Reality TV Show Challenges Teenagers To Go 5 Months Without Sex

[matcom]

<snip>

TWELVE teenagers are facing a challenge to go five months without sex in a new British reality television show, the BBC announced today.

The show will follow six boys and six girls aged 15 to 17 as they are coaxed into favouring celibacy over sex.

The show will see the dozen share a house for a weekend to test whether they can resist the urge to get frisky.

No Sex Please, We're Teenagers is the brainchild of Christian youth workers Dan Burke and Rachael Gardner.

The duo are to set up a "Romance Academy" to teach the teenagers the ways of good old-fashioned courting, rather than the booze-fuelled romp that led to one of the young folks, 15-year-old Wesley, losing his virginity at the age of 12.

Of the teens, all from Harrow in northwest London, three will start the show with their virginity intact.

They include 17-year-old Andre, who became a Christian after hearing a speech on saving sex for marriage, and Mounisha, 16, a Hindu girl who says she is waiting to "meet the right person".

"Rachel and Dan have both practised celibacy and think that teenagers would be much happier if they were involved in long-term, serious relationships," said a BBC spokeswoman.

"With teenage pregnancy and sexually-transmitted disease rates in Britain the highest in Europe, this documentary gives them the chance to test their beliefs."

The show is to start in September.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16390067-13762,00.html

[MildyRules]

1. "The show is to start in September."

First baby will be born in July...I give them a month.

[matcom]

2. LOL!

welcome to DU! :hi:

[MildyRules]

4. Thank you! N/T

[gmoney]

3. No fair...

...they're starting with virgins. They need to have at least 50% typical teenage sex maniacs, otherwise, it's not much of a challenge (and will probably be very drab TV).

[Trigger Hippie]

7. I agree,

it would be way more interesting if they actually have to give something up that they've already enjoyed.

Hey, G :hi:

[gmoney]

8. Hey Pookie!

:hug: :hi:

[Spinzonner]

5. I take it this isn't a Seinfeld-style contest

[philosophie_en_rose]

30. Must they be master of their domains?

:)

[GOPisEvil]

6. 5 months?

Amateurs. :eyes:

[meow2u3]

10. I am a real pro

I've gone without sex for 12 years!

I can make a killing setting up a freakin' clinic!:D

[SOteric]

21. Now, - wait...

After 10 years, doesn't your virginity grow back? :shrug:

[HEyHEY]

9. I coulda won that one in grade 11 easily

[NewJeffCT]

11. I could have won it anytime between 15-18

no problem at all.

[ghostsofgiants]

28. Shit, I could win that one now

x(

[sakabatou]

12. I would've won too

[Akoto]

13. I would've won that easily. Still could.

:cry:

But seriously, I'm one of those crazy kids that's trying to wait for a particular person. Nothing religious about it, just a personal choice. :]

[smoogatz]

14. What, no Paris Hilton?

You call that a "reality" show?

[Pale Blue Dot]

15. I went 3 years.

And I was engaged.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gmoney]

18. From their parents? (n/t)

[liontamer]

19. if their parents consent to this

i doubt they're going to be much help in the self respect department.

[gmoney]

25. well, there's a difference between participating and viewing

I agree that a parent that permits their kid to do this probably has a screw loose, and that kid is probably so far gone, this exercise in humiliation won't make much difference.

But the poster I was responding to was acting as if TV was responsible for instilling proper values in the kids who watch it. I do feel this kind of programming is exploitive, irresponsible and unsavory, it's NOT TV's job to teach kids morals.

It's sort of like a few years ago when Charles Barkley said that he was not a role model, and that he SHOULDN'T be a role model. People bashed him, but he was right.

[liontamer]

27. i wasn't trying to imply that watching the show would help anybody

I was referring to the effect the show would have on the kids involved. the ones who were supposed to really "benefit" from the show's setup. I don't understand how anybody can justify taking a bunch of kids who are already sexually active and locking them in a house together, saying "don't have sex" and then watching them as though their lives were merely some game. And I was also worried about the three virgins who now are being objectified in the same manner and was wondering how this exercise is supposed to help them learn self respect. It's not as though reality television is known for helping to instill a sense of dignity and self worth. It seems like the creators of this show are either perversely misguided, or perversely cruel.

[Wapsie B]

17. I think there's a few people

who could beat that easily, myself included.

[txaslftist]

24. Whatta you mean 'beat that?'

beat what?

[LisaLynne]

20. I think this is a case of the TV producers ...

buying the Fundamentalist paranoia that everybody is out there having more fun than they are. Honestly.

[gmoney]

26. You mean everyone's NOT having more fun?

I'm no fundie, but I do feel a sort of "depravity deprivation" when I think about today's teens. If teen parties are sex romps straight out of Hedonism these days, as is so widely rumored, I wonder if it will help those kids avoid a life of sexual repression, or if it will deeply mess them up and rob them of their innocence.

[DerekG]

22. Wasn't there a movie about some dork abstaining during Lent?

I was watching the preview thinking: "What, so it's a Herculean task now to keep it in your pants for a month?"

Tune in next week to watch him walk on water.

[regnaD kciN]

31. "40 Days"...

And I must admit that, had I been part of this show when I was a teen, I would have had no trouble winning...despite my best efforts. :-(

[phusion]

23. Wait - 15 year olds don't have sex!

Wouldn't this show border on illegal here in the US?

hehe

[Nikia]

29. I went through longer periods of celibacy than that

In that age range. At that age, I had a lot going on on. There were much more important things to think about than trying to get sex. I also lived in a more socially conservative area, where teens having sex who were not in relationships were considered bad news. For girls, this was especially bad. At my high school, everyone knew everyone and gossip was rampant.

[sasquatch]

32. If they fail will they be forced to wear a huge "W" that means "Whore"?

[Borgnine]

33. I don't believe this.

I'm 21, and I've gone... well, let's just say that in 19 more years, Steve Carrell's movie will be my biography.

[darkism]

34. 5 months? Try 21

...YEARS. :cry: