A study by the Parents Television Council found that TV violence against women has increased by 120 percent since 2004, while TV violence in general has only increased 2 percent during the same time period.
PTC analysts reviewed hundreds of hours of videotapes, observing trends in prime-time television from February 2004 to May 2009.
Most major networks, such as CBS, NBC and Fox, showed dramatic increase in violence against women, 92 percent of which was graphically depicted instead of described or implied.
ABC was the only network that did not show a significant increase in violence against women during the last five years.
Although most female victims were adults, the depiction of teen girls as victims increased 400 percent on all networks.
Melissa Henson, PTC's senior director of programs, said she thinks these findings were unsurprising.
"We did a study from 1998 to 2006 that showed there had already been a huge jump in violence on TV," Henson said.
Henson said she thinks the sudden increase in violence could be the result of a general migration of TV programs away from the traditional 30-minute shows toward longer-lasting, higher-intensity reality shows and dramas.
Advances in technology and special effects make it more appealing to implement violence into TV shows, Henson said.
"They are including more violence because they're able to take advantage of these technologies," Henson said. "Today, you see the bullet leave the barrel of the gun and enter the victim."
Although the numbers from the PTC study seem to point to an increasing trend on prime-time TV, other watchdog groups, such as TV Watch, remain unconvinced.
"The PTC uses faulty analysis to come to their conclusions," said Adam Temple, TV Watch spokesman.
One example of possible faulty analysis is that the group includes instances on medical shows as violence, which Temple said skews data.
"These depictions of violence against women reflect the unfortunate reality that women are victimized in real life," said Janice Clifford, professor of sociology and criminology and a faculty member of the Women's Studies program. "Men are victimized too, but women are victimized in greater proportion."
Clifford mentioned the potential danger posed by the excessive images of violence depicted by TV shows and other media.
"Repeated exposure to this content may desensitize people," Clifford said. "Repeated viewing may lower inhibitions for some individuals."
The repetitive viewing of this violence against women might convince some that this kind of treatment is more of the norm than the exception, Clifford said.
Clifford said she worries about the message the shows send viewers.
She said that these re-emerging images of violence against women might reinforce the idea, particularly in young viewers, that it's acceptable for relationships to work this way.
Henson said the PTC is concerned about the desensitizing impact violent TV can have on youth.
As an example, Henson referred to the horrifying story of a girl gang raped by a group of teenage boys in Richmond, Calif., while approximately 20 people watched and did nothing.
Clifford said different studies reveal different results, but there will always be violence against women in real life, despite efforts to prevent it.
"How can we utilize safety measures to reduce the likelihood of violence against women?" Clifford proposed. "We need to make services available to victims, ranging from advocacy to legal services to shelter care in situations of intimate-partner violence."
In response to the PTC's study, Clifford said she thinks parents should make sure they're influencing their kids more than the television.
Specifically, parents should educate their children about how to have healthy relationships with members of the opposite sex, Clifford said.
Temple said it's important for parents to use the protective tools they have to monitor their children's TV viewing.
"This (study) should be a reminder that parents should take control of what their kids watch," Temple said.
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