TV Series Show Young People Engaged in Sex, but The Reality Is Much Different
Two half brothers with jokes that evolve into an unorthodox relationship. A boyfriend who likes to watch his partner have sex with another guy, whom he will later blackmail for a chip. A couple who usually have sex in public, including in the school locker room. These characters could be part of a light porn movie, but they are in the "Elite" series produced by Netflix. The teenagers, like the plot's target audience, the protagonists attend a wealthy college in Spain, shaken by a murder. But, outside the small screen, do young people so often and so freely exploit the pleasures of the flesh? Recent studies point out that between Americans and the British, responsible for much of the audiovisual content consumed here, the frequency of sex has fallen, contrary to what the spicy scenes of the series show. According to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of American high school students who have had sex went from 54.1% in 1991 to 41.2% in 2015. Even in the wake of normalizing nontraditional relationships, from the variety of condoms available to dating applications, the meaning of going to bed in these countries tends more to be more of an idea than a reality. In Brazil, the limited data available on young people's sex lives indicate that many lose their virginity earlier than Americans and Europeans. The Face of Global Sex, conducted by the Durex condom brand in 37 countries, showed in 2012 that Brazilians have their first time around age 17. In the UK and the US, sex only happens after age 18. In Spain, between 19 and 20. Thus, series such as the British "Skins" or the American "Euphoria," which caused a stir by its explicit sex and drugs scenes, seem out of place.