The History of Sex on Television

Posted by Scanner Matt

From the first married couple to share a bed to the first lesbian sex scene, here is a history of network television's groundbreaking moments:

First Married Couple in Bed Together
Mary Kay and Johnny
November 18 1947
Dumont Network

First Interracial Kiss
Star Trek
November 22, 1968
NBC

First Female Nudity
Steambath
May 3, 1973
PBS

First Condom Commercial
Trojan condoms
1975
KNTV-TV (ABC affiliate)

First Scene With A Condom
Cagney & Lacey
1986
CBS

First Gay Male Sex
thirtysomething
November 7, 1989
ABC

First Gay Male Kiss
Dawson's Creek
May 24, 2000
WB

First Lesbian Sex Scene
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
May 6, 2003
UPN

First Daytime Gay Male Kiss
August 17, 2007
First Daytime Gay Male Sex
As the World Turns
January 12, 2009
CBS

Compiled from Lapham's Quarterly (Eros Vol. II No. I Winter 2009) and The Daily Beast

Pope Makes Insane Gay Metaphor

Best Naked Music Video of the Year

Graydon Carter Won't Say the M Word

Tina Fey Tells Everyone to 'Suck it' at the Golden Globes

+ DIGG

+ DEL.ICIO.US

+ REDDIT

Posted Jan 14 2009, 10:16 AM

Filed under: star trek, buffy the vampire slayer, sex on tv, thirtysomething, hostory of sex on television, sopa opera gay sex, as the world turns, luke and noah have sex, televised sex, history sex, trojan condoms, tv sex, dawsons creek, cagney and lacey, luke and noah, steambath, network television sex, mary kay and johnny, televisionon firsts

Comments

justmaibe said:

No first transgender for AMC? Zarf/Zoe?

January 14, 2009 12:02 PM

profrobert said:

I'm surprised Billy Crystal didn't have any kisses on Soap back in the '70s.

January 14, 2009 12:11 PM

asiago said:

what's that Bill Bixby shot up top? That ain't the Hulk. Courtship of Eddie's Father?

January 14, 2009 2:43 PM

fabul1st said:

I think the first Lesbian kiss was in an episode of LA Law back in the Mid-Eighties. Pretty significant at the time.

January 14, 2009 5:43 PM

zed said:

May 6 2003?

Willow was with Kennedy at that point and Tara was long gone. The screenshot you be showing with Willow and Tara is from more than a year earlier. (no actual sex scene on screen, but a lot of post-coital snuggling at the beginning of the next episode)

January 14, 2009 6:56 PM