Introduction
The quest for information is growing daily and the relevance of media as a supplier and disseminators of information to large populations cannot be overemphasized. The Media is recognized as a powerful tool that is indispensable and capable of presentation of factual and balanced information that can shape public opinions and enhance structural change in human behaviour. However, their roles today are becoming more worrisome and misunderstood especially in the area of sexuality. There exist today raging controversies surrounding the way sexuality is being portrayed in the media in respect of the way the media tends to reinforce stereotypes and coverage of sexual issues (Tiemoko, 2006. p.6-10) and the extent of religious silence over these media activities.
Today, a publication might be regarded as incomplete without featuring a scantily clad girl or presenting sex figures (Suzanne, et al (2006). The preponderance of sexual attractive scenes inform of entertainment is becoming appalling and called for concern especially in this age that the younger ones are the closest to such media especially the visual media (e.g. television, video, etc). The effects of uncontrolled, uncultured and illicit sexual behaviour such as HIV/AIDS, unwanted/unplanned pregnancies, dropping out of school, unemployment, poverty, crimes, and overall consequences on economic development cannot be overemphasized. Thus, there is need for adequate assessment to discover and filter out wrong information and the sources of such information in the lives of these adolescents who are supposed to be the future leaders of our society.
Regulation of sexual behaviour supposed to be the general concern of many religious groups at all times and in every setting. But the extent to which any religious group can regulate sexual behaviour of her congregation or society depends on whether such religion is world–rejecting in its response to the prevalence of societal values or whether it has become world affirming (Ojo, 2007). The side in which the religion belongs determines the perspective of sexuality as well as her response to the society in which it operates.
While some evangelical groups have succeeded in conservatism approach to sexual behaviour, several have veered away from this traditional religious conservatism. The Oneida community of New York in the mid-eighteenth century practiced free love with common wives and single family structure and the Mormons practice of a form of polygamy that encouraged mating to populate the world with godly children (Foster, 1994). Also the Odumosu Emmanuel, the Jesus of Oyingbo’ saga at Maryland, Lagos is another vivid example of possession of sexual privileges over female members and wives. There are therefore several initiatives that encourage sexual latitude in the Christendom today with yet untold effects on the new generation of adolescents among which is the global news of recent ordination of homosexual gays as priests and Bishops in Anglican sect. All these are pointers to the sexual latitude being permitted by the church. The manner in which religious groups especially christianity permits, is silent on adult entertainment and all its associate influencing factor of sexuality raises questions on what the moral responsibility of churches is regarding sexuality and it also raises question about the new societal perspective of responsible sexuality.
According to Monroy de Valasco (1982), the developing countries have over 1 billion adolescents who are physically old enough to reproduce but who are far too young to be responsible healthy parents of healthy children (Monroy de Valasco, 1982). The above assertion could not be unconnected with the absence of the vital sexuality information in homes and uncontrolled access the young folks are having to mostly uncensored scenes. Ill-informed children especially in the areas of procreativity could engender irresponsible adults/parents with great adverse effect on their siblings and the circle might continue if nothing is done to salvage the situation. Thus, this research was instituted to break the circle of misinformation and misperceptions regarding adult entertainment in our society.
The globalization of western culture, although with positive advancement in economic development, has engendered infiltration of this culture into fabrics of Nigeria system with visible dominance (Rodney, 1976). This is more pronounced in some lifestyles like dressing, speaking, work ethics, mode of entertainment and views on sexuality. One of the sources of this is adult entertainment pivoted and propelled by the media. Adult entertainment comprises all activities where predominantly women perform sexual acts for payment that include all sex shows, live sex shows – lap and pole dancing, sports bars, stripping, saunas (with extras), prostitution. It also includes ‘pay-to-view’ internet access and TV/DVD’s, pornography, telephone sex lines, sex shops, etc. (YWCA, 2006). It is no gain saying that these activities have crept into Nigerian society and remained till date due, amongst others, to the hunger for westernization.
In all spheres of life, sexuality is considered vital and unavoidable especially in the religious arena where it is traditionally affirmed to be a divinely bestowed blessing for expressing love and generating life and for mutual companionship and pleasure but it also so much bedeviled with misuse, exploitation, abuse, and suffering (RAND Health, 2007). This therefore implies that sexuality matters require wisdom which should begin to develop from childhood. Inasmuch as it is vital for the young people to know about their sexuality, it is equally vital that the sources of such information should be unbiased, free from misconception and thoroughly monitored by the older people like the parents. Thus, this study was therefore carried out to examine the effect of adult entertainment, assess its level of pollution and its potential magnitude in terms of influencing adolescents’ sexual behaviour.
Testable propositions were proffered to ascertain whether adult entertainment has adverse effect on young adolescents’ sexuality, to confirm parents’ style in Nigeria as encouragement to accessing obscene materials and test whether sex education can serve as a substitute to adult entertainment in the sex lives of adolescents.
The apriori expectation was that the study will help in providing solution to wrong and inappropriate sex information brought about by exposure to adult entertainment by young adolescents. It is conceived that adult entertainment could implant misconceptions about sex into the young folks and lead to wrong and inappropriate demonstration of such sexual activities that may inadvertently degenerate to unimaginable delinquencies such as teen-parenting, abortion, masturbation, rape, exhibitionism, voyeurism, to mention but few. This pilot study would however lay foundation for a bigger study from which other generalizations can be made
Literature Review
Adolescence and sexual development
According to Dehart, Sroufe & Cooper (2004), adolescence can be thought of as a second revolution in human development, the first occurring during the toddler period, when a child emerges from an infant. During adolescence, a child is transformed into a young adult and qualitative advances can be visible in all developmental areas especially the physical changes. Just as toddlers lose their former babyish shape, so do adolescents lose the look of children. Not only do they grow taller, heavier and stronger, but their body proportions change and secondary sex characteristics develop. For males this includes a broadening of the shoulders, enlargement of the genitals, and growth of hair on various parts of the body. For females it includes widening of the hips, development of breasts, and the growth of pubic and underarm hair. Both sexes, of course, acquire the capacity for reproduction.
Adolescents develop a much greater feeling of autonomy, which is why psychoanalytic theorists refer to adolescence as a second individuation. The first individuation occurs in toddler hood, when children come to understand their basic separateness from parents (Dehart et al; 2004). In adolescence, the individuation process is carried much further. Now young people come to understand they have inner feelings that even parents cannot know. Accompanying this individuation is deidentification with parents (Dehart et al; 2004). Teenagers are moving towards their own ideals, goals, and values, their own unique characters. They are establishing a sense of personal identity; a knowledge of who they are as separate from their parents, and of what their place in the world is.
Most adolescents do not receive any information about reproduction or contraception from their parents. It was established that the level of discussion on sexuality between children and their parents is a function of the quality of the relationship they have with them (Papini, et al, 1998) as well as their levels of self esteem and individuation (Papini et al; 1998). This last point suggests that young adolescents especially, will not bring their sexual concerns to their parents because they are still in the early stages of the process of individuation. Because of this, they tend to turn to some other sources of information on their sexuality.
Obscenity and sexual behaviour
There is widespread belief that a causal relationship exists between an allegedly increased dissemination of obscene material and the increase of juvenile
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