CNN

Elvis the Pelvis

When you think of Elvis what do you think?

The King of Rock and Role
Singer
Actor
Dancer
A hunk of burning love?

Elvis and his provocative dance moves in the 1950s

Yes, all of these things come to mind, but do you think provocative? Mostly no, because compared to today he is not at all, but in the the 1950s he shocked America. He aired on a family friendly show called “The Ed Sullivan Show” three times. After his first two appearances parents were uneasy about the way he moved his hips. They were not happy that their children were exposed to this. So, the people in charge of the show decided only to film him from above the waist to, make the “worried adults feel safer and more secure with “Elvis the Pelvis”, while the kids of America could still enjoy watching even “half” of their sworn idol”.

Parents Now

Parents were not only concerened about what their kids then, but they are now as well. In 2008 Diane E. Levin, Ph.D.and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. appeared on the today show to discuss their book So Sexy So Soon. It is a guide for parents who don’t know what to do in this day and age when kids are exposed to so much provocativeness through media.

Newsweek also wrote about the rising problem of provocative media for children titled: Sex and the Single Tween. They commented, “Over the past two decades, the rise of the Internet and social media initiated a dramatic shift in popular culture: Almost everything that could be sexualized has been sexualized, producing a new generation of girls racing toward womanhood before even finishing puberty. The result terrifies many adults: American women, age tween”.

This is a rising problem and will only get worse if we allow it to continue. Famous icons are a huge influence on children as well. One that stands out to me is Miley Cyrus. She began her career on Disney Channel being Hannah Montana. She was loved by kids and a huge role model. Since leaving Disney, she has become inappropriate for any child and even too vulgar for some teens. Miley would not have a good impact on children if they were to continue to look up to her as a role model as she twerks and dances inappropriately on stage. CNN also reported on Miley’s change and brought parents into the question of if they would allow their children to see her perform.

Miley Cyrus’s transformation from the kid friendly Hannah Montana to provocative everything

My Point of View and Slide Show:

Media is everywhere and it is a shame that children are exposed to so many sexual and vulgar images in their day to day lives. I put together a slideshow of a few things I noticed as going too far from: video games, movies, music videos, and magazines. The content is X rated in my book and should be way less accesible to children.