Every 7 seconds | Mark’s Remarks

Did you ever hear that guys think about sex every seven seconds? I’m a guy.  I don’t know about every seven seconds, but I can tell you guys think about it a lot. Guys like to talk about it with other guys from time to time.

Sex is a big deal to guys.

You’ve probably figured out that guys are way different than women. Just when I think I may have women figured out, I am completely blindsided by something and I have no idea where women are coming from.  

I don’t think women understand why men are so preoccupied with sex, but I’m pretty sure it has to do with how women are more connected to the emotional side of things and men are more physical.

Where am I going with this? Well, I’ve been watching game shows a little this summer and I am amazed at how many questions deal with sex in one way or another. Family Feud in particular seems to be preoccupied. The writers must be all guys.  

Just the other night, we watched two half hours of the show. I turned it off after I realized my kids were no longer coming in and out of the room but were sitting there watching intently.

The first couple of categories dealt mostly with innuendo, but the next category blew me away. It seems the writers  of the show, or the people who do the survey, asked a group of people what a stripper would put on the stripper pole if she were jealous of a new stripper. What? Who cares? Some of the answers were disgusting and not funny. Just another reason for the already funny Steve Harvey to mug at the camera.

Since I started thinking I might write a column about this, I turned it back on in another room, mainly out of curiosity but also to see if the trend of the show continued. There were questions about free time, rooms in a house and food. At least two answers from each team and for each category dealt with sex in one way or another.  Pretty much any topic can be linked back to sex if you try hard enough.

Now look folks, I’d be lying if I said I was prim and proper about this stuff.  I’ve joined in with locker room talk in the past. Not lately, but let’s just say I wouldn’t blush if I was around it again. I laugh and joke around a bit too much about inappropriate things.  I’ll admit it.

I think being a father of impressionable kids plus being a school teacher of young folk helps one tame both language and thought processes. We start to think about these kids more and what they are hearing or seeing and it tends to make us act a little more decent.

Guys don’t like to say things about being appalled by such talk or innuendo because they are afraid other guys will think there’s something wrong with them. Hey guys, let’s get over ourselves. We are so caught up in what we think of one another that we are not speaking up.

Frankly, I think most of us are fed up with seeing the stuff and hearing the stuff our kids are exposed to. I’m tired of seeing and hearing young boys say rude and nasty things around girls. I’m tired of seeing girls with their butt cheeks hanging out of their shorts with words like “sassy” and “juicy” plastered across their back ends.

Furthermore, you’ve got parents living vicariously through their kids, allowing their kids to do things they themselves would still like to be doing. Some parents never made it out of a high school mentality. 

Kids are dating and hanging out, unsupervised with  one another. I had a parent tell me a few years ago that the daughter loved to put on her bikini and wash their car in the driveway. The kid was 13 years old. I found it disturbing.

Is it any wonder these kids are becoming sexually active earlier and earlier?  Teen pregnancy and abortion are becoming more and more common.  

Kids don’t need phones with internet access. Kids need restrictions on computer usage and need parents who monitor what they are doing. If you don’t have time for that, figure out how to alter your lifestyle.  

Turn off Family Feud and other seemingly harmless shows because I’m telling you, kids are being affected and becoming curious.

I think it’s time we got tougher as parents. I think we should stop being so entertained by everything sexual, and I think we need to for sure watch what we let our kids hear or see – especially if we are “adulting” either with conversation or entertainment choices.

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Mark Tullis

Mark is a 25-year veteran teacher teaching in Columbia. Originally from Fairfield, Mark is married with four children. He enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with his family, and has been involved in various aspects of professional and community theater for many years and enjoys appearing in local productions. Mark has also written a "slice of life" style column for the Republic-Times since 2007.
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