Wednesday, February 07, 2001
TV's sex content climbs, study says
Family programmers see an opportunity
By John Kiesewetter and Richelle Thompson
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As television's sexual content increases, so will the efforts of Bob Wehling's Family Friendly Programming Forum to put more wholesome family shows on the airwaves.
Tuesday, the Kaiser Family Foundation's biennial “Sex on TV” report revealed that TV's sexual content has grown from about half (56 percent) of all shows in the 1997-98 TV season to two-thirds (68 percent) last season.
Three of four (75 percent) prime-time network shows included sexual content in 1999-2000, up from two-thirds (67 percent) in 1997-98.
“I'm not surprised. That's the trend we've seen,” said Mr. Wehling, Procter & Gamble's global marketing officer and co-founder of the forum. A consortium of 45 major advertisers, the forum funded script development of WB's Gilmore Girls family drama.
“We will be relentless in our efforts to look for and sponsor more (TV) options for families,” said Mr. Wehling, who participated in the Kaiser Foundation's “Sex on TV” panel discussion in Los Angeles Tuesday with TV producers and executives.
The Kaiser study was released the day after the American Academy of Pediatrics urged parents to limit kids' TV viewing to two hours of “quality programming” a day and not to put TVs in children's bedrooms.
Study methodology
Kaiser researchers studied 1,114 programs on six over-the-air channels (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS and KTLA-TV, a Los Angeles WB-independent station) and four cable channels (HBO, Lifetime, TNT and USA). Daytime soap operas and talk shows were scrutinized, in addition to prime-time network series.
Programs cited in the report were some of the highest-rated series: Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and Will & Grace. The programs ranged from Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Two Guys and a Girl and Ally McBeal to The Young and the Restless and Sally Jessy Raphael, to HBO's Sex and the City, The Sopranos and the cabletelecast of Titanic.
“Sexual content” was defined as “any depiction of sexual activity, sexually suggestive behavior, or talk about sexuality or sexual activity.”
According to Kaiser, nearly two-thirds (68 percent) of the characters in intercourse-related scenes were adults age 25 or older, while about one-fourth (23 percent) were ages 18-24.
Intercourse-related scenes involving teens (age 13-18) increased from 3 percent two years ago to 9 percent, reflecting the explosion in the past three years of teen series like Dawson's Creek, Popular and Felicity.
Overall, 32 percent of all shows “with teens talking about or engaging in sexual intercourse” included a reference to sexual risks or responsibilities.
Fan not bothered
The TV sex study was released the day before a Dawson's Creek episode (8 p.m. today, Channel 64) in which teen-age lovers Joey (Katie Holmes) and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) “feel the pressure to go all the way (sexually)” on a senior class ski trip, according to WB publicity.
One young Tristate fan of Dawson's Creek said she's not bothered by the sexual content of the popular teen series.
“It's good to teach kids the consequences of sex,” said Sara Cheeseman, 14, of Sharonville. Teen programs that ignore sex wouldn't be realistic, she said.
The Kaiser study noted a significant increase (from 7 percent to 21 percent) in the frequency with which programs “conveyed clear negative consequences as a result of intercourse.” It cited a Dawson's Creek episode in which Pacey ended his affair with a girl named Andy after learning she had slept with another guy.
“One encouraging thing in the Kaiser data is that there seems to be scenes providing teens and adults with information on the consequences (of sex) and alternatives, and encouraging more responsible behavior,” Mr. Wehling said.
Shaping values
So much sex coming out of the tube has troubled Tristate viewers of all ages.
The Rev. Eric Geiger, a youth minister at Liberty Heights Church in West Chester, said TV's frequent casual sex flings make teaching abstinence and alternatives more important.
“We know the values of an entire generation are being shaped right now. We have to be proactive in shaping those values,” said the Rev. Mr. Geiger, 25.
When the minister talks to young people, he emphasizes that sex is a union between husband and wife and belongs soley within the institution of marriage. He talks about the consequences of sex, from sexually transmitted diseases to pregnancy. He also points out “there's no condom to cover the heart, no morning after pill to take away the guilt, the fear, the worry and the pain.”
Hajjah-Khadijah Muhammad, 56, of West Chester won't let her grandchildren flip through the TV channels. “You never know what they're going to see,” she said.
LaVerne Anderson of Sharonville said she worries about the images her 18-year-old twin daughters see on TV.
“We teach them not to have illicit sex and then you watch these programs with all the "Ohs' and "Aahs' and getting it on,” said Mrs. Anderson, 45. “You wonder if TV is undermining the values.”
She doesn't want her children watching sex scenes and sexual innuendo. She's not interested in seeing them either.
“If it keeps up, there will probably be a time when we don't watch it all, just the news,” she said.
To counter the growing sexual content on TV, the Family Friendly Programming Forum has expanded its script development deals beyond WB to include ABC and CBS this year. The advertisers are giving those networks money to develop family-oriented sitcoms and dramas that could become fall TV season series. The advertisers have no control over the script content.
The forum's initial effort funding eight WB scripts last year produced Gilmore Girls, a drama about a single mother (Lauren Graham) and her 16-year-old daughter (Alexis Bledel) from former Roseanne writer Amy Sherman-Palladino.
WB executives told Mr. Wehling last month that “the success we had with Gilmore Girls has attracted more writers and producers into this genre than last year,” he said.
“That's what we were hoping to do,” said Mr. Wehling about members of the forum, which include the nation's biggest advertisers: P&G, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Ford, General Motors, Hershey Foods, Nestle, IBM, KFC, McDonald's, Wendy's, Nabisco, Pillsbury and Sears.
“We now have 45 major advertisers. We are serious. We are not going away,” he said.
“I've got my fingers crossed that there could be another Gilmore Girls this fall,” Mr. Wehling said. “All we're trying to do is create an option for families.”
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