• Pluses, Minuses Seen in New INS Reporting System
  • Study Finds Slight Decrease of Sex on TV
  • Senate Fails to Vote on Iraq War Resolution
  • Parsons Named Saftey Chief on Permanent Basis
  • Green Crab Research Illumintaes Value of Parasites
  • U.S. War Plans Demand Civic Responsibility
  • Newly Tenured Women Faculty Toasted
  • Campus Contract and Grant Awards
  • Campus Notes
  • Calendar
  • Credits
    •

    Study Finds Slight Decrease of Sex on TV

    Generally, sexual content in American television programs has receded a bit from two years ago, reports the third, biennial installment of the research project "Sex on TV" run by Dale Kunkel, UCSB professor of communication, for the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the percentage of shows containing either depicted or implied sexual intercourse doubled since that first study of the 1997-98 season.
    About 64 percent of the more than 1,100 programs analyzed from the 2001-2002 season contained some sexual content, compared to the 68 percent found in 1999-2000. But when it came to sexual behaviors or depicted/implied intercourse, the numbers rose over that period from 27 to 32 percent and from 10 to 14 percent, respectively.
    In prime time, seven in 10 shows on the top four networks have sexual content.
    The researchers found that in the 20 shows most popular with teen-aged viewers, 83 percent of the programs included sexual content, averaging 6.7 of such scenes an hour. While most were verbal allusions, behaviors and intercourse were abundant. The study also found that references to safer sex issues, such as the consequences of sex or using protection, occurred about 45 percent of the time in these teen-oriented programs.
    In the overall study, 15 percent of all shows with any sexual content include at least one scene with a safer sex reference. This was up from 9 percent four years ago. However, the researchers noted that most of such references were brief and characterized two-thirds of them as "minor" or "inconsequential."
    If situation comedies were the TV genre most likely (after movies) to have sexual content two years ago, soap operas led the 2001-02 season for steamy situations. The current study said 96 percent of soap opera episodes had sexual content, compared to 28 percent of the "reality" shows (this latter figure barely changed from previous studies). Sitcoms came in at 73 percent, and movies were 87 percent.