I recently had a conversation with a friend who lives in Paris. She hosted a group of friends and family here in Chicago. They went to several restaurants and clubs, and were shocked at how much skin Americans are now showing in public. She was further shocked by how the dances have become over the top with “way too much sensuality for public display.”
It was my friends understanding that during the family hours of TV (7 p.m. – 9 p.m.), the kids would be safe watching shows. You can only imagine the shock when full frontal nudity was displayed on broadcast TV. According to the Parents Television Council (PTC), children were exposed to over six thousand percent more full frontal nudity on prime time television this past year.
The PTC recently concluded its 2011-2012 research analysis of indecency on TV. There were 64 instances of full frontal nudity during prime time compared to the previous years single instance. Almost 70% of the scenes played before 9 p.m., with some as early as 7 p.m. – During the family safe viewing time periods.
While some families count on the V-Chip in their television to block those shows from their kids, only five instances of frontal nudity had “S” descriptors to block the shows. The “S” descriptor is designed to block nudity, sexual situations, violence and profanity, but is useless when the networks fail to assign the proper rating to their programs.
The networks instead focused on using black bars, pixilation and blurred areas to cover exposed breasts and genitals. These blocking devices, which vary in effectiveness, were used 87% of the time. The pixilation and blurring leaves far less to the imagination and was used 74% when blocking was done. All of this during the time slots that children are watching TV.
The PTC offers a guide to family programming in order to help parents guide their kids through viewing decisions. Anything on the chart in green is family safe. Unfortunately, nothing was green at the time of this writing.
CJ's Corner 