It’s without a doubt that the media portrays sex and sexual images more frequently so that is not the question at hand, as much as it may seem like it is, it’s not. The real question remains of whether or not our generation the “frequent Anchorman-quoters, Kings of Leon-Kanye West-Drake-listeners, Twitter and Facebook obsessed, Jersey Shore and Teen Mom viewers” generation is more sexual than those of the past.

“Sex is definitely more publicized, it’s not a ‘fad’ like older generations are making it out to be,” said senior Savannah, whose name has been changed. “We’re just made to be more open about it unlike past generations where they had to hide it. I mean it’s not like there are more people having sex, it’s always been a constant…obviously that’s why we’re all here.”

Television, music, advertisement are all things that no one can really run away from. (unless you’re of the Amish sort but then this given questionable subject doesn’t really hold that much water) These three components make up a large sum of American culture but likewise they are also the things that make older generations assume that this ripe generation is more sex driven.

Television is it more raunchy? Well seeing the fact that in mid-50s a married couple couldn’t even be shown sleeping in the same bed without the nation going into cardiac arrest and comparing that to what some shows get away with today. And the only reaction from the public is “That’s some good Wednesday night television,” should make that answer come to the tip of the tongue.

“Older generations are looking at it wrong, the great publicity of teen moms doesn’t mean everyone is getting pregnant it’s only a small minority that the media is focusing on since they can,” said Savannah, “and maybe it’s not a bad thing. Teen mom is a good source of birth control.”

If anything music was ahead of the game. The envelope was pushed earlier on, for example take Elvis and his gyrating, the Beatles with “Please, Please Me”, Led Zeppelin’s “The Lemon Song”, Warrant’s “Cherry Pie”, and who could forget Sir Mix-A-lot’s “Baby Got Back”. The only difference between then and now is how blatant the lyrics come about.

“Music has always been equally as bad. Look at today’s music and a song like Roxanne, that song is about prostitution,” said junior Reid Doss.

As far as advertisement goes let’s just say Paris Hilton washing cars to sell a burger, enough said.

With every industry throwing sex into the minds of teenagers it may come to a bit of a shock that “43 percent of teen girls and 42 percent of teen boys have had sex at least once by the age of 19. That’s down from 51.1 percent of girls and 60.4 percent of boys in 2002,” according to a recent study reported by the Houston Chronicle.

Fewer teens may be sexually active but the age at which some of this generation starts at being so has significantly gotten younger and younger. “Almost one in 10 Texas 6th graders have had sex… Males are significantly more likely than their counterparts to report having sex for the first time before age 13.” All data gathered from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the CDC’s Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the University of Texas Prevention Research Center’s All About Youth study.

“If someone told me ‘When I was younger I lost my tooth not my virginity’ I’d be mad cause sex is just was relevant as it once was,” junior Rain Shanks said. “It’s a personal decision that varies from person to person. It always has been”

Well maybe this generation isn’t more “sexual” as most think perhaps the media has made it more available. The past youth had to hide their sexuality, yet sex still occurred and now that’s just not the case.

“The generations beforehand have been pushing the envelope. I don’t buy that this generation is more moraless on their own, it’s the media and spectacle makers and clearly the teens of the U.S.A. aren’t running those scenes at all, they’re just consumers,” one parent said