Sexual Activity on Daytime Soap Operas: A Content Analysis of Five Weeks of Television Programming

This study, conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation by Katharine E. Heintz-Knowles, Ph.D., University of Washington, presents a “snapshot” of the sexual content on soap operas today. Katharine Heintz-Knowles examined 97 hours of programming from theten nationally televised soap operas between May 27 and June 28, 1996. The study was presented on September 7, 1996 to producers and writers of soap operas and network executives at SOAP SUMMIT II, a day-long seminar produced by Population CommunicationsInternational to examine reproductive health-related issues. The Foundation is also a funder of the Summit.

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• News Release: Amount of Sexual Content on Soaps Remains Unchanged in Recent Years, Although Trend Is to Talk Less About Sex and Show More Sexual Situations
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