# How many years before mainstream USA culture will allow porn in mainstream movies and TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693 "2015-01-13T07:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/21 "2015-01-15T23:04:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > True, but I think there’s a line between gratuitous and something that actually furthers a story. The problem with 60s TV shows is that characters didn’t even seem to have any bodily functions of any sort other than eating and drinking(and smoking, which was actually more acceptable in TV and movies back then). But you couldn’t even film a scene in a bathroom. Back then, nobody wanted to watch somebody taking a dump when they could see that without owning a set. They wanted to hear “Dyn-O-Mite!” and “Ayyyy”, not “Hey, I’m going to urinate now”. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/22 "2015-01-15T23:14:28Z")
“You know, Fox turned into a hardcore sex channel so gradually, I didn’t even notice.” --Marge Simpson ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/23 "2015-01-16T20:01:35Z")
There is certainly less nudity today than the late 60s and the 70s. And back then, boobs were rated PG. Nymphomaniac was a foreign film and was not distributed widely in the US. MY GOD, today you can sit through an entire slasher film without seeing any tits! What’s wrong with you people? ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/24 "2015-01-16T20:56:07Z")
I don’t know. But I somehow suspect Shia LaBeuf will be involved on it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/25 "2015-01-16T21:17:31Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > My question is how come Gilligan’s Island, The Honeymooners, Happy Days, I love Lucy, and hundreds of other classic sitcoms did just fine and are still funny 30-50 years later with no sex? Oh, come on! You _know_ The Professor was all up in Ginger’s shit! The Skipper and his “Little Buddy”? They shared a hut, for Pete’s sake! Ralph and Norton? Wife-swappers. _“Bang Zoom, Alice!”_ “I Love Lucy”? _It’s right there in the title of the show!_ Where do you think “Little Ricky” came from? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/26 "2015-01-17T00:15:53Z")
> [@](#): > > One thing I’ve noticed over the last couple decades is that the amount of sex and nudity allowed in mainstream movies and network TV seems to have steadily increased. On cable, and particularly premium, yeah, sure. On network TV, nope. You can thank Janet Jackson for flashing her nip at the Stupidbowl for that. Shows like NYPD Blue were really pushing things then BLAMMO, Jacko’s little sis made everyone go apeshit insane and suddenly things had gone back like the envelope had never been pushed. There might have been some movement in the ~decade since (wow, time flies) but it’s still not even close to where it was before. And no, it wasn’t a “wardrobe malfunction” or accident. It was obviously planned, given how the offending protuberance was lavishly adorned to match her costume. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/27 "2015-01-17T01:50:34Z")
With some of the stuff in _Salem_ and like shows, I’m betting 10-15 years for basic softcore on open broadcast television. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/28 "2015-01-18T07:07:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t see it happening anytime in the near future. Hollywood is a business and they’re looking at the bottom dollar before anything else. Mainstream movies and television wants to sell tickets and advertising not push the boundaries. There’s always a vocal opposition to sex scenes and the MPAA and FCC listen to this opposition so Hollywood backs off. This, really. There aren’t even a lot of “R” movies anymore, or what we would have considered “R” way back when. Also, for years I’ve been asserting that, with regard to the amount of exposure that’s considered acceptable or appropriate, the great dichotomy between male and female plays a supporting role here. Sex scenes in movies just get stupid when the woman is nearly or completely nude while the man is completely clothed except for having pulled down his trousers just barely enough to whip it out. Granted, if they’ve been aching to jump each other’s bones for a long time, they might dispense with the formality of stripping down, but still. For many people it then becomes a question of why the woman’s body is on display while the man looks like he’s got somewhere else he needs to be just as soon as he finishes up here. Cable TV does seem to be a little more realistic in this regard, though. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693/29 "2015-01-19T00:38:13Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > This, really. There aren’t even a lot of “R” movies anymore, or what we would have considered “R” way back when. I meant, specifically wrt to nudity. OTOH there’s all the violence and gore anybody could ever want. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-years-before-mainstream-usa-culture-will-allow-porn-in-mainstream-movies-and-tv/709693.md?page=1)