The Chicago Tribune - Wednesday, June 2, 1999
Gary Dretzka, Tribune Staff Writer

Still, the rhetoric flows like wine at a bacchanal.

When it comes to an issue that some observers consider to be equally vexing -- sexuality on television -- these same politicians seem perfectly willing to ignore it. Perhaps it's because many of the loudest critics of Hollywood also are responsible for keeping last year's mature-rated hit, "The Bubba and Monica Show," on the air for so long.

On this particular hot-button topic, however, there are several organizations unwilling to let Washington set the pace for action. L. Brent Bozell's Parents Television Council, which has targeted advertisers of "The Howard Stern Radio Show," recently announced the launch of its Green Light Film Review as a resource for parents seeking "wholesome" entertainment fare. The project promotes family -- friendly feature films and made-for-TV movies, including the recent CBS mini-series "Joan of Arc," and hopes to encourage Hollywood to "voluntarily refrain from aiming at children those products that glorify sex, drug use and a culture of disrespect and death."

Another organization working directly with the industry is the Media Project, which "provides entertainment-industry professionals with the most up-to-date, socially relevant and accurate information about sexual health issues."

The Media Project, based in North Hollywood, takes for granted that many teenagers already receive information about values, attitudes and behavior from television and film. It works with the creative community to provide audiences with realistic portrayals of family planning, sexuality and reproductive health, and it sponsors the annual Shine Awards.

"I think it's futile to eliminate sex from television, first of all because it sells, and second because people watch things they can relate to," said Kate Langrall Folb, director of the organization. "Teenagers talk about sex, and if the kids on a show weren't doing that, it wouldn't appeal to the audience. It boils down to dollars and cents and trying to sell your show.

"We don't attempt to get rid of sex on TV, even on a teenage show . . . it's not going to happen. But what I would like to see more of is an honest portrayal or discussion of the risks and responsibilities that go along with becoming sexually active."

Langrall Folb cited surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which advocates sex education and responsibility, in which teens list television as one of the primary sources for information about sex. The kids also say they engage in sexual activity because TV makes it look as if that's what other teens are doing.

"Of all the shows with sexual content," Langrall Folb said, "only 9 percent include any mention of the risk and responsibilities of sexual activity, such as condoms, abstinence, abortion, AIDS or STDs. . . . You can have your scoundrel, or your male slut, but he can still be responsible about it and use a condom, or at least discuss using one."

Langrall Folb said Media Project has had a lot of success working with the teen-oriented shows on the WB and has contributed information to series such as "ER," "Chicago Hope" and "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place." She doesn't think the hard sell is particularly effective, believing a well-placed condom wrapper or an emphatic "No" can be more persuasive than a lecture.

"A few years ago, the entertainment industry embraced the campaign to incorporate seat-belt use into their shows and movies, so any time a character got into a car, they put on their seat belt," she said. "It didn't change a word of dialogue, but got people thinking about seat belts."

"Felicity" recently aired a two-part episode on date rape, and the Media Project encouraged the producers to put an 800-number for a rape hot line at the end of the show.

"They received over a thousand calls," said Langrall Folb. "On `ER,' a girl was treated with the morning-after pill after being raped. The two scenes she was in were on the air for less than a minute, but knowledge of emergency contraception among the viewers we polled went up close to 20 percent, and they cited television.

"NBC's `Hang Time' dealt with single parenthood in a Saturday-morning way, and ABC's `Pepper Ann' discussed puberty." The WB's "Dawson's Creek" became an instant sensation when a high school student was seduced by a female teacher in an early story line. The hourlong drama was criticized for being irresponsible, but it managed to attract the attention of teens and the Media Project.

"Our show deals with coming-of-age issues, and the challenges and obstacles of being a teenager, of which sex obviously is one element," said Paul Stupin, executive producer of "Dawson's Creek." "But we deal with so many other elements, too . . . romance, friendship, trust and betrayal, relationships with parents. The Media Project has been so wonderful, in terms of coming over and filling us in on any research we might need and talking to us about their point of view.

"If there's a way to insert a subtle message after our characters have had sex, without banging our viewers over the head -- maybe see a condom wrapper on the table next to the bed -- we absolutely try to."

The Media Project tries to approach the feature-film community as well, but few people at the studios are willing to listen. Langrall Folb, who previously worked with the Scott Newman Center, which was founded to warn about the dangers of drugs and rehabilitate drug users at its camps, sees a lot of backsliding in Hollywood, especially when it comes to depictions of drug use in the movies.

"I'll scan the trades and try to get something over to the producers while the films are still in development, but I don't really get much response," she admitted. "The Newman Center, which was founded by Paul Newman in the late '70s after the death of his son, was asking the film industry to become more responsible when dealing with drug issues. About five or six years ago, they did away with the media component of that center and took the organization in a different direction, toward the camping experience.

"It's hard to measure your work, but when we stopped doing it, these things started coming back -- even on television. There are plenty of television shows now that glorify drinking and have funny characters who are lushes."

In dealing with the issue of HIV and AIDS, many television producers insist it's an old story.

"It's like, `Been there, done it. We've already done a movie on AIDS or a TV episode with a character who is HIV-positive,' " Langrall Folb said. "There's a false sense of security about the treatments that are out there. Fact is, they only work for about a third of people who use them."

And, while there's certainly more promiscuity on television, networks refuse to air condom ads and they're sheepish on other controversial topics, as well.

"In the '70s, with the Norman Lear shows, they were very bold," she said. "The episode of `Maude' where she contemplated abortion would never be done today on a sitcom. Abortion is a very scary word to the industry right now, more than it was in the '70s.

"It's interesting to me that a sponsor will happily support a show that exploits sex to the Nth degree, but will pull out if it shows a condom or discusses risks and responsibilities."

Condom ads can be seen in European countries, she added, and the pregnancy rate among unmarried teens there is far below that of the United States.

Ironically, Langrall Folb thinks that the Monica Lewinsky controversy -- for all the snickering and anger it engendered -- may have helped promote sex education in this country.

"On some levels, I'm almost thankful for Kenneth Starr for bringing this issue out into the open," she said, trying to contain a laugh. "It forced parents to talk with their kids. Parents who, in their wildest dreams, would never have a conversation about oral sex have had to do that, and that's important."

SEX AMONG `FRIENDS' WORRIES MANY

Some in the entertainment community have real problems with television's insistence on putting sexually themed stories in what's considered to be the "family hour."

According to statistics provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation from a 1996 study, three out of four family-hour programs contain sexual content, up from 65 percent of shows in 1986. Most of this activity was modest, but, during one three-week period, 15 instances of sexual intercourse were either depicted or implied.

"From 8 to 10 p.m. (7 to 9 p.m. Chicago time), some networks have frequently put on sitcoms whose whole premise essentially is, Will they go to bed or not?" argued Rev. Ellwood Kieser, a Paulist priest, author, producer ("Romero") and president of the Humanitas Prize organization. "There's a lot of kids watching them, and there's a sexual tension the whole way through. There's a general gestalt, or approach, that if a couple really like each other, they'll go to bed.

"There is no appreciation at the deepest level for the beauty and significance of human sexuality. They're really demeaning sexuality as a very unique and privileged form of communication."

Kieser understands that television is a ratings-driven business but criticizes the networks for "abdicating the high road to cable and putting on these exploitative, woman-in-sexual-jeopardy movies of the week. They tend to give the audience what they think the audience looks for, but the audience is changing.

"It's becoming more sophisticated, and it's also more conscious of its spiritual needs. They're unwilling to support things that show a one-dimensional view of the human experience."

Kate Langrall Folb, director of the Media Project, also is concerned about incursions on the family hour, especially in such sex-obsessed series as "Friends" and "The Nanny."

"We don't work a lot with `Friends' . . . we reach out to them, and they're polite, cordial and take our information, but that's about as far as it goes," she said. "Still, `Friends' had an episode a couple of years ago that was a finalist in our awards program, where two of the girls were fighting over the last condom.

"It was funny and we applauded that because the one who didn't get it didn't have sex that night."
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