This is a powerful message for college students. This is the most sexually liberated of ages, recently freed from parental inhibition, and in TV land, it's a demographic that's largely forgetful of how wild sexual media content can affect the young.

So it's not surprising that Nielsen Media Research announced it will include college students in its national TV ratings early next year, marking the first time that the company has added viewing outside the home to its calculations. The company will measure viewing for students living in dorms, sorority and fraternity houses, and off-campus apartments.

Hollywood and its sex-pushers are no doubt thrilled. The obvious result of this change is to goose the Nielsen numbers for every "O.C." orgy and MTV "Spring Break" marathon, not to mention what it will do for sophomoric sex-themed cartoons on Comedy Central or Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" hours.

How ironic. Children leave home to experiment with the culture of sex in college, and now, albeit indirectly, they will be encouraging more inculcation of their newfound values through television.

Parents need to worry about the effects of popular culture on their children after their sexual maturation, and not just before. The cultural commissars in the colleges and entertainment factories see it as their duty to pound out every "primitive" inhibition out of college-age youth that parents spent 18 years trying to instill.