# How long until we see bared breasts on US TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779 "2000-08-25T23:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/1 "2000-08-25T23:54:01Z")
US TV has been showing a little more skin of late. On NYPD Blue I believe they show a bare butt every now and then. So how long until we get bared breasts on prime-time, broadcast TV? (Subscription cable channels like HBO are exempted from this question). And another question: Would it matter if we did or didn’t show bare breasts in our TV shows? What about male nudity? That used to be unheard of in movies, but you see it every now and then these days. Is it good or bad? Is it possible to say that nudity of the type I’m referring too (of the genitalia or breasts) has enough artistic merit that we should _always_ allow it? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/2 "2000-08-26T00:06:15Z")
Does PBS count. I’ve seen a few shows with breasts in them on public TV. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/3 "2000-08-26T00:13:07Z")
“NYPD Blue” actually shows bare breasts all the time, but they hide the nipple. They’ll show the woman from a three-quarter angle behind them, so you get the full-on curve going, but the camera’s juuuuust far enough around that the nipple isn’t visible. Or, they’ll show a frontal view with the arm casually draped across, again hiding the center part of the breast, including the nipple. And in addition (assuming this is about television in the U.S.), the Discovery Channel occasionally shows a fully bare breast, including the nipple, in the context of certain anthropological or sociological programs. Haven’t seen a penis, but I wouldn’t be surprised. And of course, public television (PBS) has done it for years; did you see “Tales from the City”? So the question would be more accurately stated, **when will broadcast network television in the U.S. show a full breast including the nipple**? And then when will they go on to the “naughty bits,” i.e. crotch shots? That’s pretty subjective, and might be suited better for IMHO, but I suspect it won’t be long, say within a decade. The competition from pay cable, not to mention the pressure from impossible-to-predict Internet broadcasts, will just be too great. It might be sooner, in fact, but I suspect political calcification and inertia in D.C. will last way beyond the point of reality and practicality, as it usually does. Now, as far as the second question, that’s definitely subjective. I personally believe nudity is oversexualized in this country, and that way too many people get way too uptight about it. I suspect a lot of 'Dopers will concur, because this is a pretty enlightened group. However, the vast majority of people in the U.S. don’t use the computer, and of the ones that do, most wouldn’t fit in with SDMB culture, which tends toward (alert! alert! blanket generalization! do not take offense! broad categorization not intended as reflection of any individual!) rational humanism. It goes without saying that the Average American is fairly conservative on most basic social questions, including the old saw that nudity = sexual. So you’ll probably hear a similar opinion from others on this board, but be aware that it most likely doesn’t reflect the majority opinion of the rest of the population. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/4 "2000-08-26T00:24:40Z")
Why is this in General Questions? Yo, Manhattan! Oh, and for the record, when I was about 13 years old, the A&E network showed the movie _Slaughterhouse Five_. It was this really wierd movie about this guy telling his life’s story to space aliens. Right in the middle of the movie, for no good reason that I can remember, a naked woman was teleported into the room with the guy and a really raunchy nude scene occurred. This woman was crawling around on her hands and knees, bare breasts hanging down. She and the guy began foreplay, and the scene ended just before the actual sex started. This was at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon. My older brother saw the scene too, and he can testify that this isn’t some figment of my imagination. Thank God my parents weren’t around 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/5 "2000-08-26T00:28:15Z")
well, i’ve seen boob (it was half of a pair) on chicago hope a while back (it’s off the air now, right?) while a doctor (mark harmon maybe) consulted with a breast cancer patient. and yeah, PBS of course. armistead maupin’s tales of the city, off the top of my head, for one. at least on one station i saw it on. the other PBS station i saw it on, one hour later, blured it out. ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/6 "2000-08-26T00:29:42Z")
oh yeah, to answer the OP, when community standards allow it. so whenever someone watching the local NBC affiliate in Wyoming isn’t offended by a bared breast, they you’ll see them a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/7 "2000-08-26T00:36:55Z")
The real question is not when we will see breasts or even when we will see breasts with nipples it is when we will see white breasts with nipples. There have been many examples over the years of breasts with nipples being shown on network television but only the breasts and nipples of dark-skinned women. ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/8 "2000-08-26T00:37:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*Why is this in General Questions? Yo, Manhattan! > > Oh, and for the record, when I was about 13 years old, the A&E network showed the movie _Slaughterhouse Five_. It was this really wierd movie about this guy telling his life’s story to space aliens. Right in the middle of the movie, for no good reason that I can remember, a naked woman was teleported into the room with the guy and a really raunchy nude scene occurred. This woman was crawling around on her hands and knees, bare breasts hanging down. She and the guy began foreplay, and the scene ended just before the actual sex started. This was at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon. My older brother saw the scene too, and he can testify that this isn’t some figment of my imagination. Thank God my parents weren’t around 😃 \*\* Slaughterhouse Five is a novel by Kurt Vonnegut (sp) bout his true life experiences in WW2. Not the alien parts of course. Anyway, my colledge English professor was very into this book because after the Russians entered Germany her entire junior high school class (she’s german)was sent to Slaughterhouse 5 and then eastward and was never seen again. She only escaped death because she didn’t go to school that day because she had a dentist appointment. Anyway they probable got by with this on A&E because its “art” or “literature.” ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/9 "2000-08-26T00:44:23Z")
Sorry, **Lizard** , I do not think it will happen here for a little while. Looks like you are just gonna have to get cable… ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/10 "2000-08-26T00:58:55Z")
So I think the general consensus is “We have” . . . right? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/11 "2000-08-26T01:00:06Z")
Hell, I’d like to know when are they going to allow SWEARING on tv, beyond the occassional damn, hell, ass, or bitch. And maybe a few bastards thrown in. When will we get some tv dad giving the driver who cut him off the finger? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/12 "2000-08-26T01:02:04Z")
They do, you just have to watch the right/wrong tv:D ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/13 "2000-08-26T01:05:15Z")
Hey, they do show bareASS on the Simpsons… But I want to hear Homer call Flanders a shithead!!! WWAAAAHHH!!! ---
**Author:** ![ronxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@ronxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ronxfyre)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/14 "2000-08-26T01:23:14Z")
You’re wondering when will we see full frontal nudity (the breasts and nipples) on tv. If you have HBO, Showtime, Pay-Per-View, and/or the Playboy Channel, You’re in luck. The reason you don’t see full frontal nudity on television is because of sponsors who won’t support shows that could easily be critize by groups like PTC. Second, you got Standard and Practices. Their job is make sure the content of the show isn’t objectable. That’s a reason you don’t see a fully exposed woman’s breasts. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/15 "2000-08-26T01:34:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > **But I want to hear Homer call Flanders a shithead!!!** Now that Matt Groening just confirmed that a Simpsons motion picture is close to becoming a reality, you just might. No word on the MPAA rating yet… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/16 "2000-08-26T01:37:28Z")
People get very irate if there’s any sexual content (or obscenities) on TV. We’ve come a long way on the obscenity front,\* but it’s very unlikely you’ll see any planned frontal nudity any time soon (not counting the recent _Today Show_ 🙂 ). In general, the display of nudity is much rarer these days than it was even in the past, like in the 70s, when nearly all leading ladies showed off their endowments. Now things are usually hidden even in films. \*Trivia tidbit – the first network broadcast to use the ord “asshole” on TV was ABC’s broadcast of _Annie Hall_ (Woody Allen as a boy says “What an asshole” after meeting Joey Nichols – a name no one who saw the movie is likely to forget). Allen insisted on the film being shown uncut. ABC had extra operators waiting for the protests, and the broadcast did get an larger than usual number of calls – most complaining that the film was being shown out of order. (It’s composed of flashbacks, and people were so used to a linear plot that the jumps back and forth in time got them confused.) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/17 "2000-08-26T01:42:12Z")
On TV they don’t do me no good. I want to see them in my bedroom. That’s where I wanna see them. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/18 "2000-08-26T01:50:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*On TV they don’t do me no good. I want to see them in my bedroom. That’s where I wanna see them. \*\* Sailor, welcome to the effing club. Or the “not effing at the moment” club, as the case may be. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/19 "2000-08-26T03:35:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by labdude \* > my **colledge** English professor 🙂 Sorry, but that’s funny. Re: the OP…I’m guessing within 5 years. When the networks analyze the balance sheet and see how _The Sopranos_ and _Sex and the City_, et al, are doing, they’ll soon fire their censors and it’ll be **Tits Ahoy!**. At first you won’t be able to see any hooters until after 9:00pm, but it’ll eventually creep earlier. Maybe one network will monopolize the mammaries at first, but the others will follow suit. Christ, Rob and Laura Petrie couldn’t even share the same bed. TV has come a long way, and the pace of change is quickening. ---
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779/20 "2000-08-26T03:39:31Z")
Anybody ever see “Shaka Zulu”? Seems to get aired a lot during black history month. As I recall I saw it on a major network affiliate. More bare breasts than you can shake a stick at (with nipples included). I saw a flick on one of the non-premium cable channels a while back. It was about the folks that used to live on easter island. Again, plenty of breast action. I don’t think we’re that uptight about nudity anymore, just overt sexuality. Currently it seems that sexual content + nipples = not ready for prime time on network affiliates. I do think our opinions about sex and sexuality are shifting, but folks still want to be able to watch tv with their kids and not have explain about “the birds and the bees” during a commercial break. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-until-we-see-bared-breasts-on-us-tv/30779.md?page=2)