Citation

Sprafkin JN, Silverman LT. J. Commun. 1981; 31(1): 34-40.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, International Communication Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7204627

Abstract

The 1978-79 prime time television programming season was examined to determine the frequency and portrayal of sex, and it was compared to the 2 previous seasons analyzed (1975 and 1977). 68 programs, representative of the 1978-79 season, were recorded directly off the air between the hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. during a 2-week period beginning on October 1978. During the 1st week, all regularly scheduled prime time drama, crime/adventure, situation comedy, and variety prorams and movies broadcast by the 3 major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) were videotaped. During the 2nd week, all regularly scheduled programming which had been preempted by sports events and specials the previous week were recorded. Thus, the final sample included 1 week of the regularly scheduled prime time offerings of the 3 major networks plus 2 weeks of movies. The videotape of each program was coded independently by 2 of 9 trained coders, 1 male and 1 female, using the same formal coding scheme that had been used in the 1978 analysis. The original coding scheme included 12 categories of physically intimate and sexual behavior ranging from nonsexual interpersonal touching (e.g., handshakes) to affectionate displays (e.g., kissing) to typical sexual behaviors of references (e.g., flirtatious behavior, verbal innuendo, heterosexual intercourse). A new category was added, sex education and romance, which was comprised of verbal references to issues such as contraception, pregnancy, and going steady. The frequency of appearance of the least intimate behaviors (kissing and hugging) showed a gradual increase over the 3 sampled years. In contrast, the frequency of occurrence of several of the controversial categories increased substantially. Specifically, contextually implied intercourse from no weekly occurrences in 1975 to 15 in 1977 and 24 in 1978; sexual innuendos increased in frequency from about 1 reference/hour in 1975 to 7 in 1977, and to almost 11 in 1978. Direct verbal references to intercourse increased from 2 occurrences/week in 1975 to 6 references in 1977 and 53 in 1978. Only 3 categories showed a decrease in frequency since the 1977 analysis: nonaggressive touching, physical suggestiveness, and aggressive touching. Several of the discouraged sexual practice categories were rarely if ever coded in the 1977-78 analyses (e.g., incest, pederosis, exhibitionism, fetishism, and masturbation). There was a substantial increase in frequency for 2 categories: allusions to prostitution increased more than 4-fold, and allusions to aggressive sexual contacts increased 3-fold from 1977 to 1978. For 2 categories, transvestism/transsexualism and voyeurism, there was a drop in frequency over the year.

Language: en