13 Reasons Why – Family Council

Group Asks Netflix to Cancel “13 Reasons Why”

Aug 21, 2019Jerry CoxPro-Life13 Reasons Why, Life, Netflix, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life, Suicide

One Million Moms (1MM) released a statement today calling on Netflix to remove the show “13 Reasons Why” from its streaming service.

The controversial television series has drawn flak for its depictions of teens suicide and violence.

Back in 2017, John Stonestreet with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview wrote,

If you’re a parent, chances are you’ve heard about the series [“13 Reasons Why”]. If you’re a parent in a place like Colorado Springs, where literally dozens of teenagers have committed suicide in recent years, you’re probably asking yourself whether the show will only make a bad situation worse.

Unfortunately, two years later, those concerns appear to be valid.

Last May a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology found monthly suicides among youths ages 10 – 17 increased by nearly one-third following the release of “13 Reasons Why.”

Our friends at American Family Association have written about 14-year-old Anna Bright, who took her own life after binge watching “13 Reasons Why.”

Initially, when people criticized the show’s graphic depiction of suicide and violence, Netflix was publicly defiant, telling shareholders, “It [13 Reasons Why] is controversial. But nobody has to watch it.”

Recently, however, Netflix opted to delete the graphic suicide scene from Season 1 of the series.

Now One Million Moms is calling on Netflix to remove the show entirely from its platform, saying,

Netflix is set to release Season 3 of 13 Reasons Why this Friday, August 23. Netflix has also confirmed a fourth and final season that is already in production.
More than two years after the 2017 debut of 13 Reasons Why, Netflix finally responded to concerns about the negative impact of the controversial suicide-themed series. Netflix deleted Season 1’s three-minute graphic teen suicide scene. But that was after releasing a second season about suicide, rape, sexual assault, and mental illness, and now a third season with a teen homicide as the focus of the show’s darkness, violence, and perversion.
Although 1MM acknowledges the removal of Season 1’s suicide scene and applauds that there is an end in sight for the series, 1MM is not giving in or giving up. 1MM and our parent ministry, American Family Association, are pressing on, stronger now more than ever. Together, we are putting the maximum pressure on Netflix to pull all seasons of this dangerous series from its streaming service.
The whole series is a dark and depressing primer for impressionable young people, inviting them to enter a realm of perversion, hatred, and violence.

Parents can learn more and sign a petition calling on Netflix to pull “13 Reasons Why” here.

Photo Credit: Brian Cantoni (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cantoni/10715878456) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Teen Suicides Went Up Following Controversial Netflix Drama, Study Finds

A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology indicates that youth suicides spiked following the release of the controversial Netflix series “13 Reasons Why.”

The study found monthly suicides among youths ages 10 – 17 increased by nearly one-third following the release of the series.

“13 Reasons Why” is a Netflix show about a high school girl who takes her own life, leaving behind cassette tapes to explain the reasons she decided to commit suicide.

The series was based on a novel by the same name.

Both the novel and the Netflix series have been blamed for an uptick in teen suicides — a phenomenon known as “suicide contagion.”

When teenagers see suicide depicted onscreen, they become more susceptible to suicide themselves — especially if they feel a connection to the character.

Needless to say, Netflix has taken a lot of flak for continuing to run the show, but CEO Reed Hastings defended the decision last year, telling shareholders, “13 Reasons Why has been enormously popular and successful. It’s engaging content. It is controversial. But nobody has to watch it.”

This latest study seems to confirm what many have suspected: That “13 Reasons Why” has contributed to the suicide epidemic among our young people. However, some are trying to downplay the study’s findings.

A different study published a few days ago in the journal Social Science & Medicine found young adults, ages 18-29, were less likely to commit suicide after watching all of the second season of “13 Reasons Why.”

There’s a critical difference between these two studies, however: One looked at pre-teens and teenagers while the other apparently looked at older teens and young adults.

Taken together, the studies seem to indicate that children who watch “13 Reasons Why” may be more likely to take their own lives; young adults might not.

That’s hardly reassuring.

Photo Credit: Brian Cantoni (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cantoni/10715878456) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tag: 13 Reasons Why

Group Asks Netflix to Cancel “13 Reasons Why”

Teen Suicides Went Up Following Controversial Netflix Drama, Study Finds

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