Associated Press version 1
TV Full Of Sex, Sex,
Sex, Study Says
More Safer Sex
Messages Given, Too
WASHINGTON -- Television these days is loaded
with sex, sex, sex -- double the number of sex scenes aired seven years
ago, says a study released Wednesday.
And the number of shows that include
"safer sex" messages has leveled off, the Kaiser Family
Foundation said.
There were nearly 3,800 scenes with
sexual content spotted in more than 1,100 shows researchers studied, up
from about 1,900 such scenes in 1998, the first year of the Kaiser
Family Foundation survey.
Vicky Rideout, a vice president at
Kaiser, says the number of shows that included a message about the risks
and responsibilities of sex is still very small, and has remained flat
since 2002.
About 14 percent of the shows with
sexual content also had discussions of contraception, waiting to having
sex or other "safer sex" messages. While that figure is about
the same as it was in the last study, it's still up from 9 percent in
1998, and Rideout says that's encouraging.
Writers and producers are "seeing
they can do it in a way that is entertaining, that doesn't cost them
anything in the ratings ... and we know from research we've done that it
makes a real difference to the kids in the audience," she said.
The study examined a sample of a week's
worth of programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, PBS, Lifetime, TNT, USA
Network and HBO. Sexual content, as defined in the study, could be
anything from discussions about sex to scenes involving everything from
kissing to intercourse.
The study found that 70 percent of all
shows included some sexual content, averaging about five sex scenes per
hour. That's up from about three scenes per hour in 1998, and from
nearly 4.5 scenes an hour three years ago.
The proportion of shows with sexual
content in prime-time on the major broadcast networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS
and Fox -- also increased, the study said. Nearly eight in 10 network
shows, or 77 percent, included sexual content. That's up from 67 percent
in 1998 and 71 percent in 2002.
Media watchdog groups say there's way
too much sex on television during the hours that kids may be watching.
"Kids who have repeated exposure
to sexual content become sexually active at an earlier age. The research
is absolutely there," said Tim Winter, executive director of the
Parents Television Council.
But an advocacy group funded in part by
the entertainment industry says the V-chip and other tools can help
parents screen the shows their kids watch.
"Some activists will only see
another opportunity to push government as parent, but parents make the
best decisions about what is appropriate for their family to watch and
have the tools to enforce those decisions," said Jim Dyke,
executive director of TV Watch.
Teens watch an average of three hours
of TV a day, according to Kaiser.
The examples of sexual content cited in
the study ranged from discussions of sex on the WB's "Gilmore
Girls" and "Jack & Bobby" to depictions of oral sex
on NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" and sexual
intercourse on Fox's "The O.C."
|
Associated Press version
2
Study Says There Is More Sex on TV
By JENNIFER C. KERR,
Associated Press Writer
"The OC,"
"Desperate Housewives" and other TV shows popular with
teenagers generally have more sex than other programs, a study
says.
TV executives say they're not
pushing sex on children and that if parents don't want their
kids to see certain shows then they have all the tools they
need, including the "off" button.
According to the study released
Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the vast majority of
TV shows — 70 percent — include some sexual content, with an
average of five sex scenes per hour. On the top teen shows, the
number is higher — 6.7 scenes an hour.
The study examined programming
on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, PBS, Lifetime, TNT, USA Network and
HBO. Sexual content could be anything from discussions about sex
to scenes involving intercourse.
The number of scenes involving
sex has nearly doubled since 1998, the study said, from 1,930 to
3,783.
Examples of sexual content
cited ranged from discussions of sex on the WB's "Gilmore
Girls" and "Jack & Bobby" to depictions of
oral sex on NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victims
Unit" and sexual intercourse on Fox's "The O.C."
The study did not offer an
opinion on whether sex on TV is harmful to children. But lead
researcher Dale Kunkel said it's generally established that TV
influences kids.
"Their sexual knowledge,
attitudes, behaviors are all shaped in part by the characters in
stories that television conveys," he said.
Kaiser released the study's
findings at a news conference with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.,
followed by a panel discussion with executives from NBC and Fox,
Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy of the Federal Communications
Commission and others.
Obama, the father of two young
girls, said he shares the concern of many parents about what
their kids are exposed to on television.
"We don't teach our
children that healthy relationships involve drunken, naked
parties in a hot tub with strangers — but that's what they see
when they turn on `The Real World,'" he said, citing a show
on MTV.
"When they're fed a steady
diet of these depictions over and over again from the time
they're very young, this behavior becomes acceptable — even
normal," he said.
Obama said the television
industry needs to do more to help parents better navigate the
ever-growing number of channels and programs. Making TV ratings
easier to understand is one way, he said, adding that that if
broadcasters and cable don't do more they are inviting Congress
to act.
Tony Vinciquerra, president and
chief executive of Fox Networks Group, said parents already have
the controls they need on cable and satellite to block channels
or programs they deem inappropriate.
Parents with regular
over-the-air TV can use the V-chip, technology that's built into
televisions and works with an electronically coded rating system
to identify programs that contain sex, violence or crude
language.
Vinciquerra also said network
executives are aware of parents' concerns. "We have debates
every minute of every day about what goes on television,"
he said.
Vicky Rideout, a vice president
at Kaiser, said the number of shows that included a message
about the risks and responsibilities of sex is still very small,
and has remained flat since 2002.
About 14 percent of the shows
with sexual content also had discussions of contraception,
waiting to have sex or other "safer sex" messages.
While that figure is about the same as it was in the last study,
it's up from 9 percent in 1998.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation is a philanthropic group that studies health care,
including reproductive and AIDS-related issues. It is not
affiliated with the Kaiser medical organization.
___
On the Net:
Kaiser Family Foundation:
http://www.kff.org
|
|
from TV Week
November 9, 2005
Sen. Obama Warns TV to
Clean Up or Congress Will Act
By Doug Halonen
If the industry doesn't take significant
steps to make it easier for parents to control what their children view
on television, Congress will step in and legislate. That was a warning
shot fired by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in a speech Wednesday in
Washington.
"The amount of questionable content spilling across our screens is
growing by the year," Sen. Obama said at a press conference to
release a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that says the number
of sex scenes on TV has been increasing dramatically over the past
several years.
"Once again, we find ourselves asking those in charge to serve the
needs of a nation that has a higher calling than simply peddling
indecency and materialism for profit," the senator said.
The study, which examined a representative example of broadcast and
cable TV network shows, said that 70 percent of programs included some
sexual content this year (with an average of five sex scenes per hour),
while only 56 percent did so in 1998 (with 3.2 sex scenes per hour on
average). Among shows that contained sexual content, the study said, 14
percent included a reference to sexual risks or responsibilities this
year, up from 9 percent in 1998.
But Sen. Obama said he was particularly concerned about the impact
television is having on the ability of parents to instill positive
values in their children. "Raising your children this way has
become exceedingly difficult in a mass media culture that saturates our
airwaves with a steady stream of sex, violence and materialism," he
said.
Sen. Obama also said he is concerned about the message that television
and other media are delivering to children. "It's a concern that
mass media is contributing to an overall coarsening of our
culture," Sen. Obama said. "That with all the time our
children are spending in front of the television, with all the choices
they have to see whatever they want whenever they want, the content of
their viewing is not enriching their minds but numbing them; not
broadening intellectual curiosity or appreciation for the arts, but
trivializing the important and desensitizing us to the tragic."
The study's release comes in the wake of an announcement that the Senate
Commerce Committee is planning a major public forum on decency Nov. 29,
with representatives of the broadcasting and cable TV industry expected
to attend.
|
LA Times
|
Study: TV Content Gets
Increasingly Sexual
By Jesus
Sanchez, Times Staff Writer
The amount of sexual content on
national television has nearly doubled since 1998, with nearly 70%
of all programs containing some sex scenes or related language,
according to a study released today.
Sexual context, including talk about sex and scenes of kissing and
depictions of sexual behavior, was even more commonplace during
evening prime time viewing hours, according to Sex on TV 4, a
biennial study released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Nearly 8 in 10 prime time shows
or 77% included sexual content, averaging 5.9 sexual scenes per
hour.
"Given how high the stakes are, the messages TV sends teens
about sex are important," said Vicky Rideout, a Kaiser Family
Foundation Vice President who oversaw the study, in a statement.
"Television has the power to bring issues of sexual risk and
responsibility to life in a way that no sex ed class or public
health brochure really can."
The number of shows in which sexual intercourse is either depicted
or strongly implied, though higher than in 1998, fell from last
year's 14% to 11%. References to "safer sex" issues or
possible consequences of unprotected sex has also increased since
1998, but the rate has tapered off in recent years, according to
researchers.
"Over the past seven years, more and more Hollywood writers
have incorporated health messages into their programming,"
Rideout said. "But the potential is there to do much
more."
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona,
was based on a sample of a week's worth of programming from the
major broadcast networks as well several cable television
channels, such as HBO and Lifetime, and other outlets. About 1,000
hours worth of programs — excluding newscasts, sports and
children's shows — were reviewed.
Among the 20 most popular shows with teenagers, 70% include sexual
content, and 45% include sexual behavior, according to the study.
The least amount of sexual content was found on reality shows,
with fewer than 28% of programs containing sex scenes or language.
|
|
STUDY FINDS TV SEX CONTENT ON THE RISE
Sen. Barack Obama Criticizes Media
Companies for “Coarsening” the Culture
November 09, 2005
By Advertising Age.com
WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- The Kaiser
Family Foundation today unveiled a report saying one of every 10 TV
shows features or implies sexual intercourse and the number of sexual
scenes on TV has soared since 1998.
 |
| Photo:
AP |
Illinois
Sen. Barack Obama charged that the study indicates broadcasters
are failing to meet their responsibilities.
|
Sharp rise
In its fourth biennial study of TV, the foundation reported that both
the number of shows with sexual content and the number of sexual scenes
has risen sharply. Some 70% of shows now have some sexual content,
compared to 56% in 1998, and there are 5 sexual scenes per hour compared
to 3.2 in 1998. The study excludes news, sports and children’s shows.
In 2002 Kaiser reported 64% of shows
had sexual content, with 4.4 scenes reported in 2002. Kaiser, which
bases its numbers on a sampling of 1,100 shows, defines sexual scenes
broadly, from talking about sex and flirting to kissing and actual
intercourse seen or implied, but breaks down the data by kind of
content.
Still, by one measure the trend from
the last survey was heading downward; the study reported 11% of shows in
2005 had sexual intercourse shown or implied as compared with 14% in
2002.
Senator warns media companies
Speaking at the Kaiser event, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama called growing
sex and violence on TV a symptom of media companies “coarsening” the
culture and warned that Congress would act if the companies didn’t
step in. Mr. Obama charged that the study indicates broadcasters are
failing to meet their responsibilities.
“We need to make it clear that the
free use of the public airwaves continues to come with certain
obligations ... to reflect not the basest elements of American culture
but the profound and the proud,” he said.
Mr. Obama said broadcasters need to act
or Congress will. “The concern shared by so many parents today is that
raising your children has become increasingly difficult in a mass-media
culture that saturates our airwaves with a steady stream of sex,
violence and materialism,” he said.
Childrens' values
While making clear the issue isn’t adult content but specific content,
he said TV is teaching children the wrong values. “We don’t teach
our children that healthy relationships involve drunken, naked parties
in a hot tub with strangers -- but that’s what they see on ‘The Real
World.’ We don’t teach them to express their anger by seeing how
much blood they can draw with a round of ammo, but that’s what they
learn in the most popular video games. And we don’t teach our kids
that the height of success is inheriting a family fortune to buy Gucci
bags without ever working a day in your life, but that’s how Paris
Hilton gets by on ‘The Simple Life.’”
“You can say that kids know this
isn’t real,” Mr. Obama, said, “but when they’re fed a steady
diet of these depictions over and over again from the time they’re
very young, this behavior becomes acceptable -- even normal.”
|
NY
Daily News
Sex and the tube:
It's a happy marriage
|
| Study
says 70% of TV shows do it
|
By
CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
|
 |
| A
sexy scene from 'Life as We Know It' |
|
|
Psst. Want some action? Turn on your TV.
Never
before has the small screen been so awash in sex, sex, sex,
according to a new survey released yesterday.
And
despite the recent FCC crackdowns on Janet Jackson's bared
breast and other titillating television, the number of sex
scenes aired on TV actually has doubled in the last seven years,
the Kaiser Family Foundation found.
"I
can't explain it," Kaiser Vice President Vicky Rideout
said. "There's been a lot of focus from Congress, from the
FCC and advocacy groups, but it doesn't seem to have translated
in terms of the airwaves."
Parents
"have expressed a lot of concern about sexual
content," Rideout added. "But there certainly are some
inconsistencies between the concerns parents make and the shows
they watch."
The
Kaiser researchers sampled a week's worth of programming on ABC,
CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, PBS, Lifetime, TNT, HBO and USA Network.
"The only things excluded were newscasts, children's shows
and live sports," Rideout said.
They
defined sexual content as everything from talking about it to
actually doing it, though they did not find a single example of
explicit sex on TV.
What
they did find is that 70% of the shows included some sexual
content - double what the figure was in 1998, when Kaiser did
its first survey.
They
counted nearly 3,800 scenes with sexual content in more than
1,100 shows that researchers studied, up from about 1,900 such
scenes seven years ago.
One
of the steamiest was on the ABC soap opera "General
Hospital," after the Carly character tells her estranged
husband, "Sonny, I don't want to think."
What
follows, according to Kaiser, are 90 seconds of presumably
simulated sex with "closeup views of the couple's
intertwined bodies."
The
Kaiser researchers also cited depictions of intercourse on Fox's
"The OC," oral sex on NBC's "Law and Order:
Special Victims Unit," and extremely frank sex talk between
the mother and daughter heroines of WB's "Gilmore
Girls."
Rideout
said a small number of the shows surveyed contained messages
about the risks and responsibilities of sex, although, at 14%,
the percentage was still very small.
"They're
finding ways to get the message across in a way that is
entertaining and doesn't cost them in the ratings," she
said. "We know it makes a real difference with the kids in
the audience."
Originally published on November 10,
|
|
Chicago Tribune version
Study: Twice as
much sex aired on TV
By Jeff Zeleny
Washington Bureau
Published November 10, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The number of sex scenes
on American television has nearly doubled since 1998, a new study has
found, as 7 in 10 programs on cable and broadcast networks now contain
an element of sex.
The most popular shows among teenagers--saucy serials like "The
O.C." and "Desperate Housewives"--are more likely than
other programs to feature sexual references or images, according to
the study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
"The study validates what parents know intuitively: Well, duh,
yes, there is more sex on TV," said Kathleen Abernathy, a member
of the Federal Communications Commission. "We need to give
parents better tools. With 200 channels, I feel out of control."
In plot lines and dialogue on TV shows, specific references to safe or
responsible sex have fallen off since the foundation's last study was
conducted three years ago. Among the top 20 highest-rated shows for
teens, only 10 percent of those with a sexual content mentioned the
risks or responsibilities of sex.
The study, which examined a representative sample of a week's worth of
programming, was presented in a forum here with television executives,
advocacy groups and child behavioral experts. The report did not
render judgment on whether an increasing amount of sex on TV is
harmful to children, but Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) offered a pointed
view during a speech at the Kaiser foundation.
"We don't teach our children that healthy relationships involve
drunken, naked parties in a hot tub with strangers--but that's what
they see when they turn on `The Real World,'" Obama said, citing
the long-running reality show on MTV. "When they're fed a steady
diet of these depictions over and over again from the time they're
very young, this behavior becomes acceptable, it even starts seeming
normal."
Obama: Parents need help
Obama, the father of two young daughters, said the television industry
should provide more guidance on the content of its programming. He
said an improved rating system and an easier method of blocking shows
that parents deem to be unsuitable for their children would be
beneficial.
Still, he said, it's the responsibility of adults to monitor their
children's television viewing habits and to be nearby to answer
questions that arise. And, he said, the concern doesn't always revolve
around prime-time shows, but also products featured in commercials.
"When we're in the middle of a family program and a commercial
for Cialis comes on, it's more than a little troubling to find
yourself wondering how you'll explain certain medical conditions that
last longer than three hours," Obama said, referring to ads for
an erectile dysfunction medication.
Researchers for the Kaiser Family Foundation, a philanthropic
health-care organization, analyzed more than 1,100 programs this year
on the three broadcast networks as well as those on Fox, the WB, PBS,
Lifetime, TNT, USA and HBO. Sex scenes have nearly doubled since a
similar study was conducted seven years ago, researchers said, from
1,930 to 3,783. Shows that had sexual content were found to average
five sex scenes per hour.
More than half of all scenes depicting intercourse involved characters
in an established relationship, the study said, while 15 percent
involved people who had sex just after meeting.
At the same time, younger characters are less likely to be seen having
sex. The study found that 89 percent of those depicted having
intercourse on television appeared to be at least 25 years old. One in
10 were teenagers, down from 1 in 4 in the 1998 study.
Still, some members of Congress have placed pressure on television
executives to fight indecency. But television executives said the
burden also rests on parents.
"My show is for adults," said Neal Baer, the executive
producer of the NBC drama "Law & Order: SVU."
"These are not shows for children."
Warning against regulation
If Congress intervenes and dictates what types of story lines can be
used on television, he said, such sensitive topics as gun violence or
abortion could be overlooked. TV offers a unique way to tackle
challenging subjects, he said, and audiences of all political
backgrounds watch.
"It's not just the liberals who are watching `Desperate
Housewives.' It's red states, too," Baer said, referring to the
political term for Republican-dominated states.
Despite ever-evolving technology that allows shows to be downloaded on
the Internet and watched on mobile devices, teens still watch the bulk
of their programming on traditional televisions. Researchers said that
children age 8 and above spend an average of three hours a day
watching TV.
"Their sexual knowledge, attitudes, behaviors are all shaped in
part by the characters in stories that television conveys," said
Dale Kunkel, a professor at the University of Arizona, the project's
lead researcher.
Tony Vinciquerra, the president and chief executive of Fox Networks
Group, said parents already have the ability to block programs at home
through technology like the V-Chip, which is built into televisions.
He said TV executives--many of whom are parents--are aware of the
concern.
"We have debates every minute of every day," he said,
"about what goes on television."
----------
jzeleny@tribune.com
|
Thursday, November 10,
2005
Ron Tom/Paramount Pictures
Neighbor Jalen (Rockmond Dunbar) gets close by massaging Lynn's
(Persia White) feet on a recent episode of
"Girlfriends" on UPN.
 |
Survey: Networks' primetime sexual content has increased
In one week of viewing, researchers found 3,800 scenes with racy content
on more than 1,100 shows.
By Mekeisha Madden Toby / The Detroit News
It could have been all the rolling --
eyes, bodies, moans -- that gave UPN's female buddy show
"Girlfriends" one of the most ribald sex scenes on primetime TV
to date.
The episode, which aired Monday night,
showed actress Tracee Ellis Ross and her on-screen partner, who is in his
80s, in a simulated sex scene. And, in their most intimate, uhm, hour,
Ross's character, Joan, is overwhelmed by his unexpected virility.
Tasteless and timely, "Girl-friends'
" display is an example of TV sex scenes, which have doubled since
the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation first conducted its survey seven
years ago.
Kaiser researchers, who define sexual
content as anything from discussions about sex to scenes involving
everything from kissing to intercourse, sampled a week's worth of
programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, PBS, Lifetime, TNT, USA Network and
HBO -- overlooking UPN.
Researchers spotted some 3,800 scenes
with sexual content on more than 1,100 shows. That's up from about 1,900
such scenes in 1998, according to its study released Wednesday. Shows with
sexual content in primetime on the major broadcast networks -- ABC, NBC,
CBS and Fox -- also increased, according to the study, which revealed that
nearly 8 in 10 network shows, or 77 percent, included sexual content.
That's up from 67 percent in 1998 and 71 percent in 2002. About 70 percent
of all shows included some sexual content, averaging five sex scenes per
hour.
This comes as no surprise to father and
husband, Bill Gill. He and his wife, Chris, often record shows and watch
them after their 6-year-old son Colin has gone to bed.
"Networks are deliberately pushing
the limit," says the 55-year-old Rochester Hills resident. The added
sex is a result of lazy writing, Gill says.
TV Watch, an advocacy group funded in
part by the entertainment industry, says while there is more sex on TV,
the V-chip and other tools can help parents screen shows.
"Some activists will only see
another opportunity to push government as parent," says Jim Dyke,
executive director of TV Watch. "But parents make the best decisions
about what is appropriate for their family to watch and have the tools to
enforce those decisions."
Gill couldn't disagree more.
"I get tired of the networks saying
'turn the channel,' " he says. "My argument is that for the
minute or two that something sexually inappropriate is shown, they could
remove that pimple's worth of programming and no on would miss it."
You can reach Mekeisha Madden Toby at
(313) 222-2501 or mmad den@detnews.com.
|
Do
you know what your kids are watching? TV sex scenes on the rise
By Heather
V. Eng and Tenley Woodman
Thursday, November 10, 2005 -
Boston Herald
One
of the “Gilmore Girls” had sex with her professor. Ryan and Marissa
consummated their relationship on “The O.C.”
If it sometimes
seems to you that everyone in prime-time is getting it on, the Kaiser
Family Foundation says you may be right. A Kaiser survey released
yesterday shows that the number of sex scenes on TV has doubled since
1998.
Meanwhile, safe sex
messages have leveled off. Only 14 percent of shows with sexual content
included discussions of contraception, abstinence or other “safer sex”
messages. That number has remained stagnant since the last Kaiser survey
in 2002, but was a 5 percent increase from 1998.
The study’s
results raise concerns about how much TV influences young people’s
decisions about sex.
“Kids who have
repeated exposure to sexual content become sexually active at an earlier
age. The research is absolutely there,” said Tim Winter, executive
director of the Parents Television Council.
Dr. Mark Goldstein,
pediatrician and chief of adolescent medicine at Massachusetts General
Hospital, said young adults’ sexual decisions are not influenced solely
by the media.
“Sexuality is much
more complicated than watching television. It has to do with role models,
parents, peers, religion and a number of other variables,” said Dr.
Goldstein.
Peter Jackson, a
24-year-old Boston University student, doesn’t believe there is too much
sex on TV, but is torn about whether networks should have to show safer
sex options.
“It’s not their
jobs, but they (the shows) affect so many people,” Jackson said. “I
would only imagine that a greater amount of displays of safe sex would be
helpful.”
Anissa Hanson, a
19-year-old student at BU, agreed that TV shows should work safe sex
discussions or situations into their plots.
“People don’t
distinguish TV from reality,” Hanson said.
Goldstein said he
has noticed a difference in the way programs have addressed sexual
decision-making in the past decade.
“I think that
they have a significant role now in this process, but the problem is they
have to make their shows entertaining and make money and be concerned
about ratings,” Goldstein said. “For adolescents, it’s really
difficult for them to make decisions about sex, and a lot of different
things contribute to how they make that decision. (But) I’m not able to
say that sex on TV in itself will promote teenage sexual activity.”
|
More sex on TV, survey says
BY JOE RODRIGUEZ
The Wichita Eagle
When Linda Crockett was raising her two
children in the 1970s and '80s, she didn't worry too much about what they
saw on television.
Today, though, TV is too violent, too
vulgar and definitely too sexy, she said. She helps raise two of her
grandchildren, 3 and 2 years old, and she is always tuned in to what they
see on TV.
"There's a lot of things that they
could see that really doesn't leave a lot to the imagination," said
Crockett, who lives in Wichita. "Television is too sexy
anymore."
According to one national survey, she's
right.
Television these days is loaded with
double the number of sex scenes aired seven years ago, says a study
released Wednesday. And the number of shows that include "safer
sex" messages has leveled off, it said.
Nearly 3,800 scenes with sexual content
were spotted in more than 1,100 shows researchers studied, up from about
1,900 such scenes in 1998, the first year of the Kaiser Family Foundation
survey.
Debra Gann, a Wichita mother of four
children ages nearly 2 weeks to 8 years old, said the survey results don't
surprise her.
"If people weren't watching it,
obviously (networks) wouldn't have it on TV," she said. "So
there's the off switch."
She and her husband, Matthew, use that
switch.
They limit their children's
television-watching time to weekends only. They made that decision not so
much based on what's on TV, but rather to limit their kids' distractions
on school nights.
"They really don't
channel-surf," she said. "They are content with the cartoons,
the two cartoon channels, and they really don't venture much past
that."
John Henry, senior pastor at Central
Community Church in west Wichita, said he is concerned that so much sex on
TV could lead to sex crimes and addictions in some people.
"I'm not saying everybody's going to
turn out like that," he said. "What I'm saying is it's just sad,
and the more you expose yourself to stuff, and then the more you just
become numb to it."
He said it's also sad to see shows such
as "Desperate Housewives" that almost use humor in referring to
issues such as adultery.
"It's not funny for me because I
deal with the reality of" issues such as adultery, he said.
The study examined a sample of a week's
worth of programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, PBS, Lifetime, TNT, USA
Network and HBO. Sexual content, as defined in the study, could be
anything from discussions about sex to scenes involving everything from
kissing to intercourse.
Bryan Frye, marketing director for KAKE-TV,
Channel 10, said it's important to keep in mind that there are more
networks and cable channels today than even eight years ago, when the
first study was done.
"So is there a lot more sex on TV?
Yeah," he said. "Is there a lot more TV? Yes."
He said the station doesn't receive many
complaints about too much sex on TV. Most of its calls from viewers deal
with technical difficulties or sports games.
And ultimately, Frye said, the
responsibility over what to watch lies with the viewer.
"You've got the remote
control," he said. "You've got the ultimate power."
Contributing:
Jennifer C. Kerr of the Associated Press
|
