Are pictures more valid than words in conveying the content of sex in the media? Studies in North Carolina and New York State.

Two studies were conducted to determine if telephone survey questions and seeing sexually explicit media materials would lead, in matched groups, to the same or different attitudes towards tolerating the materials. In North Carolina, adults (n = 40) who saw explicit films and an explicit magazine and 503 adults who answered telephone survey questions about sex materials were equally tolerant. In New York State, a group (n = 78) which saw an explicit film had similar attitudes of toleration toward it as a matched group (n = 80) which answered general questions about sexually explicit materials and a sample (n = 81) of adults who were individually interviewed by telephone about sexually explicit materials. In view of the logistic difficulties of assembling representative samples of a large geographic area, like a state, it was concluded that telephone surveys provide valid measures of attitudes toward sexually explicit materials.