Pedophilia Sells: The Rampant Sexualization of Teenagers in the Media

Gabe Smith

Department of English, Weber State University

English 2015: Intermediate College Research and Writing

Mrs. Jennifer Waldrip

April 23, 2023

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Pedophilia Sells: The Hypersexualization of Teens in the Media

Image Credit: HBO/ Euphoria

People often think of teenagers as rebellious delinquents and this stereotype is reflected

in the media. Think of any teen TV show or movie and chances are those teens will be shown

partying, drinking, smoking, and of course, having sex. Although, this representation is not

exactly accurate. Charles Fain Lehman (2020) – contributing writer at the Institute for Family

Studies – shares results from the 2019 iteration of the YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey)

which found that teens are far more risk-averse than they have ever been. He states, “Fewer than

40% of American high schoolers have ever had sexual intercourse, a decline of over 15

percentage points since the early 1990s (Lehman, 2020, para. 1).” These numbers have only

decreased since the pandemic, yet representations of teens remain exaggerated. These

representations can cause real-life consequences for minors who are directly influenced by the
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media. Hollywood’s hypersexualization of teens is inaccurate and almost pedophilic when

comparing the age of the characters and the sexual content that’s being produced.

One of the biggest problems with the representation of teens in TV and film is the people

playing them. Toni Bryanne (2022), who runs a commentary YouTube channel with over

100,000 followers, explains that the actors portraying teens on screen are usually in their mid to

late 20s. Casting adult actors in young roles has a negative influence on teens and their

self-image. I remember when I first watched Riverdale in 6th grade and one of the main

characters, 15-year-old Archie, was played by a 19-year-old. Although this age difference isn’t as

drastic as other shows, the differences were still noticeable. With Archie’s perfectly toned body

and clear skin, he had very little resemblance to an actual 15-year-old. Being a young and

impressionable chubby kid, I believed I was supposed to look like Archie when I was 15, which

later caused eating problems and an unhealthy relationship with exercising. While I don’t totally

blame Riverdale for my poor self-image, it was definitely a contributing factor. The sad truth is

that I am not alone in this issue. Youth motivational speaker Jonny Shannon (n.d.) states, “At

least 30 million people in the U.S. are living with an eating disorder. Eating disorders have the

highest mortality rate of any mental illness, including depression (para. 16).” Shannon attributes

the media as a direct influence on eating disorder rates and teens’ poor confidence in their

appearance.

Another problem with the representation of teens in the media is the sexualization of

teenage characters. Archie from Riverdale, for example, has a sexual relationship with his

30-year-old teacher. As I previously mentioned, Archie’s supposed to be 15 and the show glazes

over the complete absurdity of their relationship by calling it “forbidden love”, as if the two were

Romeo and Juliet and not a child and an adult. Pedophilia is actually a common thing in a lot of
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these teen shows. Pretty Little Liars similarly features a high school student dating their teacher,

Riverdale also shows a 16-year-old character stripping for adult men, Euphoria has a storyline

where a 17-year-old girl sleeps with her classmate’s dad as well as a 16-year-old girl becoming a

cam girl, and the list only goes on. Imperium writer Vanya Goel (2022) discusses this issue

explaining, “The hyper-sexualization of teens in shows feeds a deeper narrative of pedophilic

ideas in Hollywood and on social media.” (para. 5). The directors and producers of these shows

could’ve easily changed the setting of their show to be college instead of high school, which

better fits the characters mature sex lives and relationships, but they didn’t. One must wonder

why so many directors choose to make teen media with pedophilic content.

Although the hypersexualization of teens in the media is cause for concern, some say it’s

necessary to shed light on the issues that many teenagers still go through. All of the explicit

content these shows highlight does happen and it would be overcorrective to remove all of it just

because it isn’t appropriate for the age of the characters. Although, many of the authors I

discussed as well as I believe there’s still a way to discuss sex and sexuality without objectifying

the characters.

This issue is crucial in changing the way teens are represented in the media. If change

isn’t made, more teens will incorrectly attribute their value to their looks and sexuality. For the

safety of teenagers, pedophilic content shouldn’t be featured in the media, and at the very least it

shouldn’t be normalized.
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References

Bryanne, T. (2022, December 22). The Hypersexualization of Teens and Children in Hollywood

[Video]. Toni Bryanne TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oW-U338Ljs

Goel, V. (2022, Febuary 19). Euphoria and the Hyper-Sexualization of High School. Imperium.

https://www.imperiumpublication.com/post/euphoria-and-the-hyper-sexualization-of-hig

h-school

Lehman, C. F. (2020, September 1). Fewer American High Schoolers Having Sex Than Ever

Before. Institute for Family Studies.

https://ifstudies.org/blog/fewer-american-high-schoolers-having-sex-than-ever-before

Shannon, J. (n.d.). The Impact of Over Sexualisation of Our Teens. Jonny Shannon.

https://www.jonnyshannon.com/blog/how-medias-sexualisation-has-affected-our-teens