Since 1981, televised music video programs have bridged television and the music industry. Up to 75% of music videos (depending on the type of music) have sexual content. They usually portray men as sexually aggressive and women as sexually submissive objects (Conrad et al., 2009). Research finds that exposure to more sexually explicit music videos is associated with stronger endorsement of the double standard (Zhang et al., 2008). Further studies found that adolescents who listened to music with degrading sexual lyrics were twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse and engaged in a greater variety of sexual activities compared with adolescents who had the least exposure to songs with lyrics that were not degrading (Martino et al., 2006; Pri — mack et al., 2009). Another study found that college students’ exposure to more sexually explicit music videos was associated with a stronger endorsement of the double standard. A United Kingdom government report recommended that sexually provocative music videos should not be shown until after 9 p. m. to reduce children’s exposure to hypersexualized images (Turner, 2010).
Grey’s Anatomy viewers were asked the following question 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
before, one week after, and six weeks after viewing an episode Percentage of viewers who gave the correct
about mother-to-child HIV transmission: answer (more than a 90% chance)
“If a woman who is HIV positive becomes pregnant and receives the proper treatment, what is the chance that she will give birth to a healthy baby—that is, a baby who is NOT infected with HIV?”
I Figure 1.3 Health knowledge gain and retention from a Grey’s Anatomy episode.
SOURCE: Rideout, V. (2008). Television as Health Educator: A Case Study of Grey’s Anatomy, p. 3. Kaiser Family Foundation. Reprinted with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. the Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo park, California, dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible analysis and information on health issues.