Likewise, although the FCC used to be very strict about censoring the type of programming which appeared on network television, a Washington federal appeals court recently struck down new FCC rules that would have restricted the broadcast of indecent television and radio programs to the hours between midnight and 6:00. The court rejected indecency rules for cable television (Bern, 1993, p. 56). Yet with the rise in demand for cable programming and home move channels, the number of programs depicting sexual acts has dramatically increased. Despite studies which suggest that, “if the program is the problem, change the program,” researchers also acknowledge that this channel-switching approach is at best reformist and does not treat the root of the problem itself (Monaco, 1979, p. 19). The only way a person living in America can avoid seeing graphic sexual graphic images which are often accompanied by violence is to not watch television at all. The children in this generation, and the next, will probably be affected by the multitude of sexual images that they have seen on television footage which details sexual activity without also educating the viewer could lead to a rise in teenage pregnancy rates, a rise in the number of young people with AIDs, an increase in the divorce rate, and an increase in the number of Americans who are raised in poverty without two married parents to serve as proper role models. There is obviously too much sex on television today.

Similarly, recent prime-time television series like Baywatch have been criticized for programming which is too sexual in nature. However, Baywatch’s producer has intentionally hired writers to depict beautiful young women romping half-naked on the beach during every week’s show because depicting sex increases ratings. Yet, in the 1950s and 1960s, television was censored more than it is today, and show like I Love Lucy were careful to have married couple sleep in separate beds so that the program would not suggest that any sexual activity occurred between married couples. In a recent interview given while Congress was fighting the problem of violence on television, Chris McClean, aide to Senator Exon, commented on the days when the Hayes Commission set standards: “Ed Sullivan didn’t show Elvis from the waist down. Rob and Laura slept in separate beds” (Rosen, 1993, p. 12). In contrast, MTV features videos which show young people dancing in suggestive positions. And some entertainers purposely create images in their videos wh

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