I am guilty of binging a lot more Netflix than I ever wished to, but come on! Who is not hogging up content like an Indian Dude at a marriage party? Netflix has something for everyone, from documentaries to the excellent pieces of an ass; no wait, storyline, I meant excellent pieces storylines. What constitutes the most popular of Netflix is the American youth fiction series and movies which, us, young aged Millenials crave so badly. You know those moments when the screen turns black, and you have yourself to see there is a lingering thought I have been having for a long time but always feel weird to say. While Netflix may not be the only bad guy, but for me, it has been the worst.
Opinion
“Recent media and platforms have sexualised children to the point that paedophilia lines might blur out soon”
While the phenomenon has been there for a long time, the catalyst of increasing promiscuity and “sexual behaviour” in children-
- Unmoderated content on the internet with little to no control over who sees what.
- Normalisation and acceptance and even glorification of shows which put children in a compromised position.
Let us look at the first problem. The Internet is an uncontrolled source of anything and everything you want, which sounds like an opportunity to learn but soon takes a turn for the worse. Pornography, gore content, and media not suitable for children are floating out there, and no matter how much onus you put on the parents, there will always be someone who will leak the media into your child’s life. Sex is not taboo, nor is masturbation. Sexual fetishes also are not weird, but we need a level of maturity to process and perform. We as a generation are of kids who are neither educated well on sex nor saved from early exposure to explicit content.
Lack of control over the internet by parents had allowed us to explore the dark side(obviously in Incognito Mode) and delete the history. We are not at the age of knowing any better, and it is not that our parents wouldn’t have been the same way. It is just that the procurement of information is so easy that we often end up with something we now really don’t wanna know. Earlier popular media was a little uptight on how they want to portray indecency, especially with children. Today the shift in culture and this intrinsic sexualising nature of the media industry has also affected how the teenage shows work.
All these shows have teens portrayed by older people, characterised by their bold sex appeal, chiseled bodies, voracious libido, and often haves grossly explicit scenes. Even if today’s teens might look like that, but that should not allow us to cash on it. This portrayal creates a false image that reality tries to copy so hard because that’s how the “cool and edgy” teens are. There are shows, which have teenage characters and set up, but oddly a lot of them are 18+ or even 16+. People do know there are teenagers below those ages too, right? Even if I forgive the 16+ bracket, how does the 18+ makes sense? What is the point of making shows that they cannot see unless you want them?
The culture is trying to sell your body, beauty, and statement standards that are unrealistic in the name of movies about people like you and me. Even if you see Instagram today, people are trying to be an adult, to be thicc or sexy. Even if it feels grossly weird, it has been highly normalised by our society over the years.
Look at all the TV shows normalising poor behaviours, abuse, sex, drugs, and alcohol. Next time if you ever see a sex scene, ask yourself, was it necessary for it to be there? It may not have been the way creators wanted to affect the youth, but it is happening, and it is worrying. In the name of real and complex characters, all we have done is- glorify bad examples, abusive relationships, and romanticise sufferings. These things feel cool for validating self but will hurt like hell when consequences fall.
We cannot expect sex education, parental controls, and restrictions to save the day on itself. I frankly do not know if there is an effective solution to this, besides constant re-education of youth and accountability to creators and platforms. Weaning our kids off the digital space is the need of the hour. To let them stay in a bubble of limited experiences is good, as it makes you more appreciative when you know things at the right time.
Do you feel the same? Have we normalised sexualising in our society, and has it been a product of our media? Let me know!
Specs & the City 
What a holistic view this article has given !
I’m in complete tandem with the thought that sexualisation of content is at it’s peak.
Exposure to pornography/explicit content has created a skewed sense of sex in our head, eventually giving rise to hookup culture. I think there’s nothing wrong with the hookup culture (as far as it doesn’t toy with the sanity).
But how does one get a hold of rape culture that has arisen out of mere influence of such content? People craving for instant gratification, not even sparing petty animals for satisfying their needs.
Watching explicit content for the sake of watching it, is fine. But creating a bubble out of it, and believing in it whole heartedly is not.
I think self control and consuming the right content is as imp as parental control, exposing oneself to explicit etc.
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Not to mention it normalises what can be considered as statutory offences. It puts pressure to be someone you aren’t or be in a place you don’t wish to be.
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Yes right, the human want to socialise and belong , can’t be ignored. And definitely it puts a lot pressure!
Which brings me to ask you, what do you think of the lone wolves, the einzelgangers or whatever you call them and the lifestyle they pursue?
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Lone wolves, solo adventurists are the same but they know that don’t need long term validation from the same set of people, they are okay with short term validations with a lot of people. To them human interaction is more about their experience than an experience in whole. This may make them immune to being hurt by someone but will also leave them feeling excluded from everything.
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I’ll take that as a perspective!
Lone wolves are mostly people with higher introverted tendencies, I guess. And falling in line with such tendencies, they may not have a longing to socialise a lot or only socialise when their certain ideologies are fulfilled, that’s what I feel particularly.
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