Last week, Sons Of Anarchy was aired as normal. Remaining rigid and tough, this program received lots of back talk about the bare back side of Charlie Hunnam. While many did not see this as a shock, the PTC (Parents Television Council) felt otherwise. Racy and provocative, leaving nothing to the imagination, SOA was fed yards of slack to chew by the PTC.
“It’s official: In order to watch cable news, ESPN, Disney or the History Channel, every family in America must now also pay for pornography on FX,” Tim Winter, president of PTC said.
Pornography you say? Viewers wish! A bare bottom and heavy breathing are far from pornography. You don’t need to frequent sexy sites and magazines to know this. That being said, Sons Of Anarchy is what many would consider an “after hours” television show, which airs at 10 pm on the east coast. Some would consider that time in the evening when racier shows should be allowed to air. At this time the young ones are most likely in bed or at least winding down. I remember hearing my parents call this “adult time,” while watching NYPD Blue back in the 90s. That was a show that also showed a few bare bottoms once or twice. The worst part for most young ones is watching those awkward moments with parents in the same room and vica versa.
Sticking to fictional shows, lets point out a few things. ABC Family aired a TV show called The Secret Life Of The American Teenager in 2008. This show began with a fifteen year old girl getting pregnant at band camp after engaging in a one night stand. As the show progressed, multiple adult subject matters were tackled. Drugs, abortion… more sex… the list continues, and all of this was aired before a 10pm time slot. Although there were protest from parents against The Secret Life, the show was aimed at pre-teens and teens, unlike SOA, which is targeted towards adults. ABC Family, is a station created for families to enjoy together as FX has never presented itself as a family friendly station.
In 1998, people were given Sex and The City. This funky-fun, one night stand filled, sexually active female power show took us by storm. Very realistic to real life and filled with sex scenes, this show continues to air episodes from six wonderful seasons during the day, when the sun is out and children are awake. A horror? Hardly. Sex and The City airs on E, along with Keeping Up with The Kardashians, Fashion police and E News, where you can find all the hot celeb gossip that every teen and preteen is dying to imitate and chatter about with their peers. All of these shows are aired during the daytime.
Everything being laid out on a naughty table, lets end with some simple, smart solutions. Turn on parental controls! Cable companies have added features such as Parental Controls to their systems allowing parents to stay in control of what their kids watch. If adult shows are offensive, simply turn off the television, it might do them, and you, some good. Maybe 10pm is a good time for a game of Scrabble to wind down. With all of the traumatic event happening in 2014 across the globe, the few seconds of bare man bottom pales in comparison to the horrors in the real world. If Sons of Anarchy brings such distress, you may as well lock your doors and cancel your internet, because what is outside of our homes is much more terrifying than skin.
Blog By J Ereine
Image courtesy of Andrés Nieto Porras – Flickr License