Sex on TV 4
Dale Kunkel, Keren Eyal, Keli Finnerty, Erica Biely, & Edward Donnerstein

The number of sexual scenes on television has nearly doubled since 1998, according to this study. And while the inclusion of references to "safer sex" issues - such as waiting to have sex, using protection, or possible consequences of unprotected sex - has also increased since 1998, that rate has leveled off in recent years. The study examined a representative sample of more than 1,000 hours of programming including all genres other than daily newscasts, sports events, and childrenfs shows. All sexual content was measured, including talk about sex and sexual behavior. The study found that 70% of all shows include some sexual content, and that these shows average 5.0 sexual scenes per hour, compared to 56% and 3.2 scenes per hour respectively in 1998, and 64% and 4.4 scenes per hour in 2002. These increases combined represent nearly twice as many scenes of sexual content on TV since 1998 (going from 1,930 to 3,780 scenes in the program sample totaling a 96% increase between 1998 and 2005). But despite these overall increases in sexual content, the number of shows in which sexual intercourse is either depicted or strongly implied is down slightly in recent years (7% in 1998, 14% in 2002, and 11% in 2005).


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