As most people in the US probably know, the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" incident on the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show caused a moral panic and a wave of censorship on television that lasted several years, after Janet Jackson's breast was shown on live TV.
Similarly, the Hays Code was implemented in the 1930s and censored most movies in the US from 1934 to the mid-1960s, after films in the late 1920s and early 1930s had become racier and racier.
Television in the 50s was already heavily censored- for example, in "I Love Lucy", when Lucy announces she's having a baby the word "pregnant" was banned by CBS executives because it was too spicy (because it implies the outcome of sex), so the phrase generally used was "I've been expecting". The first toilet and bathroom shown widely on broadcast television was in 1957 with "Leave it to Beaver", with again, CBS executives flipping out over showing a toilet or bathroom on television.
So what would be the effects of a wardrobe malfunction on live television, say, from anywhere from 1956 to 1958 when television had wide viewership? i.e. Jayne Mansfield or Marilyn Monroe is having a live interview or is speaking at the Academy Awards, broadcasted live across the US (on NBC for the Academy Awards) and her entire top is revealed to at least 50 to 60 million people who are tuned in?
Would there be a massive moral panic with a chilling effect on television viewership? Increased censorship for years to come? Soviet propaganda galvanized and screeching more about the "decadent Western capitalist states"? What else could happen, politically and socially?
Similarly, the Hays Code was implemented in the 1930s and censored most movies in the US from 1934 to the mid-1960s, after films in the late 1920s and early 1930s had become racier and racier.
Television in the 50s was already heavily censored- for example, in "I Love Lucy", when Lucy announces she's having a baby the word "pregnant" was banned by CBS executives because it was too spicy (because it implies the outcome of sex), so the phrase generally used was "I've been expecting". The first toilet and bathroom shown widely on broadcast television was in 1957 with "Leave it to Beaver", with again, CBS executives flipping out over showing a toilet or bathroom on television.
So what would be the effects of a wardrobe malfunction on live television, say, from anywhere from 1956 to 1958 when television had wide viewership? i.e. Jayne Mansfield or Marilyn Monroe is having a live interview or is speaking at the Academy Awards, broadcasted live across the US (on NBC for the Academy Awards) and her entire top is revealed to at least 50 to 60 million people who are tuned in?
Would there be a massive moral panic with a chilling effect on television viewership? Increased censorship for years to come? Soviet propaganda galvanized and screeching more about the "decadent Western capitalist states"? What else could happen, politically and socially?