Men: if you want to control women make sure TV reception is bad

... in Brazil anyway SMH - Brazilians tune in and then turn off

When an area in Brazil gets access to TV Globo for the first time the birth-rate drops and the divorce rate climbs. Women see the shows and then get the idea that they can be emancipated from their shite blokes and don't need to put up with their hopelessness.

Over the two decades an estimated 3 million fewer babies were born than would have been if telenovelas had never been broadcast, and 800,000 more couples separated or divorced, the researchers said.

Alberto Chong, one of the authors, said the reason for the change was the "aspirational ethos" of the soaps, which tend to portray the upper levels of Brazilian society.

That generally means the characters are whiter, richer and better educated than most of Brazil's 190 million people. They have fewer children and are more likely to be separated or divorced.

If the leading female character in a telenovela was divorced or separated, the divorce rate rose, by an average of 0.1 percentage point, Mr Chong said.

And it's not just Brazil:

According to other studies, in India the arrival of cable TV in remote areas caused pregnancy rates to fall and enrolment in education to rise, and in Indonesia a clearer TV signal led to less participation in social activities and more distrust.

:1orglaugh ... more distrust... hahaha. Then again the more exposure I have to case studies of murderers and rapists the less trust I have that it can't happen so I suppose that's what that's about.