George Orwell’s 1984 describes, in detail, the promiscuous affair between the married Winston and his mistress, Julia, as they rebel against the authority of the Oceanian government. The sexual content is grossly unnecessary and overly promiscuous, adding no value to the already lacking story. The novel describes sexual content in graphic detail throughout several parts of the story. 1984 serves only to be a source of futile sexual content, therefore harming the quality of life for themselves, their children, and others around them. Consequently, school boards should ban 1984 from high school curriculums nationwide.
First off, sex in media is highly influential towards teens and causes an increased risk of STIs and sexual activity. A study
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Over twenty percent of the sexually active students in the United States “had drunk alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse” (Kann et al.) With the increased sexual activity that accompanies sexual content in media, comes increased drug use. That increased drug use, in turn, leads to increased sexual activity, a never ending cycle of delinquency. The Center for Disease Control and United States Department of Health and Human Services uphold the correlation in a study saying that “alcohol and other drug use is associated with sexual behaviors” (Kann et al.). The drug use associated with sexual activity is bad for students, with quality of life being significantly lower in abusers of opiates and other drugs (Maeyer et al.), There is no reason for a book that increases drug rates to be a required reading in any high school.
In summary, 1984 should be removed from all high school curriculums. The sexual interactions between Julia and Winston are in no way needed, and provide no value at the teenage level. Media containing sexual content is harming teens all around the country and making the overall status of the United States of America worse. Sexual media overall could be considered an epidemic along with the epidemics of teen pregnancy, drug use, and unprotected sex. Going further in time, it should be strongly considered whether or not sexual content in media is good for adolescents, and said media should be properly