17 Examples Of How Much More Graphic TV Sex Has Gotten

In 1972, George Carlin enumerated the seven words you can't say on TV. But that was before cable changed everything. Now, of course, we hear each and every one of those words regularly on the small screen, along with a few new ones that are a sign of the times, like 69, analingus, and pegging.

While movies have been growing ever tamer in the past decade or so — when was the last time you saw a really hot sex scene in a studio film? — TV is going there. Even networks are figuring out ways to show more than implied missionary with strategic lighting and carefully placed sheets. (See: Scandal.) Meanwhile, series like Netflix's Orange Is the New Black and Starz's Outlander place sex at the center of their story lines and never hold back from depicting the many ways that people experience pleasure.

And so, for your own...uh...reading pleasure, here are some of the most taboo-busting moments in TV history.