Los Angeles (AFP) – Violence has long been a staple of US cable television shows, but most producers have been coy about sex — until recently, when an explosion of explicit content flooded the small screen.
The titillatingly-titled “Masters of Sex” is the most obvious example, but while there are no recent studies most industry watchers say fornication has never been as widely on display on TV.
Pushing boundaries, the series includes multiple simulated orgasms and acres of nudity, as well as sex toys/research tools like one named the “Ulysses,” basically a clear plastic vibrator with a camera inside, which films what happens in orgasm.
“Certainly TV, including broadcast TV, seems far, far more able to tackle subjects it previously didn’t address,” professor of cinema and television Richard Walter told AFP.
Many modern shows “contain sex and violence in ways that would have been unthinkable not too many years ago,” added the academic from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
