It’s understandable for people to think that by writing this article I am only feeding into the nonsense that is Skins. By me writing this article I am only giving it the publicity, whether positive or negative, that it set out to achieve with its airing. But the real controversy here isn’t the television show itself; it is the channel that deems it appropriate to air it.
The talk of the town is what kind of influence MTV is playing in our lives as young adults. It’s most definitely not the same television channel that it used to be back in the day playing music like “video killed the radio star” by the Buggles. No, instead it airs series about teenagers getting pregnant, teenagers having sex, doing drugs, and crashing cars into ravines. Teen mom, for example, is a series about a few young moms that are kind enough to share their hardships with the rest of the nation. Kind enough to do so really means they are getting paid salaries of up to $280,000. The show airs episodes dealing with parental custody battles as well as actual physical fights between parent and child. The question this raises is whether or not it is appropriate to air this on television…does it encourage teens to talk back to their parents? To push their buttons? To raise a kid because they see that it’s not that hard on the show?
The newest MTV controversy is their show skins. Besides the fact that the show depicts young teenagers partying it up through their high school years (which in itself is accurate) all the while ending up in their bed at night in some way or another with their friends always having their back. Sounds hunky dory right? Well, not only are they depicting the sex lives, the drug lives, and the drinking lives of these young teens…but they are young teens. Not a single one of the actors are even 18!, let alone 21! The talk around town is whether or not this show should still air because it could be borderline child pornography. But in your opinion…is it really borderline child pornography, or is that just an excuse to shield our eyes to what reality is really heading towards…what our society is really accepting.
