From Sex to Sexuality: Exposing the Heterosexual Script on Primetime Network Television

Abstract

Although it is widely recognized that sexual content pervades television, research rarely examines how television's sexual messages are gendered and occur in a relational context. This study describes the development and implementation of a new coding scheme to evaluate sexual content from a feminist perspective. Merging scripting theory (Simon and Gagnon, 1986) with the theory of compulsory heterosexuality (Rich, 1980), we explicate a heteronormative and dominant sexual script, the Heterosexual Script, and assessed its presence in the 25 primetime television programs viewed most frequently by adolescents. Our codes captured depictions of boys/men and girls/women thinking, feeling, and behaving in relational and sexual encounters in ways that sustain power inequalities between men and women. Male characters most frequently enacted the Heterosexual Script by actively and aggressively pursuing sex. Less frequently but still at high rates were depictions of female characters willingly objectifying themselves and being judged by their sexual conduct.

This study was supported by Grant No. R01 HD 38393-01 awarded to the final author by the National Institute of Child Health and Development. All authors wish to thank L. Monique Ward for consultation, and Meredith Everson and Andres Nunez for research assistance.

Notes

¹Several scholars have referred to a “Heterosexual Script” before, primarily in terms of how heterosexual sex gets accomplished (McCormick, 1994) or the turn-taking sequence of behaviors that take place in a sexual situation. For example, Rosotsky and Travis (2000) describe a traditional sexual script as the script that deems heterosexual intercourse as the only sexual behavior with any significance (see also McCormick, 1994 1987; O'Sullivan & Byers, 1993). Our conception is that relational and sexual thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviors are scripted at the cultural level (Simon & Gagnon, 1986), which extends beyond just the sequencing of sexual behaviors.

²Accordingly, a depiction of a man asking a woman out on a date warranted the MCS code; however, a depiction of a man initiating a passionate kiss with a woman received the SM code instead.

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