Parents Television Council Pissed About ‘Family Guy’ (Again)

Family Guy has once again come under fire for its content, and the complaint comes from our old pals at the Parents Television Council.

You know what really grinds their gears? Jokes about sexual violence against children and teens, which the PTC claims is a population group that is the butt (pun not intended) of these types of jokes more often than not.

According to the group, jokes or humorous depictions of rape, statutory rape, molestation, or pedophilia against children were involved in 91% of the series’ scenes of sexual violence in the 2014-2015 season, up from 75% in 2012-2013.

“Why would we ever want to be in the position to laugh at humanity’s wors[t] offenses against children?” asked PTC President Tim Winter in a recent press release. “And at whose expense are we being asked to laugh? At a time when nearly one in three women in America is sexually abused, why would a television network air a primetime program that routinely asks us to laugh at sexual violence?”

As easy as it is to understand that sexual violence is a major issue, we have two main reasons to support Family Guy:

First, they are and should be allowed to say anything they want. Censorship in any form is unnecessary and downright un-American. Sure, some things on Family Guy are obviously ripe for offense, but if we censored everything that someone took exception to, we wouldn’t be allowed to speak our minds freely or go on FOX News and call Obama a “skinny ghetto crackhead.” (Which is exactly what former PTC President L. Brent Bozell III did back in December of 2011.)

Second, sexual violence will exist whether or not Family Guy discusses it. And it’s not like the show glorifies it. Winter claims the show’s content could “desensitize” or “trivialize” children to it, but that would assume kids aren’t being taught about the immorality or consequences of such actions elsewhere – like from their parents, their teachers, or basically anywhere else that isn’t a cartoon TV show. I mean, honestly, is joking about this content on Family Guy any worse than the countless number of drama shows that feature sex crimes, murder, assault, or other heinous acts every single episode, and as the main focus of the series as a whole? Law and Order: SVU has made a living off this for the last 16 years. It may do a better job of illustrating the consequences, but as far as desensitization goes, SVU is way worse.

If kids (and we’re actually talking about teens here, as Family Guy and SVU are both TV-14) have to be confronted with the harsh realities of the real world (which also occurs constantly on the news) I’d much rather have them laughing most of the time than getting depressed or hooked on the “entertainment” element of watching these crimes brutally reenacted week after week.