"'We are just so, like, liberated!'"

There's really no sound reason to use a certain dialect to convey stupidity or airheadedness. I am Californian and I say "like" all the time. It reflects where I'm from, but it has nothing to do with my personality, maturity, or knowledge.

Stigmatizing dialects is a major form of prejudice and is closely associated with classism, racism, and regionalism. And I'm positive that there are features of your dialect (or anyone else's) that are stigmatized.

My god, you can actually see the conversations, even with all the other words cut out. On another note, It's been a while since I touched upon the Foucault sexuality theories, but doesn't he say something along the lines of constant sex talk being a way of controlling what we do in our bedrooms?

N.b. The program was originally to be titled "The Sex Life of the American Teenager."

I think I need some more context here. It just seemed like they said sex SO MANY TIMES. I've never seen this show, so is this a typical episode? Because I could see a running gag where the word "sex" was repeated between characters, like so:

Concerned Father: You're having sex?
Son: Sex?!
CF: Sex.
S: I'm not having sex.

And then later,

Concerned Father: I think our son's having sex!
Concerned Mother: Sex?!
CF: Sex.
CM: Sex?
CF: Sex.
CM: I can't believe he's having sex.

Etc.

I've seen the show. it's basically that.

I'm not well-versed with Foucault's ideas about sexuality but, based on what is written here, I think I would agree with him.

It seems to me that Westerners often look down on non-Westerners because, typically, Western cultures are much more open about sexuality, at least in the sphere of public culture. However, openness does not necessarily equate with sophistication or with "liberation" (whatever that entails). This openness can be completely vacuous, as this post points out. It can also be used in a chauvinistic way - the idea that because sexuality takes a much more public and prominent place in Western culture, Western culture has the right to impose its sexual mores or sexual culture on the rest of the globe.

I've never seen The Secret Life (Pretty Little Liars being my vapid ABC Family dram-com of choice). And I guess there are two sides of the coin; since we're more open about discussing sexuality, especially for teenagers and women in general, safe sex practices have increased and teen pregnancy has decreased since more repressed times. Many older adults will claim that in their day, they did it less, and maybe they did, but it was a lot more dangerous for a 15 year old to have sex because hey, what's a condom guys? She's more likely to get pregnant. They just used cutesy terms like "P.G" and "taking care of an Aunt in Florida" to cover it up. Not talking about it didn't do any good.

At the same time, while talking about sex, we can't just say 'sexsexsexsexsex' and expect that to do something.

Casey-

You live in a world where you can no longer separate sociology from feminism, or the study of other isms.
As Howard Zinn would say, "You can't be neutral on a moving train."

As other readers have said - this is EXACTLY what the show is like.

But it is NOT at all "liberating." There is a ton of slut-shaming and victim-blaming. It's really, really bad. And also unrealistic how much these teens talk about sex to their parents (I'm sure some teens are that open, but not every single teenager in an entire town).

Getting our teens to realize what sex is, what it entails, and the consequences thereof is excellent. I hated the "taboo" of sex when I was growing up. I was taught to fear sexual thoughts and emotions, and encouraged to "just not think about it." I began to fear the questions I had, and wound up berating myself for years for thinking such things. I honestly believe that removing the "evil taboo" from sex in our society would be a very healthy thing. The catch is that education must be instated to replace the existing deterrents. Teenagers are going to have sex if they so desire. This is a known fact. There's little that parents, teachers, or clergymen can do about it. We don't have to give our sons and daughters free passes to get it on whenever the mood strikes. Not by a long shot. But the better educated they are about safe sex, how easily diseases are spread, the repercussions of a pregnancy, and the psychological and emotional effects it has on the parties involved, the better off this next generation is going to be. We need to at least try and keep the intellect and the hormones progressing at close to the same rate.

Now, this tripe on television? I'm thinking its benefit on our society's youth is minimal at best. It may assist the teens in speaking about sex easier and more often, but I'm doubting that this show incorporates any educational value in it what-so-ever. I'm seeing the show using the common theme of sex to keep teenagers excited about the program. Using sex as a gimmick to our teens... *sigh*