‘Glee’ attacked by PTC after last week’s ‘First Time’ episode

The Parents Television Council is advising parents to not let their children watch the TV show "Glee" after last week's episode entitled "The First Time," which dealt with teen sexuality through both heterosexual and same-sex relationships.

According to Melissa Henson, director of communications for the PTC, this is just a publicity stunt done in bad taste.

"For Fox to try and spin this as an educational opportunity is laughable," Henson said. "It is a November Sweeps stunt."

Henson said the sexual themes on "Glee" would have more merit if it were a show typically used by parents to start a conversation about sex, but she doesn't think "Glee" is that type of program, despite the fact that teens get more education about sex from TV than any other source.

Danny Shipka, assistant mass communication professor, is not surprised by the PTC's decision.

"Whenever TV pushes boundaries, you're always going to have watchdog groups that push back against it, especially conservative groups," Shipka said. "Teen sexuality has always been a hot-button issue, and shows like this get people talking about it."

The PTC reaction came out of the theme of sexuality and not the genders involved, Henson said.

"The sexual preferences of the couples involved is irrelevant," Henson said. "If a parent needs a television show to spark an honest and serious conversation about sexual health, then we have bigger problems."

Biochemistry junior Ashley Landry believes "Glee" started out as a wholesome show but has since begun to push the limits of its viewers.

"I don't think it's that much of a kids' show anymore," Landry said. "I don't like to watch that kind of stuff because I have cousins in high school who may think it's okay to do these things, but it's not. ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager' is the worst, though, because someone's getting pregnant every other week."

But Shipka believes the characters' sexual orientations are a factor.

"Watching the virginity of two homosexuals go away in a graphic visual sense probably scared the — pun intended — bejesus out of them, because that has never been explored on network television before," Shipka said. "It's a change and I think there are a lot of older conservative people who are grappling with the fact that homosexuality is now becoming a norm."

Shipka believes that situations on shows like "Glee" are more common for teenagers than people expect, except for the unexpected singing.

"Because the ‘Glee' audience is skewed toward that young adult audience, they are going to emulate it," Shipka said. "But if the ‘Glee' kids were mass murderers, people wouldn't be out murdering. But interestingly enough, I don't think there'd be an issue if they were teen murderers instead of teenagers having sex."

Shipka believes American audiences are better suited to viewing violence than sex.

"This is America. We are okay to shoot somebody but not to screw somebody," Shipka said.

Sexuality has been tuned down on television since the 1980s, according to Shipka. The bottom line is that teens have had sex and they will always have sex, Shipka said.

"This decision by the PTC will do nothing but bring in more viewers during Sweeps," Shipka said. "The issue of losing your virginity has always been on TV, from the '70s, '80s and the '90s."

In today's world, losing one's virginity on a television show is still the same regardless of the sexes involved, Shipka said.

"Losing one's virginity, no matter homosexual or heterosexual, is now the same and that has many watchdog groups nervous," Shipka said. "This is a radical shift from what we were seeing before."

Television does not talk about the consequences of engaging in such actions, Henson said.

This is not the first time the PTC has targeted "Glee." During its first season, the PTC urged parents not to let their children watch an episode entitled "The Power of Madonna," where the Glee students performed Madonna's hit "Like a Virgin" to act out their sexual frustrations regarding losing their virginity.

"It's incumbent for ‘Glee' to be very responsible in the way you deal with these issues of teen sexuality, and ‘Glee' has been consistently irresponsible," Henson said.

The PTC has had some success recently in facilitating the cancellation of shows that do not promote its agenda. NBC's "The Playboy Club" got the axe when the PTC urged advertisers to pull out from the show.

"It was the mainstream pornographic brand that we were primarily concerned with, but also the sexualization of women was a main point we were concerned with as well," Henson said.

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Contact Kittu Pannu at kpannu@lsureveille.com