It is no new phenomenon for critics, mothers and conservatives alike to blame trashy reality TV for all of the world’s problems, but now a study has proven that MTV’s Jersey Shore has exposed viewers to so much sexual content, people have actually become sluttier.

The study which focused on the highly popular series Jersey Shore which followed a group of almost-always half naked, overly confident housemates spending their summer in New Jersey. Days and nights were mostly spent speaking way too loudly, drinking and coining terms such as ‘Grenade’ to refer to the “solitary ugly girl who hangs out with hotties.”

The study completed by Bradley Bond and Kristin Drogos published in the most recent issue of Media Psychology deems Jersey Shore one of the most sex-heavy TV shows on the screen, stating that viewers were “likely to see 23 instances of sexual talk and 25 instances of sexual behavior in an average episode”, basically translating to one ‘sexual’ instance every minute they were engaged with the show. Although, over half of the sexy content was “romantic kissing” so it’s not all as bad as it sounds. All this exposure to sexy talk apparently meant a more relaxed attitude toward sexual behaviour was found in college students between the ages of 18-20, and to a lesser extent those between the ages of 20-23. Heightened sexual activity was also found amongst those who took on this new permissive attitude toward sexual behaviour.

Suprisingly, the study also covered the topic of “wishful identification” to characters from the show. I wonder if there was a spike in sales of leopard-skin mini’s and fake tan?

Adriana Barro