"The Joy of Teen Sex," new British TV show, angers parenting groups, unsurprisingly

A controversial new British TV show, The Joy of Teen Sex, premiering January 19, has been called "soft porn" by the leading broadcasting watchdog, Mediawatch. The show, which airs on recently nationalized Channel 4, teaches teenagers Kama Sutra positions, contains graphic images of lesbian sex, and offers a "guide to anal sex." You know, regular Leave it to Beaver stuff.

Mediawatch spokeswoman Vivienne Pattison, whose job is basically to complain about content like this, said "It is basically titillation television. It crossed the prurient line. It's soft porn. It's aimed at arousing the audience." The show centers around visitors to a walk-in clinic called the Sex Advice Shop, where a team of three women, a doctor, social worker, and "resident sex coach" lend their expertise and support to young people and, sometimes, their parents.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said her piece: "Sex is part of every teenager's life. This new series is not your typical sex education program. It offers a frank exploration of the love and sex lives of today's teenagers. It presents solutions to the emotional and physical problems that many of them experience."

In the first episode, shocking images are shown to a seventeen-year-old lesbian named Kim, who is "keen to learn some more tricks to pleasure girls." Ms. Pattison, in full watchdog mode, said "The program says it's concerned about the pressure that's applied to teenagers to have sex. However, that's exactly what it is doing." No doubt the show's title is a bit loaded. Perhaps if it was called "Preventing STDs with Dr. Drew," the prudes with attitudes wouldn't get so exercised.