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Flashback: Circa 1951, iconic sitcom, I Love Lucy, is on TV. This is a time when having television meant you had a total of three channels to watch because there were only three networks. And all programming was shown in black and white (weird, right?). In this particular I Love Lucy episode, on screen (and off, actually,) married couple Lucy and Ricky Ricardo are off to bed – both are in menswear style pajamas of long pants, long sleeved button-down oversized shirts. This was not for the allure of leaving things to the imagination – this was pre-meditated covering up, dispelling the thought that this couple even had, let alone enjoyed, any romance or intimacy. To further drive the point home and to appease network censors, Lucy and Ricky, while they were able to sleep in the same room, were shown retiring for the evening in separate, twin beds.
Flashforward: 2011. Basic cable alone provides 100+ channels. All programming is in color – and, it is decidedly liberal, open-minded and pretty racy. On regular network television, on-screen couples (married, single – people who just met for the first time) jump in bed, the same bed, at any given moment, removing clothes, showing skin and giving us more than a glimpse of an intimate storyline – and that’s just on daytime soap operas. We’re not shy – bring on overt romance, intimacy, intimate conversation and sexual allusion in all forms. We want it and we want to be seduced by it and entertained by it on TV, from magazines and online outlets.
Yet even with our newfound freedom of expression – why do we still shy away from select intimate conversations and situations? For instance, the November issue of Cosmopolitan just came out; the cover teases readers with “Guys’ Top Sex Secrets,” “Kinky Sex,” and “Bigger, Better Pleasure – Ways to Get Him Pumped.” Nothing shy or held back here. It’s definitely liberating, it’s absolutely refreshing but it’s missing some of the high notes women are interested in talking about. If the lead in to a story can discuss getting more pleasure from his penis and ways to make him and keep him hard, can’t we talk about the pleasure of a women being better and wetter – -and tips to make this happen? As much as we have evolved since I Love Lucy was in production, what’s with the one sided censorship and how do we start getting more enlightened and progressive information we’re craving so we can get an equal share of the hot action?
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