Movie and TV Ratings

It's interesting that in this country, a movie which shows a man's penis will get an NC-17 rating while a movie which shows murder, torture, cannibalism, and other violence will only get an R rating. Do we want to be telling our children that sex is worse than violence? I would much rather my children have sex than commit murder or other violent acts. At least sex is potentially a loving sharing thing and can be helpful while violence is always a bad thing.

Apparently, someone did a survey recently (I need to find out who) of a number of American families to find out what they wanted rated in TV shows. The vast majority wanted to know if shows contained sex, nudity, and 'adult' language. Violence wasn't one of the top concerns. This amazes me...

Now I don't advocate showing lots of sex to little children. I just think that we need to be careful about what we show our children and think about what behavior we want them to emulate. I happen to think that sex is a good thing. I also think that violence is a bad thing. It seems, though, that most people think that sex is a bad thing and violence is a good thing. No wonder kids are carrying guns to high schools and shooting each other...

Just as an aside, the recent case of the little boy who kissed the little girl and was charged with sexual harrasment is yet another example of this. If this same little boy had been in a fight with another kid, he would have received a much lighter punishment. This poor kid is now going to be confused, thinking that kissing girls is bad...

Well, the TV industry revealed its rating system. Like the movie industry, the ratings lump sexual content, violence, and mature themes together so the rating will give you no information about what the show actually contains. Personally, I'd rather my children watch shows with sophisticated themes first, shows with sexual content second, and shows with violence last. With the current rating system, I'd still have to watch the show to find out which it has. Rather than trying to decide what's appropriate for what age children, they should be finding a way to indicate what the show contains and let the parents decide what their children can handle.