TV Teaches Teenagers About Sex -- Media Project Teaches TV

Without a direct hand in creating or writing any TV series, the Media Project, a nonprofit advisory group, has helped shape the media's handling of sexual topics -- particularly those concerning teenagers.

Media Project Director Robin Smalley said like it or not, Hollywood serves as a sex education counselor for many youngsters. "Writers will say, 'It's not our responsibility to educate. It's our responsibility to entertain.' And they're right," Smalley said. "They shouldn't be put in the position of being educators -- but you know, that's what they are." One survey, conducted in 2000, found that teenagers ages 13-15 ranked entertainment media as the leading source of information about sexuality and sexual health.

The Media Project's goal is to help the media fill that role in an informed way, Smalley said. Now in its 18th year, the group represents a partnership between Advocates for Youth and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The project offers "one-stop shopping for anything having to do with sexuality," Smalley said.

Research and news reports on subjects ranging from teen pregnancy to STDs to parent-child communication are available through the group, which also lines up experts and those with firsthand experience for TV writers and producers (and, less frequently, for filmmakers).

A Kaiser study of major broadcast networks and cable channels found TV's sexual content was increasing, with nearly 70 percent of shows in the 1999-2000 season featuring talk about sex or depictions of sexual behavior. The figure was 56 percent in a study of the 1997-1998 season.

The industry is receptive to guidance, said Smalley. She works regularly with about 20 shows in a season and fields calls from others. Dr. Neal Baer, executive producer of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and a pediatrician, is one longtime customer. While working with "ER," Baer sought details for stories including one about a medical assistant with HIV and another about the STD linked to cervical cancer. "That was very big," Baer said of the February 2000 episode that cited the human papillomavirus. A follow-up survey showed that among "ER" viewers, knowledge of the virus had tripled from 9 percent to 28 percent.

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