News Release

 

Kaiser Family Foundation                 

2400 Sand Hill Road                          

Menlo Park, California 94025  

 

For further information contact:

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1999                 

Lauren Asher, 650-854-9400

  EMARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL: 8:45 AM PT Tuesday, February 6, 2001

 

New study released:

 

MORE TV SHOWS INCLUDE SEXUAL CONTENT; SAFER SEX MESSAGES MOST COMMON WHEN TEEN CHARACTERS OR SEXUAL INTERCOURSE ARE INVOLVED

 

Companion Study Finds ER Viewers Learn About Sex-Related Health Information from Show

 

BEVERLY HILLS, CA There has been a significant increase in the number of television shows with sexual content over the last two years; just one in ten of these shows includes a reference to safer sex or to the possible risks and responsibilities of sex. These are among the findings of SEX ON TV: Content and Context, the largest study ever of sexual content on television.  The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation released the study at its Sex on TV conference for entertainment industry leaders at the Museum of Television and Radio here today.

 

SEX ON TV found that the number of programs with sexual content rose from about half (56%) of all shows in the 1997/98 television season to two-thirds (68%) in the 1999/2000 season.  Sexual content is even more common on primetime network programs than on television in general.  Two years ago, two out of three (67%) primetime network programs included sexual content.  Today, three out of four (75%) do. 

 

The proportion of shows that include safer sex messages remained essentially steady at 10% of all shows with sexual content.  However, the study also found that safer sex messages are more common in shows with certain types of sexual content:  those with characters involved in sexual intercourse (25%) and those with teens in sexual situations (17%).

 

Every time there is sex on TV, there is an opportunity to deliver useful information to young people, said Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Victoria Rideout. While some shows are taking advantage of that opportunity, nine out of ten are not.  

 

The second biennial report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, SEX ON TV is designed as a yardstick for measuring sexual content on television.  It was conducted for the Foundation by Dale Kunkel, Ph.D., Professor of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Researchers examined 1,114 programs that aired from October 1999 to March 2000 on ABC, CBS, Fox, HBO, Lifetime, NBC, TNT, PBS, USA, and KTLA (the Los Angeles WB affiliate).  The study looked at movies, dramas, sitcoms, soap operas, news magazines, and talk and reality shows. 

 

Other key findings from SEX ON TV include:

 

¨      Movies were the most likely to contain sexual content (89%), followed by sitcoms (84%) and soap operas (80%).  Reality shows were least likely to do so (27%).  The largest increase occurred in situation comedies, which went from 56% to 84% of all episodes.

 

¨       Sexual intercourse is depicted or strongly implied in 10% of shows, up from 7% during the 1997/98 season. Nearly a quarter (23%) of the couples in scenes with intercourse appeared to be young adults ages 18 to 24, and 9% appeared to be under age 18.  In 16% of all scenes with intercourse, the couples have just met.

 

¨       Nine percent of all shows on TV include sexual content involving teens (8% two years ago).  In addition, more teen television characters are involved in sexual intercourse.  Two years ago, 3% of all television characters involved in intercourse were teens; that figure is now 9%. 

 

¨       Ten percent of TV shows with sexual content make at least a passing reference to the risks and responsibilities of sexual activity about the same as the nine percent of shows with sexual content that included such a reference two years ago.  Dramas are most likely to include such references (15%), and sitcoms are least likely to do so (5%).

 

¨       Programs that show teen characters in sexual situations are more likely than other shows to include references to the risks and responsibilities of sex.  Seventeen percent of shows with sexual content involving teens included a reference to sexual risks or responsibilities, and 32% of shows with teens talking about or engaging in sexual intercourse included a reference to sexual risks and responsibilities.

 

The Foundation also released a study showing that messages about sexual health in entertainment programming can have a positive impact on viewers.  A series of scientific national surveys found that knowledge of emergency contraception and the sexually transmitted disease HPV (human papillomavirus) increased among viewers of the television drama ER after the show addressed those issues.  For example, ER viewers awareness of HPV doubled (from 24% to 47%) after seeing a related episode.  The study noted that awareness levels decline without repeated exposure to such information.

 

The Kaiser Family Foundation's Sex on TV Conference featured leading network executives, producers, writers, advertisers, researchers and policy makers.  They included: UPN President Tom Nunan; WB Executive Vice President Jordan Levin; Just Deal Executive Producer Jessica Klein; Girlfriends Executive Producer Mara Brock-Akil; Academy of Television Arts & Sciences President Meryl Marshall; and Procter & Gamble Global Marketing Officer Robert Wehling, among others.

 

The Kaiser Family Foundation is an independent, national health philanthropy dedicated to providing information and analysis on health issues to policymakers, the media, and the general public.  The Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.  The Sex on TV conference and studies are part of the Foundation's Program on the Entertainment Media & Public Health, which was established to examine the impact of entertainment media in society and to work with entertainment industry leaders to help them convey important health messages to the public.

 

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