Lack of safe sex a big TV turnoff
Source: Chicago Sun Times
BY SUE ONTIVEROS If I didn't know better, I would think the TV network call letters ABC stand for Avoid Birth Control. Because again and again on its dramas, that's exactly what characters do. Then they are just oh so shocked to discover they might be courting the stork. And here's the thing that leaves me yelling at the TV: Each of the couples involves someone who wants to be a doctor! Awhile back I wrote a column in which I called out ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" on this issue. Eventually, I stopped watching, and one reason was because they used the surprise pregnancy -- and oops! I've got a sexually transmitted disease -- theme one time too many for me. I just couldn't tolerate the message that even medical interns and residents can't figure out successful birth control, so how should anyone else? At the same time I was criticizing "Grey's" I praised "Desperate Housewives" as showing responsible sex, because when young Julie was contemplating an intimate relationship she researched birth control first. Well, I'm taking back my kudos. This season, the same Julie, who was going to medical school, is in a coma, and doctors want to do some sort of X-ray. Her confidante has to let them know Julie may be pregnant. Between high school and graduating from college she became stupider when it came to birth control. Luckily, that was just a pregnancy scare. Guess we should be glad she decided to drop out of med school. If she can't figure out how to avoid pregnancy or an STD, how would she combat the really tough stuff? Then there's the Sally Field drama "Brothers & Sisters." The scenario here has youngest son, Justin, who is in medical school, concerned because fiancee Rebecca is oh-so-fatigued. And upchucking first thing in the morning. He fears it may be some serious malady. It takes him an entire episode (possibly medical school isn't his forte, either) before it hits him: maybe she's pregnant! She quickly brushes off that possibility. The next day, Justin tells her that what with school and other things going on in their lives, a baby is the last thing they need. (Which, if that's the case, one would think they'd do everything possible to avoid making a baby.) He's too busy ruminating to notice the results on the pregnancy test wand Rebecca has beside her. TV shows likes these perpetuate the notion that, yikes, pregnancy just happens. It is reprehensible to add in the angle that safe sex is so hard to figure out it is beyond the grasp of medical professionals and wannabe doctors. We're shown these super attractive, educated and supposedly intelligent characters. And over and over they can't seem to figure out how to avoid pregnancy At least in old-time movies, before a sexual encounter, you'd see the guy bumbling as he purchased condoms. Sure, you can say, they're just TV shows, but you know what? These programs are hugely popular with impressionable teens and 20-somethings. And here are a couple of sobering facts about that age group: One million people ages 10 to 24 had STDs in 2006, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And women and girls 20 and under had 745,000 pregnancies -- a good number unplanned -- in 2004. We live in a time when young people are bombarded -- on TV, in music and in movies -- with images of carefree sexual encounters. The least we can do is show them that if they decide to engage, there are reasonably simple ways to avoid pregnancy and STDs. Click here for full text | 
