Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJEC

Scherer 1

Socio-Cultural Project
Chyanna Scherer
PSYCH 240

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

Since around the end of World War II, television has swept the nation and filled many
homes. Now, we live in a time of on demand television services like Netflix and Hulu and access
to thousands of TV shows is at the fingertips of anyone with internet and eight dollars in monthly
fees. With children getting a good portion of their sexual education from social media, like TV, it
is important to analyze these TV shows and determine how much sexual content they portray,
how accurate it is and what effects it causes.
When watching just three TV shows in prime time, I found a total of 127 references to sex,
sexual acts, sexual innuendo and other sex related properties. I chose three TV shows that view
sex very differently. The first show I watched, Modern Family is aimed more towards families as
an audience. Sex is definitely in the show, in fact it was what the entire episode I watched was
about, but it is done in a way that is more appropriate than the other shows I watched. For
example, in Modern Family, the main characters are out for Valentines night and are roleplaying
in the process. The entire first half of the show is dialogue about sex, but they never come out
with the words to say it, it is all done in innuendo. Things like make love, be intimate and
big night ahead of us are used to soften the blow of these sex references and are done so in
hopes that they will be beyond a childs scope of understanding, therefore it is more family
friendly. TV shows like Modern Family do this in order to keep their ratings up by having sexual
content, but do so in a way it will go over the heads of children and therefore it is okay for them
to watch. The second show I watched, Keeping up with the Kardashians is much different than
Modern Family. The show airs later, and is targeted at a different audience of teens and young
adults. It is a reality TV show about three girls who have made their living off being sexy and in
the public eye. The episode opens with Kris Jenner, the matriarch of the Kardashians asking her
youngest Kardashian daughter, Khloe of she has ever used a condom. They then proceed to open

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

a pack of condoms and put one on a cucumber. Later, Khloe, the same sister who put the condom
on the cucumber talks about sex reassignment surgery and how they use the clitoris of the female
to create a penis. Towards the end of the show, she even attends a drag show for fun where
viewers are exposed to another culture of sexuality.
Finally, the last show I watched is entirely about sex, Law and Order: Special Victims
Unit. Like Keeping up with the Kardashians, Law and Order SVU is filled with sexual content
but it is presented in a very different way. Often, the acts and displays of sex in Law and Order
are violent, criminal acts than are frowned upon, where as in Keeping Up with the Kardashians,
the more over the top sexy, the better. The episode of Law and Order I watched covered a wide
variety of sexual acts and references from gang rape and prostitution to sex reassignment surgery
and pedophilia. The most startling examples of sexuality in the episode for me was gender
identity and pedophilia. The episode was about a set of twins, a boy and a girl who are being
questioned for a self-defense crime on top of a roof. DNA shows it was a male who was on the
roof, but the female twin claims the blame. It is later discovered that the female twin was once a
male who had a faulty circumcision and underwent sex reassignment surgery to become a female
as a newborn, all of which she was never told. She and her twin were treated by a sex therapist
there whole life, who at the end of the show is charged with pedophilia because of what he did in
therapy with the twins. In the actual show, the twins are post puberty and therefore the current
acts were not pedophilia, but these had been going on for years, therefore it was. After the female
twin finds out she is genetically male she finally feels as if she knows what is wrong and makes
the decision to transition back into the male he really is.
It is clear with 33 references in Keeping up with the Kardashians, a forty minute show, 29
references in Modern Family, a thirty minute show and 65 references in a forty minute episode of

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

Law and Order than sex is very present in our TV shows, the question now is how does that sex
impact its viewers. It is because sex is so prominent in our media that we must analyze it and
determine if it is positive, negative or neutral. In the case of this episode of Modern Family I
believe the sexual content was mostly positive. A vast majority of the sexual content in this
episode is between two of the main couples in the show, Phil and Claire and Jay and Gloria.
These references are mostly just about the couples trying to find time and means to have sexual
intercourse and celebrate Valentines Day. As we know, sex is a healthy part of life; especially in
a committed relationship like those displayed on the show therefore, I believe the sexual content
displayed was positive. However, things are not so cut and dry for Keeping up with the
Kardashians. A large variety of sexual content was displayed in Keeping up with the
Kardashians, some positive, some negative and some maybe even a little of both. At the
beginning of the episode Khloe puts a condom on a cucumber, while this in itself is pretty
neutral; when we look at the impact it could be positive. It is not the ideal way for someone to
learn to put on a condom, but with a lack of sexual education in our schools and the audiences
the show targets, it may be the way someone learns how to protect themselves, which is a
positive thing. At the same time, it is hard to believe any information from these TV shows,
especially the reality ones when they all too often present misinformation. Later, in the same
episode Khloe talks about how she learned Koala bears are carriers of STDs. While this may be
true, for one, STDs are not what they are called and for two, she calls the animal nasty for this
infection. It may be an animal, but with all of the negative stigma surrounding STIs in humans,
and the lack of people getting themselves tested that comes along with that stigma, her comments
only further enable this problem and therefore this reference is negative. When it comes to Law
and Order SVU, there is a very fine line between what is positive and what is negative. To the

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

people in the show, things like sexual assault, incest and gang rape are very negative but in the
terms of the justice that is typically served to these people in the show, it is positive. The
references to pedophilia within the show are negative, but when the female twin finds that she is
really a male, and her gender identity lines back up, that is positive because it brings awareness
to an all too misunderstood topic.
In the constantly evolving, very political society we live in, it is no surprise that TV shows
have their own social agendas. As we mentioned, Modern Family has a very blatant social
agenda in trying to normalize homosexual families in our society, but I do not think that is the
only agenda they have. In the episode I watched specifically, Jay, a man in his late 60s and
Gloria, his much younger wife are trying to make time to be intimate after the birth of their son.
Many people would look at a relationship like that of Jay and Gloria and assume that she was
only in it for the money, and they must not have sex because its all about material things.
Modern Family changes that idea by depicting Gloria, a young woman with an older husband
who loves him for who he is, not what is in his pocket. She even said, A lot of people think I am
attracted to Jay because of his money, Im not. I am attracted to him because hes sexy. With her
saying things like this, and their on screen relationship continuing to flourish, Modern Family is
stomping out the stigma attached to couples with a large age gap. While Modern Family may
have more than one social agenda, what makes Keeping up with the Kardashians stand out is its
blatant lack of one. The show literally follows a family who is only famous for being sexy. It
shows them at work and at parties along with many other things, but the show doesnt have any
real purpose. Most interestingly though, is that the stars of this show are extremely popular,
always in the news and are followed by a huge fan base, yet no social agenda is pushed. In Law
and Order, it is hard to determine if a social agenda is present or not. While the show does bring

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

awareness to a lot of sexual crimes and problems, it is a spin-off of regular Law and Order and
therefore may have just been the only criminal area available to make a TV show about.
With so many sexual references in TV shows, one wonders if they are all actually
necessary or if the only thing TV writers have to write about anymore is sex. In the episode of
Modern Family I watched the entire plot centered on the two couples trying to make time for sex
in their busy lives. Sex was most certainly necessary for the plot of this episode and without the
sexual references and innuendo, the show would not work. While sex may be pertinent in the
plot of Modern Family, it is not in Keeping up with the Kardashians. There is a big lack of a plot
within the show anyway, but the same events and activities shown could have happened without
sexual content and innuendo; however Im sure views and ratings would go down if the sex was
taken out of the show, as it is the basis of its popularity. Unlike Keeping up with the Kardashians,
sex is extremely necessary for the plot in Law and Order SVU because the entire show is about
sex crimes. The show used a sexual assault to lead to a victim who had gender identity issues and
didnt even know it. Along with the gender issues, pedophilia and other sexual abuse acts were in
play against this single victim. None of this could have been portrayed without the presence of
sex.
When looking at these sexual references and occurrences through socio-cultural
dimensions, one can see how the two relate. For example, In Modern Family, the ages of Jay and
Gloria are what cause people to think they must not be in a real, healthy, sexually active and
committed relationship. The show uses things like Glorias comments about him being sexy and
them trying to engage in sex to break down the age barriers and show that they too can have a
healthy and sexually active relationship. Along with showing age, this episode shows the
sociocultural dimension of culture in play when it comes to Valentines Day. Our cultures version

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

of Valentines Day consists of gifts of chocolate and flowers and evoking romance and intimacy.
It is because of these cultural expectations of the holiday that the couples in the show were trying
hard to participate in sexual activity. In Law and Order, career became a factor because the
victims therapist used his position in his career to molest and abuse the children sexually. Not
only does it breach ethics, values and morality it clearly does not fall within the scope of a
therapists job. These assaults were used to further show the struggle of the female twin who was
really a male. In this same way, gender identity, or lack thereof played a huge role in the sexual
development of the female twin, as she was never told she was male and struggled internally as
well as acted out physically and sexually to suppress these feelings. Gender is what caused the
child to live in turmoil. Lastly, in Keeping up with the Kardashians, the stars of the show are
only stars because of sex appeal. They do playboy and other sexy magazines and they are all
known for their bodies and beauty. Throughout the show, their monetary state is easily known,
they are richer than rich and they arent afraid to live like it. It is because of the nude or sexy
photo shoots that these women have money at all, because sex sells.
It is clear that sex is a huge part of our culture, with 127 sexual acts or references in just
100 minutes of television that is more than one per minute. From things like drag queens and
condoms to pedophilia and incest, TV is full of sex. It is astonishing to find the amount of times
that sex is mentioned and people, like myself dont even notice it any more. In our ever evolving
culture, it would be no surprise if our media because more saturated with sex and innuendo,
therefore it is very important to be aware of the TV shows that children watch, and also to
analyze the references that are made and the impact they could have.

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

Law and Order: SVU

Sexual Development; 5% Innuendo ; 3% Prostitution; 3%

Sexual Acts; 2%
Pedophilia; 10%
Circumscision; 5%

Sexual Assault; 21%

Gender Identity; 11%

Gang Rape; 6%
Sexual Orientation; 5%
Sex Change Surgery; 19%
Sex Therapy; 5%
Incest; 6%

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

Modern Family

Sexual Attraction; 7%
Sexual Orientation; 3%

Innuendo; 48%
Sex Acts; 41%

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

Keeping up with the Kardashians

Sexual Protection; 15%

Sex Change Surgery ; 27%
Derogatory Sex terms; 12%

Sexual Acts; 9%

Sexual Self Disclosure; 6%

STI's; 9%

Drag/ Drag Queens; 21%

Running head: SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT

References
McCreary, J. (Writer). (2005, January 18). Identity. In Law and Order: Special Victims
Unit. NBC.
Lloyd, C. (Writer). (2013, February 13). Heart broken In Modern Family. American
Broadcast Company.
Seacrest, R. (Producer), & Goldberg, E. (Writer). (2015, November 24). Rites of
passage. In Keeping up with the Kardashians. E!