The Parent’s Television Council has not only published findings that swearing on television has risen by 69%, but has provided us with a handy list of their worst offenders.
During the first two weeks of this television season, The Parent’s Television Council sat down and noted every swear word that aired during prime time on the five major television networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and the CW). It’s safe to say that they weren’t happy with their findings, and not only because they constituted a naughty number. The PTC report concludes that “across all networks use of profanity on prime-time broadcast entertainment programming increased 69.3% from 2005 to 2010…The largest increases were found in the use of the harshest profanities, and in explicit references to genitalia and bodily functions.”
It appears that the PTC wasn’t convinced that the American public would know to which words they referred in that last bit, so it included their findings in graph form. The swear word on television that has grown most in popularity over the last five years was “bleeped fuck” (an increase of 2,409%), followed closely by “bleeped shit” (which increased 764%). In contrast, old reliables “damn” and “bastard” experienced negative growth. It’s also interesting to note that the PTC does not seem to regard slurs based upon race, sexuality, etc., as profane: Apparently it’s not okay for children to exclaim, “That sucks!” but perfectly legitimate for them to deride something by saying “That’s so gay.”
Click here for the full report; scroll all the way down for the graphs.
