Sex in the Media

Sex on TV: 2005 Kaiser Family Report

1. Is the frequency of sexual messages on television increasing?
2. Is the way in which sex is presented on television changing over time?
3. Is the television industry increasing its emphasis on sexual risk or responsibility concerns in its stories that deal with sex?

Content Analysis:

• 1,000 randomly selected programs from the 1999-2000 TV season
• Over 2/3 of all the programs contained sexual content (68%)
• Study in 1997-1998, only 56% contained sexual content
• Shows aired on the major networks during prime time, 75% included sexual content
• 1997-1998, only 67% of prime time shows contained sexual content
• 1997-1998 season, only 3% of characters involved in sexual intercourse were teens
• 1999-2000 season, 9% of characters involved in sexual intercourse were teens

Sex Education and Friends:

• 506 teenagers telephoned shortly after an episode of Friends aired in October 2001 that included pregnancy caused by condom failure (Rachel and Ross' pregnancy).
• Episode was watched by 1.67 million 12-17 year-olds (Nielsen)
• Teenagers who watched with an adult or talked about the episode with one were about twice as likely to remember the information about condom use correctly.

Pornography

Sexual Arousal Effects

• Sexually-oriented media content does tend to sexually arouse the viewer or user.
• Measures include: interviews, physiological measure (excitement, body heat).
• Men more aroused than women, could be because material is made for men.
• Less explicit material are sometimes more arousing than highly explicit ones.
• Scenes that leave much to the viewer's imagination may arouse the viewer more than those that leave no questions unanswered.
• Heavy consumption of pornography causes viewers to report less sexual satisfaction with their intimate partners.
  

Disinhibition - viewers become less inhibited about performing the sexual behaviors witnessed. Behaviors that may have been seen as previously taboo are now okay.

Sex crimes: correlation between availability of explicit materials and the occurrence of sex crimes. Not cause and effect, but a correlation.

Prevailing Tone: context of the material and context in which the person is exposed:

Four-Factor Syndrome Major effects of consuming pornography:

• Addiction
• Escalation
• Desensitization
• Tendency to act out or copy