A new report from a prominent national parents group argues that prime-time television is guilty of overexposing children to adultery and non-marital sex.
“Happily Never After,” the study released Tuesday by the Parents Television Council, surveyed five major broadcast channels over a four-week period last fall. It found that references to non-marital sex outnumbered references to marital sex by a ratio of 2.8 to 1, across all hours of programming.
The survey found that the ratio was at its highest during the 8-9 p.m. time frame commonly known as “family hour.” References to non-marital sex outnumbered references to marital sex 3.9 to 1 during that block.
While that data seems to support the groups hypothesis that television programs negatively impacts youths, the study is not without some cases of empirical overstretch.
According to the report, references to “incest, pedophilia, partner swapping (involving married and non-married couples), prostitution, threesomes, transsexuals/transvestites, bestiality, and necrophilia combined outnumbered references to sex in marriage by a ratio of 2.4 to 1.” Parents Television Council did not provide any numbers to support the claim that any of those acts have increased in likelihood among teenagers due to television, however.
