# Earliest nudity and sex in mainstream TV/movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581 "2005-09-01T14:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/1 "2005-09-01T14:04:11Z")
I’m working on a chart detailing the earliest bondage scenes in the movies and on TV, and it’s been great fun. In addition to giving me an excuse to spend many hours wending through descriptions of bondage scenes, I’ve also come across a lot of weird bits … like the earliest scene involving a bit gag on TV … Tina Louise in a guest appearance on Bonanza. Who knew? (A bit gag is a gag kinda like the ones horses wear. Tina’s was a stick held in with rope behind her neck as she’s kidnapped by Evil Captors.) Anyway, I thought it might be fun to play at this with the Dopers, only involving nudity and straight ahead sex. Now, nudity in film can be many things. There’s a topless flogging scene in the 1914 Italian epic “Cabiria” for instance, which passed muster 1) because it’s Italian and 2) she’s only seen from the back. Or there’s the nude Christian lass in “Signs of the Cross” who’s suspended in a spreadeagle in the Roman arena, but has garland decoratively wrapped around her body which covers the “naughty bits.” I count that as nudity … by the standards of the times. It’s been fun to do the research because you find all sorts of stuff in seemingly innocent programs … Angela Lansbury in the first chair tie on TV on “The George Gobel Show” in 1952? Who knew? Any of you know of any nude or sexual bits popping up unexpectedly in early films? I’m not talking about porn here, which I know has existed since the technology was invented, but relatively mainstream stuff, or at least porn which disguised itself as mainstream stuff, like the 1920s “educational” films which purported to warn young girls of the dangers of too free a lifestyle by demonstrated that they are generally captured by white slavers and forced to dance about naked and have sex against their will. What do you know? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/2 "2005-09-01T14:07:24Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Tina Louise in a guest appearance on Bonanza. Who knew? > > (A bit gag is a gag kinda like the ones horses wear. Tina’s was a stick held in with rope behind her neck as she’s kidnapped by Evil Captors.) You wish. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/3 "2005-09-01T14:34:15Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > You wish. No, seen the vidcaps myself. I have 'em somewhere in my porn col… er, archives. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/4 "2005-09-01T15:01:56Z")
First of all, you seem to be describing bondage as requiring nudity and sex, or vice verse. The three don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other. Since the thread title and your questions are for nudity & sex rather than bondage, I’ll just say that the first nudity I saw on TV was _Steambath._ Valerie Perrine taking a shower, full frontal. Yowza. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/5 "2005-09-01T15:03:58Z")
Diito me for _Steambath_. Quite a surprise, tuning in to a PBS play and getting such a bonus. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/6 "2005-09-01T15:06:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Diito me for _Steambath_. Quite a surprise, tuning in to a PBS play and getting such a bonus. 😃 Oh, you got a bonus during that scene, too? ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/7 "2005-09-01T15:12:26Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I’m working on a chart detailing the earliest bondage scenes in the movies and on TV, Does anyone else find this very creepy? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/8 "2005-09-01T15:13:56Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > First of all, you seem to be describing bondage as requiring nudity and sex, or vice verse. The three don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other. > > Since the thread title and your questions are for nudity & sex rather than bondage, I’ll just say that the first nudity I saw on TV was _Steambath._ Valerie Perrine taking a shower, full frontal. Yowza. :::Places hands over face.::: No, no, no. You’re conflating my OP. I don’t want any info about bondage scenes, ‘cause I don’t think you guys have the resources I do to find them.\* I’m just askin’ bout nudity and sex in mainstream movies and TV shows. Nothing bondage-y about it. And not the first scene YOU saw, the first scenes ANYONE has seen. (My first nude and sex scenes were in “Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Vixens,” which I and some friends sneaked into while we were underage so we could say we did it. The general consensus among us was that if this was what adult movies were all about, adults could HAVE them. Yech.) \*OK, as far as bondage scenes go, I’m particularly interested in the period of 1850-1920. I have very little info for that period in the resources I have at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/9 "2005-09-01T15:24:37Z")
I know I saw enough titties in DeMille’s 1920s BEN HUR on TCM. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/10 "2005-09-01T15:30:49Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Does anyone else find this very creepy? Oh, so other people can collect Pez dispensers, or find tortillas that look like the Virgin Mary, or build copies of Westminster Cathedral out of matchsticks and get on TV and everyone admires their obsessiveness, but I make a little tiny listing of mainstream bondage scene firsts, and I’M creepy? Is that it? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/11 "2005-09-01T15:35:15Z")
Personally, EC, I’m intrigued by your ideas, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/12 "2005-09-01T15:35:41Z")
The first explicit nudity I remember on TV was when PBS ran **I, Claudius** in the 1970’s. As a chronically horny high schooler, those boobies were a welcome sight. First nudity I remember seeing in a film was when my brother and I went to see [Jory](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068773/). It had Linda Purl’s butt in it. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/13 "2005-09-01T15:47:24Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Diito me for _Steambath_. And it made me look forward, all the more, to _I, Claudius_. The original _Tarzan the Ape Man_, 1932, and especially its sequel _Tarzan and his Mate_, 1934, had Maureen O’Sullivan quite scantilly clad. There were three filmings of the infamous nude swimming scene - nude, topless, and costumed. However Maureen was doubled by an olympic swimmer in the swimming scene itself. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/14 "2005-09-01T15:58:55Z")
Female nudity in _Hypocrites_ (1915) (allegorical Naked Truth), _Intolerance_ (1916) (Babylonian orgy), _Ben Hur_ (1925) (triumphal parade), _Napoleon_ (France, 1927) (party scene), _Metropolis_ (Germany, 1927) (fembot is topless w/pasties), _Tabu_ (1931) (island women), _Ecstasy_ (Czech., 1932) (Hedy Lamarr runs through woods), _Eskimo_ (1933) (woman breastfeeding baby), Tarzan and His Mate (1934) (Jane’s nude swim). Male nudity in _Dante’s Inferno_ (Italy, 1912) (damned boarding boat), _Ben Hur_ (1925) (slave on ship), _The Big Parade_ (1925) (outdoor shower), _Wings_ (1927) (army induction), _Kameradschaft_ (Germany, 1931) (workers’ shower room), _Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty_ (Germany, 1938) (athletes in sauna). ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/15 "2005-09-01T16:06:25Z")
The first time I remember being shocked by nudity in the movies was Richard Gere’s dad’s donger early in the movie. Which still did not prepare me for the very explicit sex scene later on. I was a teenager and as far as I knew they didn’t show things like that on the movie screen. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/16 "2005-09-01T16:14:20Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The first time I remember being shocked by nudity in the movies was Richard Gere’s dad’s donger early in the movie. Err…any movie in particular? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/17 "2005-09-01T16:14:38Z")
Richard Gere’s dad??? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/18 "2005-09-01T16:51:32Z")
[Sex in Cinema: The Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes](http://www.filmsite.org/sexinfilms.html). ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/19 "2005-09-01T17:05:19Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Err…any movie in particular? 🙂 Hahaha! I’m stoopid! An Officer and a Gentleman. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581/20 "2005-09-01T17:17:26Z")
As others have pointed out, nudity in the movies did not follow a straight line growth over the years. Back in the early days of filmmaking, nudity was not uncommon. It suddenly disappeared due to the Hays Code in 1930 and only slowly began returning in the 1960’s. And of course this only affected American film production and distribution. But if you’re looking for post-code film nudity, IIRC, the first mainstream movie released in America to show nude female breasts was _The Pawnbroker_ in 1964. The first to show full female nudity was _Blow-Up_ in 1966. The first to show male genitals was _Women in Love_ in 1969. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-nudity-and-sex-in-mainstream-tv-movies/319581.md?page=2)