a dress looked on her, her uncle exclaimed (and excuse me for this) “why does it matter, its not going to stay on for long anyways” as he laughed. This culture is encouraged and it is becoming too much now.

This “scare” tactic method of discouraging teenage sex is becoming a joke. They show you all sorts of diseases and such in health class in order to encourage “protective sex.” Kids treat this as a joke. They are neglecting the fact that kids think themselves as invincible and that such diseases would never touch them.

The fundamental problem is having intimate relationships before marriage. Because this concept has long been lost in our society parents are finding it difficult to educate their children of the proper method of relationships. They say “you can’t have such relationships until you are older.” What does that mean? The root cause of the problem is not addressed. Every kid thinks they are older than they are.

This is becoming ridiculous. Likewise, naturally, this reality is affecting our Muslim community. It is not uncommon for us to see our teenage brothers and sisters following the same pattern of the society. I know many people personally who have already been involved in this behavior. What are we going to do to address this?

Interesting. Yesterday I listened to an audio-video lecture by Dr. Ibrahim Saalim al-Azhari, graduate of Usul ad-Din. He has a few works of those is Da’wah ila at Tafkeer. He is in Australia. In any event, he made an interesting point about sex in the West. One of the things that he mentioned was that sex before puberty is a problematic act and he went on to talk of teen sex saying that an active sex life outside the confined of marriage and unrestricted has a big impact on the ability of the person to function in a marital relationship. He made the point that there is a lack of satisfaction and a built in sense of lack of commitment. An issue that was mentioned is that Europe has advanced greatly in fertility technology and despite this fertility is extremely low, Europe is infertile to some extent. This coupled with divorce and teen sex threatens the structure of the family and by default society.

When we contemplate that Shariah came to preserve the family and the individual we have to ask here what is teen sex doing to our societies? Is it something we write off or is it linked to something much more destructive like dysfunctionality in marriage? In any case, something to ponder over.