Entertainment Media and Sexual Health: A Content Analysis of Sexual Talk, Behavior, and Risks in a Popular Television Series

Recent landmark content analyses of sexual content on television (e.g., Kunkel, Biely, Eyal, Cope-Farrar, Donnerstein, & Fandrich, 2003) provide a baseline for interpreting depictions of sex on individual programs. The present study was designed to investigate the nature and extent of sexual content on HBO’s popular television series Sex and the City. Compared to television in general, Sex and the City is more likely to depict sexual content (including sexual talk and behavior), intercourse between established partners (rather than between partners who had just met), and sexual risks and responsibilities (including sexual patience, precaution, and risks/negative consequences). Sex and the City does not differ from television in general in terms of pairing alcohol or drugs with sexual intercourse. The results suggest that Sex and the City is more likely than television in general to depict “healthy” sex.