CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (June 4, 2008) – Recently, racy photos of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus published in Vanity Fair caused quite a stir nationwide. Similarly, a new advertising campaign for the CW’s show Gossip Girl has turned more than a few heads with its raunchy images and suggestive tagline, “OMFG.”
“Teen sex and promiscuity are increasingly being glamorized in television and advertising,” says Patrick Hampton, educator for Why Know Abstinence Education. “Saturating teens with these messages is extremely dangerous. Studies have found that adolescents who watch more sexual content on television are more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced sexual activity during teenage years.”
To help teens critically analyze the images they are seeing on TV, Why Know includes a media section in its Comprehensive Abstinence Program and its Road to Excellence leadership program. Teens and Why Know educators review music videos, clips from television shows, and advertising messages, discussing the potential influence of the messages they contain.
“Nearly two-thirds of all TV programming contains sexual content,” says Hampton. “We want to encourage students to question what they see on TV and how those images affect them.”
Currently, the Road to Excellence program reaches more than 700 students in Chattanooga and North Georgia. In addition to media analysis, RTE gives students weekly support and teaches leadership and life skills. Last year, nearly 90 percent of RTE participants remained abstinent, which is 40 percent higher than the national average. Why Know’s goal is to serve 1,000 students in the RTE program by 2010.
For more information about Why Know’s media analysis class or the Road to Excellence program, call 423.899.9188 or visit whyknow.org.
About Why Know:
Why KnowAbstinence Education, Inc. is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Why Know works to build healthy teens by providing knowledge, support and life skills for a successful future. Why Know serves 57 schools in Hamilton, Catoosa, Dade, Gordon, Walker and Whitfield Counties. Its curriculum is used in 40 states and 11 countries. Since Why Know’s inception, the local teen pregnancy rate has decreased 72 percent. For more information about Why Know, visit www.whyknow.org or call 423.899.9188.
