PTC Finds Increase in Violence Against Females on Television

New research from the Parents Television Council finds that storylines depicting violence against females are increasing and being shown more graphically and in ways that have not been seen in the history of television. The PTC's report examined fatal and nonfatal female victimizations on prime time broadcast television and finds that there was a significant increase in all forms of female victimization storylines; an increase in the depiction of teen girls as victims; an increase in the use of female victimization as a punch line in comedy series; and an increase in the depiction of intimate partner violence.

Major findings include:

1) Incidents of violence against women and teenage girls are increasing on television at rates that far exceed the overall increases in violence on television.

2) Every network but ABC demonstrated a significant increase in the number of storylines that included violence against women between 2004 and 2009.

3) Although female victims were primarily of adult age, collectively, there was a 400% increase in the depiction of teen girls as victims across all networks from 2004 to 2009.

4) Fox stood out for using violence against women as a punch line in its comedies -- in particular Family Guy and American Dad -- trivializing the gravity of the issue of violence against women.

5) From 2004 to 2009 there was an 81% increase in incidences of intimate partner violence on television.