Newswise — Ah, family hour. That period of wholesome television programming free of sex talk and rough language, right?
No. Actually, hell no.
A Florida State University communication professor has found that the frequency of profane language in prime time hours jumped in 2001 after dipping in 1997, and there was just as much profanity on shows airing at 8 p.m. as those in the latest hour of prime time.
Barry Sapolsky, the Jim E. Kirk Professor of Communication at FSU, and Barbara Kaye of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville examined the frequency and types of offensive language spoken on prime-time broadcast television, particularly on programs rated acceptable for children and teenagers. The results of their study were published in the current issue of the journal Mass Communication and Society.
"Our initial work began in the early 1990s because of what we were hearing on prime time shows," Sapolsky said. "Having grown up in the 1950s and the 1960s, I am still taken aback when I hear characters on TV using strong language that would have been absolutely forbidden in the 'old days.'"
Nowadays viewers get Uncle Bernie waxing nearly philosophical about eating a "big ass doughnut" on "The Bernie Mac Show" and a 5-year-old on "According to Jim" announcing, "I have a vagina." Nearly nine out of 10 prime-time programs in 2001 contained profane words, even though most, like the examples above, were largely benign.
The greatest frequency of swearing occurred between 9 and 10 p.m. More surprising is that the earliest hour of prime time - the period from 8 to 9 p.m. that is traditionally considered the family hour - had more profanity than the latest hour - the 10 to 11 p.m. slot reserved for adult drama. While the 10 p.m. shows had less swearing, the degree of crudeness was more severe: These shows contained twice as many of the so-called "seven dirty words" made famous by comedian George Carlin.
Compared to Sapolsky and Kaye's 1997 study, there was a 58 percent increase in profanity during the 8 to 9 p.m. hour, while the final hour of prime time saw a 55 percent jump. The researchers theorize that the increase may be the result of competition: The networks are in a ratings battle with a less regulated cable industry.
"The television networks may be turning to vulgarities to boost the appeal of their programming much like they have done with sex and violence," Sapolsky said. "Television producers may be trying to avoid further viewer erosion by attracting a younger audience that grew up hearing expletives in music, movies and cable TV."
The higher incidence of profanity on prime-time television may also signal that once taboo words are now acceptable to society, Sapolsky added. In fact, Sapolsky and Kaye found that most off-color language was spoken without consequence.
Swearing by television characters under 21, through rare, was met typically with either a neutral or positive reaction. The data suggests that swearing is most likely to be uttered humorously with the intent of drawing a laugh or positive reaction than to hurt somebody, Sapolsky said. Only 1-in-10 incidents drew negative reactions. Neutral or positive reactions, especially those involving children and young adults may encourage viewers, including young ones, to use offensive language, the researchers said.
Though parents may take some comfort in the fact that there were few instances of young people uttering profanities on TV, their children are not sheltered from profanity by network television ratings systems. The researchers had thought that profanity would be confined to shows with an "L" rating, meaning coarse language.
However, Sapolsky and Kaye found that 59 percent of profanity occurred in shows that had a rating other than "L" or in shows that were not rated at all. In fact, only 1-in-3 prime-time shows in 2001 carried a content rating. The television industry added the content warnings, which also include "V" for violence, "S" for sexual content and "D" for suggestive dialogue, in 1997 to the age-based rating system put in place the previous year.
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