A school-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 927 Latino and African American students attending 10 alternative schools in Houston, Texas, to investigate mass media consumption and its influence on sexual risk-taking behavior. Among males, exposure to television increased their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse. Females who reported a preference for watching television programs that show sex were more likely to ever have sex than their counterparts, more likely to have more than one partner during the past three months, and more likely to use condoms. (Contains 5 tables.)