Sex and the media

EDUCATION professionals in Preston confirm that sexual content on television could be linked to teenage pregnancies.

Teenage girls watching shows with high sexual content like Sex and the City and Friends are twice as likely to become pregnant, according to a recent US study.

Samantha, Miranda, Carrie and Charlotte: positive role models?

Influence

Sharon Hall, head of Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) at Penwortham Girls' High School, says that one of the issues affecting adolescents' attitudes towards sex is the type of role model presented to young people by the media.

Ms Hall says: "There is a certain perception of some celebrities like Paris Hilton involved with drugs and alcohol. There are fewer role models who are academically successful.

"It's not just about sexual behaviour. Some celebrities dress more provocatively, even if they aren't acting in the same way.

"This causes some 12 or 13 year olds to aspire to that sort of look, without fully realising what that could lead to."

Tory MP Nadine Dorris said that a similar study in the UK would be interesting to see if a trend was revealed.

Different

Dr Helen Jones, a senior Film and Media lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, agrees that the media influences young people's attitudes towards sex.

However, she says: "The provision of media as a public service in this country means that if this study were to be carried out in the UK, you would be comparing two completely different things."

The British media landscape is different from that of the US, where there are no national broadcast programming services. Public television plays a much smaller role, and television channels are commercial - broadcast solely for entertainment.

In the UK, corporations like the BBC are expected to provide a public service in exchange for a licence fee. Similarly, ITV and Channel 4 have a public remit.

Dr Jones says: "Over here, the main channels are designed to promote debate, social inclusion and education. They are aimed at different regions and age groups.

"The television in America is fundamentally commercial. There are fewer educational elements that could guide teenagers away from irresponsible sexual behaviour.

Shows like 'Friends' have been linked to an increased rate of teenage pregancies because of their high sexual content.

Export

"This fairly robust study suggests that we are exporting cultural values and behaviour from the US, as well as the media itself."


"You could argue that this is because the British media is becoming 'Americanised', with shows like Sex and the City and Friends now being exported as global products, and Sky and Freeview readily available in most UK homes.


The report comes as Britain's teenage pregnancy rates climb to the highest in Europe. Every year, almost 50,000 girls under 18 in the UK fall pregnant, The Daily Telegraph revealed in December 2007.

Find out what local people think about the influence of the media on sexual behaviour

Click here to read a comment piece by Alexandra McGowan

Photographs courtesy of Flickr: Sex and the City and Friends (click on links to see original locations).

Teenage pregnancies and sexual health in Preston

PRESTON is making steady progress towards meeting the government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy targets, thanks to accessible contraception and sexual health services.

The strategy identifies two key targets to be achieved by December 2010: to halve the under 18 conception rate in England, and to work towards the increased social inclusion of teenage mothers through education, training or work by 60 per cent.

Progress

Debbie Dawson, sexual health delivery manager for Lancashire County Council, is overseeing attempts in Preston to reach the strategy's targets in Lancashire. Recent statistics show that progress has been made.

In 2006, there were 109 under 18 conceptions in Preston – a decrease from 123 in 1998. Since then, baseline rate of under 18 conceptions has also decreased by 11 per cent.

Ms Dawson says that one of the biggest factors in reducing teenage pregnancy in Lancashire has been the launch of the Young People's Sexual Health Policy in July this year by a multi agency group, including Talkwise and Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust. Every organisation working with young people has signed up to it.

Debbie Dawson develops strategies with schools, clinics and other organisations in Preston to make help and advice more accessible for young people

Access

This includes schools, clinics and pharmacies. The policy aims to provide more accessible 'level one' care.

This includes advice regarding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy testing, sexual health screening and pharmacies selling the Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC).

2099 Preston women accessed the free EHC scheme in 2007. 400 of these were under 18.

Preston's Cedar House Counselling Centre offers advice to people of all ages about teenage pregnancies and other issues. Listen to an interview about the therapy the centre offers with one of the counsellors, Ruth Parkinson

Ms Dawson says: "One of the factors affecting the rate of teenage pregnancies locally is the onset of early sexual activity.

"If you have sex under the age of 16 you are three times more likely to get pregnant than someone having sex after 16.

"Also, some low achievers feel like they need something, someone, to love them unconditionally. If they have low aspirations at the age of about ten, there is a chance they will carry these aspirations with them into secondary school."

The key point for teenage pregnancies occurring seems to be the period between secondary school and college. Ms Dawson explains this as being a result of a transitional period, during which time some young people are uncertain about which direction to take.

Ms Dawson and her colleagues welcome the government decision last month to make SRE (sex and relationships education) compulsory in schools for children as young as five. "They need to learn about the relationship side of things as well. That's the bit that was missing." she says.

Clinics

Lorraine Gibbons works with young mothers and aims to raise awareness of sex related risks and responsibilities in local schools.

Lorraine Gibbons is a sexual health outreach manager for Lancashire County Council. She says: “We've found that young people want these services to be more accessible, so they can find help without having to go all the way into town after school.”

Mock clinics have been taking place in local secondary schools, where students have the opportunity to be screened for STDs and talk to the sexual health outreach workers about questions or concerns.

Ms Dawson says: “We are trying to get a 'Delay' message across. Regret is a major issue for young people having sex too early. It's particularly aimed at boys, who might feel the need to be macho and find it difficult to talk about certain issues, like using condoms.”

“We wouldn't say to young people 'Don't have sex.' We are trying to explain safe sex and risk reduction.”

In December 2007, a report from The Daily Telegraph revealed that almost every year, 50.000 girls under 18 fall pregnant in the UK. This puts Britain at the top of the teenage mother league table in western Europe, in contrast to Holland, who have the lowest rate.

Listen to an interview with a 20 year old mother of one from Chorley:

A single mother's triumph

The picture was tragic.

A mother wheeled her baby through the streets of Preston with all their belongings in bags. She had a pound in her purse and nowhere to live.

It was Linda Robinson, who at 23 became unexpectedly pregnant, having been told she would not be able to have children. When she was eight months pregnant, the relationship with her partner broke down. She moved in with her mother when her son Ashley was born.

Linda, now 38, says: "It wasn't the easiest thing in the world. When my son was a couple of months old, me and my mum unfortunately had a big argument. She told me to leave."

Linda and Ashley spent a day in Preston council offices, while staff tried to find a home for her and her baby.

The council found Linda somewhere to live in the homeless section in Avenham, Preston. She and Ashley stayed there for nine months, before moving to a council house.

Linda and Ashley now.

Linda, who now owns her own beauty salon, Beauty Basixs in Freckleton, says: "From that council house I've worked my backside off, basically. Ashley and I have a really good relationship." Ashley nods in agreement.

Linda says the fact that she raised Ashley alone has made them closer. "We'll talk a lot. He is a considerate boy.

"He hasn't had anyone to play me up against. He's just had me making the rules and the decisions."

This is Ashley's collection of pin badges, which started when he was four and on a school trip. Linda couldn't afford to buy him anything from the gift shop, so instead bought him a pin badge for £1.50. Since then, he has collected hundreds. Linda says the collection symbolises the many milestones they have reached together.

Ashley remembers asking his mum if he could try a cigarette when he started secondary school. "One of my friends said I should try smoking. When I got back home I asked could I try it, and she said yes."

Linda explains this decision as an attempt to always be honest with Ashley, and not hide anything from him. She says that her parents were strict with her when she was young, which simply led her to hide things from them.

When I ask Ashley why he approached the subject so honestly with his mum when most teenagers would not dream of doing so, he simply replies "Because we're close."

Ashley, 15, now understands how difficult it was for his mum when he was a baby. He says: "Being a single parent isn't easy."

Linda points out that Ashley made the decision not to start smoking. She attributes this decision to the fact that he was not made to go behind her back and tell lies, because he felt comfortable enough to approach her. She says: "There is no point in being all high and mighty and pious about that sort of thing. We've all done it, we've all experimented."

Linda's story and the communicative, honest relationship she has with her son is evidence that single parents can be just as loving, successful and functional as the two parent family. When Ashley is asked whether he feels he has 'missed out', he quickly shakes his head. He says he thinks his mum did pretty well under the circumstances. Linda smiles.


Linda reflects on being a single parent, and enjoying life after facing a difficult start with her son, Ashley, who is now 15.

Comment: sex and the media

The study showing a link between television shows with sexual content and an increased rate of teenage pregnancies raises the provocative question of responsibility.

How old should a child be before parents relinquish control of what they watch?

Limits

Some would say 16, when a child is also allowed to have sex. If they are theoretically old enough to enter the realm of adult emotion and responsibility, surely watching Sex and the City, a light hearted sitcom about four New York women travelling the rocky single road and having plenty of debauched, Martini drenched fun on the way, won't do any harm.

Make mine a large one

Initially, the characters in SATC represent nothing but positivity and progression for the 21st century woman. Carrie is a successful journalist, writing whatever she pleases in her weekly column. She is financially independent (apart from when her friends have to lend her money for Manolos), has a beautiful apartment and is not afraid of being single.


Think Bridget Jones, but sassier, better dressed and less needy.

Role reversal

Samantha 'leave an hour after climaxing' Jones is a woman in her forties with her own public relations business. She is promiscuous by traditional standards; but SATC somehow makes that OK. She is always portrayed as being totally in control on the gender politics battlefield. She takes men, she leaves them. Her role reversal (the female stud) is delightfully classy and projects a wonderful message to our mothers: 40 and 50 are the new 20 and 30.

Kim Cattrall: 50 is the new 20

But when does sexually liberated become morally irresponsible? SATC did a lot of good work in terms of challenging boundaries and conventions of the 'old' dating game. Now, women can summon men late at night, have multiple partners and finally do something that for many years was disapproved of: have meaningless, pointless fun with absolutely no intention of being 'polite' and monogamous if the relationship isn't good enough. The game is on their terms now.


The 1998 debut of SATC introduced a woman's version of playing the field, complete with Jimmy Choos for every occasion. It was a seductive package, upsetting a lot of applecarts by questioning moral cornerstones that for years had just been accepted.

Jimmy Choos are all the men they could ever need

The trouble with a sitcom like SATC is how influential it soon becomes for young girls identifying parts of their lives with the characters. Carrie and her friends became Carrie and our friends. It is easy to get involved with their breezy, post coital outlook on everything, where a new outfit can solve any problem.


In one episode, Miranda is mortified to discover she is pregnant, and decides (initially) to have an abortion. The other women are nonchalant about this. "I've had one," admits Carrie. "I've had two", Samantha offers.


This is nothing to do with the issue of abortion. What is more worrying is that the women are so casual about their experiences. Perhaps having a termination had little or no effect on their lives. But portraying such a blase attitude towards abortion is risky for a teenage audience. It may be that young viewers then equate abortion as being 'SATC' - a show with cult status tends to 'flag up' topics and portray them one way or another. This episode very much portrayed abortion as something that wasn't a big deal.


I could not be more pro choice. But abortion is not something trivial. I think SATC pushed the boundary a little too far in that instance, non verbally saying that abortion is an easy solution and one that requires little consideration.



By Alexandra McGowan



photographs courtesy of Flickr:

Martini glass, Kim Cattrall, Jimmy Choos

Alcohol...again

This report yet again draws our attention to the epidemic of binge and underage drinking in the UK.

Why do we drink so much as a nation, and as an age bracket?

Here are my reasons for doing so (I appreciate I'm not an underage drinker, but still I do my fair share every weekend):

1) It's fun (everything is funnier when you're drunk).

2) Things happen that wouldn't normally, which is always interesting (ie because inhibitions disappear, people say and do things out of the norm. So it's kind of like stepping into a different world for a few hours, an alcohol induced Narnia if you will).

3) Escapism from a heavy workload during the rest of the week.

But are these reasons valid? Or have we lost the ability to go out and have a laugh without pickling our internal organs?

I never sit there on a Sunday worrying what damage I've done to my body the night before through drinking. I just drink a shed load of water and think it'll be fine. But the report did make me consider that every weekend I am putting my body through quite a trauma.

Does anyone else ever consider the health issues? Has this report had any effect on you, or are you all die hard hedonists who don't care?

Girl dies after internal bleeding went undetected in hospital

Check this out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082265/I-need-water-Im-dying---Tragic-patients-agonised-help-doctors-ignored-her.html

Kathleen Doherty went into Royal Preston hospital to have her gall bladder removed in what should have been a simple routine operation.

But after the operation doctors said they were too busy too assess her, despite her calling out for water and screaming "I'm dying." She suffered a massive postoperative bleed but the newly qualified physician didn't think she needed a review.

Her parents plan to sue for negligence after Preston Coroner's Court heard how a series of blunders caused her death.

What do you think should happen to those who dismissed her calls for help even though she was thrashing around on her bed, clearly in pain?

Drinking during pregnancy

Hi everyone,

A report this morning announces that drinking in small amounts might actually be good for your baby during pregnancy.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Before you can say 'tequila slammer', pregnant women may misunderstand the result, and think it's ok to have a couple more units than they would have done. It is potentially misleading, and could invite excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Let's face it, how good can alcohol be for a foetus? And if an 'amount' of alcohol is good for the baby, it's not going to be more than an eye bath full I bet. And what's the point in having a sip of wine for its 'health' benefits? Why not just do something else that's good for the baby's development, like eating a healthy diet rich in vitamins and iron?

Opinions please???

I need to speak to some pregnant Preston women on this matter...