ABSTRACT
If you read the newspaper or internet news headlines regularly, you’re likely to come across
ones that express fear that our culture is becoming morally corrupt. This moral corruption is
often linked to sex. The media is a common target as the cause of corruption for exhibiting
sexual content – like Janet Jackson’s nipple during the Superbowl – or for featuring shows
that consist of explicit sex talk and innuendo like Desperate Housewives or Sex in the City. Nor
is the media the only institution allegedly corrupting youth through exposure to sex.
Educational institutions are also under fire. In many school districts parents have protested
against sex education that gives students birth-control information as part of the curriculum.
The opinion of these protesting parents is that exposing students to this knowledge will ‘‘give
them ideas’’ and lead them down the path to premature sexual relationships and unwanted
pregnancies.
