How Much Swearing is Too Much?

Profanity in books, movies, and TV shows--is it increasing? And do we care?

“Well, F— you, get out of my way!” Does it feel like there’s more swearing going on in TV shows, movies, and your favorite books? That might be because there is.

If you’ve sat down recently to watch a series on Netflix, Prime Video, or another streaming service and thought halfway through, “Wow. It seems like every other sentence has a swear word in it,” you might be right.

Well, okay. Every other sentence might be a slight exaggeration. But the prevalence of profanity in what we’re watching and reading isn’t.

A 2017 study found that there is indeed an increased amount of swearing in books. On average, the use of profanity in books published between 2005-2008 was 28 times more than in books published in 1950. (Twenge, J., et al)

What’s the Big Deal with Swearing in Books?

The answer to this question is . . . nothing. If you enjoy swearing and don’t mind listening to others swear, then there is no big deal and nothing to worry about.

If the current trajectory continues, however, it might be true that before long (say by 2080), there are as many swear words as non-swear words in literature.

Now, that could get interesting.

Some people, however, are bothered by the prevalence of profanity in the books they read. This can be because of their religious beliefs. Others find swearing coarse and “low brow” (say this in a Lady Mary voice for full effect). Others think it’s distracting to the story.

Has the Amount of Swearing in Movies and TV Increased?

506. That’s the number of times the F-word is heard in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Even if you’re fine with expletives, that seems a bit, well, excessive, doesn’t it? The amount of swearing in the movie broke a world record. I wonder if a single sentence remained unscathed? (I don’t envy the reviewers who keep track of the number of swear words in movies.)

Some of the increase in swearing in films has to do with the genre of movies released though. For instance, in this article by Capital News Service, it’s noted that 1990 was a big year for high instances of cursing, particularly the F-word. BUT it’s also the year that both Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction were released.

So, what’s the average number of curse words in a typical American-made movie today?

It was tough finding accurate results (I don’t count Wikipedia as an accurate source). The one article I found with hard data was sponsored by a platform that screens out profanity (more on them later), so it looks like I’ll need to dig deeper for this information.

However, using the aforementioned article as a jumping-off point, in 2022 there were:

• 37 counts of profanity, blasphemy and foul language per hour.

• 15 counts of sexual content, nudity or immodesty per hour.

• 13 counts of violence, blood or gore per hour.

• 75 total counts of potentially offensive content per hour.

Solutions for Less Profanity

Parents, especially those of teens and pre-teens, often find it difficult to choose something to watch for family movie night because of the amount of bad language some have. What’s a parent—or anyone who wants to avoid so much profanity—to do?

One potential solution is to download an app like Vid Angel. This isn’t a sponsored post. In fact, I had no idea that something like this app was a possibility. (Note: Do you use this? If so, please tell me about your experience in the comments.)

This app interacts with a bunch of streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, etc., and has five main categories of filters:

• Language

• Sex / Nudity / Immodesty

• Violence / Blood / Gore

• Alcohol or Drug Use

• Other Elements

You can also choose to add more via subcategory filters. In fact, you can dig down really deep into the filters and customize which words are okay and which are omitted. You can see how this works via the app’s website.

Another option is to read reviews carefully if profanity in movies or books bothers you. With movies and TV shows, it’s often pretty easy to gauge the amount of swearing using review sites like Common Sense Media or Plugged In.

Books are a little trickier. Clean Lit does a good job of reviewing books for content some people find questionable, including language, but there aren’t thousands of books reviewed there (yet). Goodreads and Amazon reviewers will sometimes mention swearing in books especially if they’re annoyed by it.

Does it Really Matter?

Swearing in books, movies, and TV—does it really matter?

For me, yes. Though I’m not anti-swearing in real life or books, movies, or TV shows, I do find it distracting me from a good story more and more. That frustrates me.

Extraneous profanity makes a point, but it doesn’t improve a storyline. It doesn’t make it better or grittier. Most often, this is lazy writing. Show me that the character is angry, don’t tell me by inserting a string of expletives.

Does the amount of swearing in books, TV shows, and movies bother you? If so, would you consider using an app to filter it out? Let me know in the comments.

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J.P. Choquette is the author of suspense novels set in Vermont. Atmospheric pageturners, her novels are gothic inspired and frequently tie in the themes of art, nature, and psychology. Her 11 novels have been downloaded nearly 25,000 times across multiple platforms.