Tuesday, February 9, 1999 MEDIA & SOCIETY SEX AND TV: Kaiser Study Finds High Level of Sexual Content       ABC's Charles Gibson reported on "Good Morning America" this morning: "There is a new study of sex on television that we're revealing today. It is the most extensive study yet, it is just out from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a group which focuses on entertainment's impact on society. The bottom line question, how much sex is on TV? The answer, a lot." Kaiser's Vicki Rideout said that the study found that one out of every 14 television shows are "actually showing couples in bed having sex." She said: "What we found is that, overall, when you turn on the TV today, whatever time of day it is, whatever kind of show you're watching, the odds are about 1 out of 2 that it'll be a show with some kind of sexual content, and in the most watchedshows, those on prime time, about 2 out of 3 shows have sexual content. But the thing about it is, that very few of those shows, less than 1 out of 10 in fact, include any reference to what we might call safer sex type issues, a condom on a bedside table, a character who decides to postpone having sex, or some reference to the possible risks of unprotected sex." The Kids Are Watching       When asked about the implications of the study, Rideout said: "A lot of kids are watching TV, and they're seeing a lot of sex on TV. And they learn a lot about sex from what they see on TV, from their favorite characters and their favorite shows, so TV could make an enormous difference in playing a positive role in kids' lives, if we can help inform, at the same time that we entertain them, and a lot of folks in the TV business are doing just that, they're incorporating really positive messages into their programming. But what the study showed is that a lot of others aren't." When asked about the utility of the television rating system, she commented: "What we find is that, about 9 out of 10 of the shows that have sexual content are not receiving that S label for sex, so while the ratings might be somewhat of a help to parents in maybe identifying the higher end kind of sexual content, it's not going to solve the problem. And besides, it's not necessarily that we don't want kids to see any of this. As I say, TV can be a great way for kids to learn. So, I think the best solution would be if more of the writers and producers in Hollywood could incorporate some of these references into the sexual content in their shows" (ABC, "Good Morning America," 2/9). Click here to access the executive summary of "The Use of Mainstream Media to Encourage Social Responsibility: The International Experience," a Kaiser Family Foundation report on European nations' successes in using media to promote sexual responsibility. Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report