Speech One of the Most

¶ … Speech One of the most traumatic things to happen to a child has to be when they realize that their parents still "do it." This just is not something that children need to think about -- and yet they do. They are exposed on a near constant basis to all manner of sex and perversion on television, even in the advertisements. Sporting events, which were once a safe haven for young viewers, celebrating the spirit of competition, are no longer safe.

They are filled with advertisements for all manner of sexual stimulants, especially drugs for male erectile dysfunction. These advertisements, simply put, are unsuitable for children. They are sexual in nature, and they promote the use of drugs for non-medical purposes. We need to ban these advertisements from prime-time sporting events for the health and safety of our children -- and here is why. We protect our children from smut and from lasciviousness on all fronts.

We have parental guidance ratings on movies and on video games, and on music with explicit lyrics. Yet when our children watch a prime-time sporting event, they are exposed to advertisements that celebrate erections and sex. Unrealistic actors in unrealistic scenarios promote male dysfunction pills, something that we as parents then must explain to our children. These products, and these commercials, are inappropriate for children. We do not allow advertisements for other sex toys on prime-time television, so we should not allow advertisements for pharmaceutical sex toys either.

Such advertisements arouse our children's curiosity about sex and about sex aids. We know that carnal relations are something that cannot be taken lightly. In a world with sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, teen pregnancy, rape and child abuse it is understand by all reasonable people that a child must be educated properly about his or her body, and must learn about sex in a controlled fashion.

Learning about sex in any uncontrolled environment -- be it a pornography website or a male dysfunction ad -- takes the control over a child's education away from the parent. The child then learns about unwholesome activities in an irresponsible manner, with falsehoods and lies as the basis of their understanding. Instead, it is important that children not be exposed to such messages until their parents allow it.

There is no reason why this exposure needs to be during a sporting event -- it is the wrong place for any such sexual message. In addition, these advertisements teach our children unhealthy messages about drugs. The central message of male dysfunction ads is that drugs are for fun.

We spent billions of dollars fighting the War on Drugs and trying to teach our children about how dangerous drugs are, and before our children are old enough to understand right from wrong these ads push a message on them about drugs being for fun. An adult can easily evaluate such a message and understand its content, but a child is not old enough to do so. Thus, these drug pushers are telling our children to use drugs for fun, and for sexual gratification.

Such a message is inappropriate for responsible adults, much less children, and so should be limited to adult programming only. Sports are most certainly not adult programming. Whatever venue is appropriate for these types of advertisements, it should be far away from impressionable young minds. Sport events teach our children so many good things -- about teamwork, hard work, and the healthy spirit of competition.

We want our kids to absorb the positive messages from sports, and to that end we encourage them to not only participate in sports but also to watch them on television. This means that sports events should always be considered family-friendly programming, especially in day time and prime time when children are awake and can watch. As male dysfunction ads should be banned from all family-friendly programming, this ban should naturally apply to televised sports events as well. As adults, we have the duty to act responsibly with our children.

It is our job to give them the knowledge that they need to be intelligent, hard-working, honest people. We as adults need to steer them clear from the evils of this world. Sexual relations are dangerous for children, as are drugs. Yet for some reason, we allow drug companies to associate drugs and sex with positive messages. The ads may not be targeted at young minds, but when these products are promoted on televised sporting events, they reach those young minds nevertheless. It is essential that as adults.