This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Erica Barris. Got a minute?

You can talk to teens all you want about sex, but if you want to drive home healthy messages about consent, maybe you

should have them watch. In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are

considered especially heinous. Law and order, Victims Unit, really.

Compared with other TV shows anyway, because a study finds that college students who watched episodes of the various law and orders had a better understanding of sexual consent issues

than those who watch two other crime procedural franchises, NCIS and CSI. The

research is in a Journal of Health Communication.

For the study, researchers ask more than 300 college freshmen if they agreed or disagreed that if a woman is raped,

she is at least somewhat responsible.

A concept called rape myth acceptance.

The students were also asked about their intentions to seek consent for sexual activity

and their intentions to refuse sexual activity.

The college students who watched Rip from the headline Law and Order versus the other shows

had stronger views about consent and were less likely to accept rape mythology.

Watching CSI, where the victim is often dead

and treated as another piece of evidence,

was associated with lowered intentions

to seek consent and a greater acceptance of rape myths.

Exposure to the NCIS franchise was associated with decreased intentions to refuse unwanted

sexual activity.

Previous research found that the law and order shows directly challenge myths and stereotypes

related to sexual assaults, while CSI has been criticized for plotlines that reinforce

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