SEX, LIES AND SOAPS
PROGRAMME 1: SEX
PROGRAMME OUTLINE
0.00 – 3.09
Soap operas are full of sex, and use sex-related storylines to keep teenage audiences watching.
3.10 – 5.49
Soap producers must deliver ratings by any means necessary, but does soap sex have any relationship whatsoever to teenagers' real lives? Four soap fans discuss the ways sex is romanticised in The OC and other soaps – rose petals and candles, but no protection – but is not always very convincing, and often doesn't show sex accurately.
5.50 – 8.51
Soap opera may misrepresent the realities of teen sex, but can it affect teenager's sex lives? Four savvy teens from Liverpool discuss the impact of a lesbian storyline in The OC, and suggest that there is now a trend to be bi-sexual, as in soaps. Lesbianism has often been used as a ratings winner, but one with which teenagers can empathise. EastEnders addict Sam describes how he was helped by watching Sonia's lesbian experience, and by the soap's explorations of homophobia. Soaps encourage more sympathetic responses; 20 years ago things would have been different.
8.52 – 10.25
However, psychologist Aric Sigman believes soaps can have a bad influence by increasing interest in sex. According to viewers Abimaro and Lakwena, soaps glamorise unlawful behaviour – for example, Justin and Becca's illegal under-age relationship.
10.26 – 12.48
Soaps exercise strict etiquette during production: sex scenes are carefully constructed and highly artificial. Hollyoaks and Neighbours stars and producers describe the production process. They create a highly glamorised impression of intense sexuality but actually show very little, because of their early-evening pre-watershed schedule.
12.49 – 18.51
Although the tabloid press suggests soaps are deliberately explicit, producers argue that they work within powerful guidelines and must show the consequences of sexual behaviour – for example, the ongoing Hollyoaks storyline where Amy is pressurised into losing her virginity, and suffers severe consequences. Soaps have an implicit contract with the audience to handle issues sensibly and responsibly before the 9pm watershed.
18.52 – 20.55
Soaps can often inject the moral message rather too obviously, but Neighbours has consciously promoted safe sex with an HIV-scare storyline, which young people have found useful and thought-provoking.
20.56 – 22.08
Does the eagerness to show the serious consequences of sexual behaviour lead to unconvincing storylines? London teenagers suggest they over-emphasise the negative aspects, so that abstinence seems the only safe option.
22.09 – end
Can soaps actually discourage sexual behaviour? Is sex in soaps bad for teenagers, or can it help in their everyday lives? Young people suggest that sex will always be part of teenagers' lives; that soaps can play a role in breaking down taboos about previously unacceptable forms of sexual behaviour; and that, in the end, they're far less graphic than reality.There's no need to copy what happens on TV, because there's actually far more going on outside in the real world.
