While lounging around one evening, watching Sex and the City, I couldn’t help but think what a disturbing a lifestyle the show’s characters live.

With as much sex as they are constantly having, it crossed my mind that they could not possibly be “single and fabulous” — they must be more along the lines of single with many sexually transmitted diseases.

Most of the women in Sex and the City change partners from episode to episode, and they don’t talk about much more than their sexual experiences. Are adults really this sex-driven? Does society influence these television shows, or do they end up influencing us?

A 2004 study by RAND Health behavioral scientist Rebecca Collins found that teens who watch a lot of television with sexual content are more likely to have sex within the following year. Collins also discovered that when characters on a television show talk about sex, the impact on teen viewers is the same as when sexual activity is actually shown.

These results speak for themselves: We see sex on television and we want to have the experiences, too, and running away from sex on TV is not as easy as it may sound.

Even Elmer Fudd was attracted to Bugs Bunny when Bugs dressed like a girl. This is a much less obvious example of sexualized content than what is shown on Nip/Tuck, but sexual innuendo still exists, even in children’s shows. We are exposed to sexual lifestyles in childhood, and the exposure grows as subtlety shrinks.

I remember being in high school with an addiction to Dawson’s Creek.

In all honesty, I would come away from that show being more intrigued with the idea of sex than I ever was when talking with my friends. These characters were supposed to be my age, but some of them already had sex, which seemed hard to comprehend at the time. One of the characters actually had sex with his teacher. I realize that shows need to gain and keep the audience’s attention, but what message does this deliver?

The message is that this is all normal behavior. What we end up perceiving as “normal” delivers the impression that it is OK.

There is much more to the daily grind than sex. Emotions are much more valuable and relatable aspects of our lives than simply performing the act of sex. So, why are the most important aspects of human life eliminated on television? We are not basic beings. To make us appear so is damaging to our ability to grow. In a world where all we see around us is sex, how are we able to become intrigued with anything more?