# A question of nipples and censorship **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389 "2003-03-14T17:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/1 "2003-03-14T17:25:27Z")
Okay, it’s all right in US television to show male nipples, but not female ones (it’s a weirdness I can’t understand) 😕 So, I’m wondering, what would be ‘protocol’ for an unknown nipple? A close up on an anonymous one? (Yes, I know it’s generally up to the program or the station, but I’m wondering if there’s either any precident for this or if any dopers work in a TV station that could give an informed answer for this?) And please don’t ask why I even thought of this question. It’s better you don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/2 "2003-03-14T18:45:02Z")
Um, well, generally the female (adult) nipple tends to be quite a bit larger than the male, so I don’t know that there would be much doubt in anyone’s mind which sort was being featured. ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/3 "2003-03-14T19:47:32Z")
Not to mention hair. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/4 "2003-03-14T19:56:33Z")
TV censorshhip is a curious thing. There are lot of things in the vast gray area between what is okay and what is absolutely verboten and nipples are a good example. Yes, you can show nipples on US broadcast TV, you just have to be really careful about it. This doesnt mean Skinemax is coming to broadcast any time soon but I’ve seen a demonstration of a self breast exam on PBS and IIRC Shchindler’s List showed full frontal nudity when it was broadcast in prime time. ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/5 "2003-03-14T20:40:30Z")
What I found interesting was a commerical I saw for **Old School** last night during Survivor. Will Farrell appeared topless and they blurred it out. The irony being that this was during **Survivor** which features plenty of shirtless guys. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/6 "2003-03-14T20:48:07Z")
Since this is a question about television, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/7 "2003-03-14T20:48:31Z")
_falls out of chair laughing_ you cannot show something as simple as nipples on TV? Something as perfectly human? Methinks you live in an overcensored society ---
**Author:** ![Sauroposeidon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sauroposeidon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauroposeidon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/8 "2003-03-14T20:58:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \* > \*\*What I found interesting was a commerical I saw for **Old School** last night during Survivor. Will Farrell appeared topless and they blurred it out. The irony being that this was during **Survivor** which features plenty of shirtless guys. \*\* I’ve seen that commercial too. I’m guessing it’s just a joke, not actual censorship. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/9 "2003-03-14T20:59:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UnwrittenNocturne \* > \*\*_falls out of chair laughing_ you cannot show something as simple as nipples on TV? Something as perfectly human? Methinks you live in an overcensored society \*\* Tell us something we _dont_ know. The irony is that it’s perfectly o.k. to show people getting their heads blown off ad nauseum, but God fordid we see a nipple. ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/10 "2003-03-14T21:02:23Z")
Im still waiting for some show (probably on Fox) where they show a topless well endowed female with black tape covering her nips. I wonder if they would argue the fact of whether the tape was rectangular or circular. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/11 "2003-03-14T21:23:42Z")
_LA Times_ columnist Jack Smith had a high old time with this subject in a column 40 years or so ago. LA City Council member Kenneth Hahn (father of the current mayor I believe) had proposed a city ordinance to ban strip club woman performers from showing “any part of the breast that signifigantly differs in color from any other part.” That linguistic monstrosity set Smith off on a rollicking column that I’ll be Hahn never forgot. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/12 "2003-03-14T21:24:34Z")
The general rule is that you can’t show any “nudity” (including female nipples) in a sexual context. In a show about breast cancer or _Schindler’s List_, the nudity is nonsexual, so they can show it, but if it’s just some actress being nekkid for the sake of looking hot, no. It does take an awful lot of violence before the TV censors say anything, though. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/13 "2003-03-14T21:26:52Z")
> [@](#): > > What I found interesting was a commerical I saw for Old School last night during Survivor. Will Farrell appeared topless and they blurred it out. The commercial was a parody of the ads for “Girls Gone Wild” videos (I think they used the phrase “old men gone wild”). So they used the screen blurring from those ads. ---
**Author:** ![Wyld\_Stallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Wyld\_Stallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyld_Stallyn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/14 "2003-03-14T21:43:59Z")
**Slayer** : Although your boob covering example has not occurred yet, to my knowledge, I do know that on an episode of the Man Show they toyed with the fact that Com. Cent. told them that they could show 75% of the female backside. So a similar half-covering of breast would not be unprecedented, albeit on cable. ---
**Author:** ![Nangleator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e19adc/32.png) [@Nangleator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nangleator)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/15 "2003-03-14T22:10:10Z")
E! pixelated bare breasts of a man (who claimed to be straight) who had a breast augmentation procedure. Odd. And how is an attractive woman exposing her nipples sexual, if it isn’t in a sexual context? (i.e. at a car wash.) The censors assume a sexual context in the viewers’ minds? In that case, children shouldn’t be shown on television, because some perverts see them in a sexual way. ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/16 "2003-03-14T22:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > **The general rule is that you can’t show any “nudity” (including female nipples) in a sexual context. In a show about breast cancer or _Schindler’s List_, the nudity is nonsexual, so they can show it, but if it’s just some actress being nekkid for the sake of looking hot, no.** That’s not true. I think the word you are thinking of is “indecent.” Once in a while The Learning Channel airs a program on human sexuality, and it shows a female nipple getting erect while she’s sexually aroused. It’s definitley a sexual situation, just not indecent. Maybe I’m wrong and there’s another term out there that the FCC uses, if so maybe someone will correct me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/17 "2003-03-15T06:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > And how is an attractive woman exposing her nipples sexual, if it isn’t in a sexual context? (i.e. at a car wash.) Can anyone tell me why in the world a woman would be exposing her nipples at a car wash, if not to tittilate viewers? That’s not a non-sexual context, that’s no context at all. The TLC example does seem qualitatively different to me, though I can’t pin down why. But I’m not sure if it’s relevant, since you _can_ get away with showing boobies on cable. ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/18 "2003-03-15T07:19:21Z")
I’ve seen boobies and nipples on CSI, not just on corpses either. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/19 "2003-03-15T08:28:21Z")
The PBS miniseries _Tales of the City_ (1993) had bare female breasts. Local affiliates were given the option of showing a blurred or non-blurred version. Thankfully, my affiliate protected me from the corruption bare titties could have caused. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389/20 "2003-03-15T12:37:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*The general rule is that you can’t show any “nudity” (including female nipples) in a sexual context. In a show about breast cancer or _Schindler’s List_, the nudity is nonsexual, so they can show it, but if it’s just some actress being nekkid for the sake of looking hot, no. > > It does take an awful lot of violence before the TV censors say anything, though. \*\* The definition of obscene, from the [FCC web site](http://www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/obscind.html), is: \*To be obscene, material must meet a three-prong test: (1) an average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (2) the material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and (3) the material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. \* The FCC does not have censors looking for problems. They wait for consumer complaints, then make a judgment. Channels that appear solely on cable are exempt. As for why so much violence is permitted, I could not find any FCC rules restricting it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-of-nipples-and-censorship/161389.md?page=2)