# Could HBO legally show intercourse with visible penetration? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276 "2011-07-16T20:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276/21 "2011-07-18T15:53:18Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I was hoping this trend would decrease now that real porn is so readily available. I’m not sitting down and watching TV with the family with my hands in my pants, thank you very much. You watch TV with your family at 3 AM? And you tune in to HBO even though they’re showing a show titled “Real Sex”? And then you’re embarassed because your family is there and you just start furiously masturbating? Man, I don’t think HBO is the source of your problems. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276/22 "2011-07-18T16:02:54Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Regular cable can show that if they want. USA, AMC, FX, TNT, and all the rest that aren’t broadcast freely out over the airwaves are \*not \*regulated by the FCC. The only reason they don’t is fear of losing advertising dollars. This explanation has always made me wonder, what if someone wanted to run a sexually explicit _ad_ on cable? Would the network just refuse to sell them the airtime on the principle of not wanting to scare off other advertisers? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276/23 "2011-07-18T16:09:09Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > This explanation has always made me wonder, what if someone wanted to run a sexually explicit _ad_ on cable? Would the network just refuse to sell them the airtime on the principle of not wanting to scare off other advertisers? I’m not sure about ads, but if you watch Comedy Central late at night it’s full of swearing. There was an episode of South Park where they said Fuck something like 50+ times. As far as sexually explicit ads, some of those phone sex ads are pretty explicit. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276/24 "2011-07-18T18:37:08Z")
I don’t know which channel it was, probably IFC, but I saw Brown Bunny uncut on cable TV. I want my money back. And Chloe Sevigny to act in a movie I make. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276/25 "2011-07-18T21:42:20Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Just wondering. On a few prominent HBO series lately the sex scenes are pretty much softcore porn levels in that everything is shown except visible genital-genital or genital-oral contact. Could they show full contact sex if they wanted? To address the OP’s question very directly: yes. They are an independent pay service and are able to show anything they choose. I would assume showing hardcore porn, however, would have adverse business implications for them that they wouldn’t want to deal with. There _are_ cable channels that, as I’m told, show hardcore pornography. They’re generally rather expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276/26 "2011-07-19T01:20:28Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > …and you just start furiously masturbating?.. I don’t know about him, but I’m always pretty happy masturbating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-hbo-legally-show-intercourse-with-visible-penetration/589276.md?page=1)