Free The Nipple: A Silent Witness.

The 2016 Academy Awards included much discussion of sex and nudity. In terms what was acceptable to show on screen.

This discussion centred around the US Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) famous; "No Nipples" rule.

Strictly speaking the FCC only regulates US broadcast TV networks. So not even US cable TV networks such as HBO. It certainly doesn't regulate US cinema releases. Except when those movies are shown on US broadcast TV networks.

However major US tech companies such as Facebook have adopted the FCC's No Nipples rule. Effectively making it the de facto global standard on sex and nudity.

The issue was really driven to the fore by the 2014 movie "Free The Nipple." Directed by a one Lina Esco. Who has since gone on to star in the US broadcast TV show; "S.W.A.T." I don't know about you but I'm really looking forward to the second half of Season 3.

The UK BBC drama series; "Silent Witness" actually made a really intelligent, and I think, funny contribution to this discussion. Even if, sadly, no-one seemed to pick up on it at the time.

The issue everyone has with the FCC's No Nipples rule is really its absurdity. It distills all of human sexuality down into one thing. The female nipple. It then decides whether content is sexual or not by applying the binary test of whether it contains that one thing or not.

This allows the broadcast of content which is clearly very sexual but it is allowed under the rules because it does not include nipples. It also bans the broadcast of content which clearly isn't sexual but is banned because it does show nipples.

Silent Witness is a show which centres around pathologists and forensic scientists investigating crimes.

Conducting an autopsy involves stripping the corpse nude and inspecting every millimetre of the skin. It also involves cutting into the corpse by making a Y shaped incision along the breast plate.

As a result it is almost impossible to realistically portray an autopsy of a woman on screen without showing her breasts and nipples.

I think we can all agree though that a dead body being cut into is not a sexual experience. Or at least I really, really hope we can agree on that.

Obviously though you know, deep down, that the production hasn't actually gone and killed someone. So if the 'corpse' is particularly attractive it's hard not to have your eye drawn to certain things.

It's also hard not to feel a little bit of sympathy for, the often, unknown actresses who find themselves in this position. This of course is their big break in the industry. The thing they'll show their friends and parents and prospective future employers.

One episode of Silent Witness made a big play of these issues.

It began with a young, attractive and unknown actress being show alive in one scene. Before going on to be murdered. Her entire role in the rest of the two hour, double episode was then reduced to that of a nude corpse.

The actual autopsy scene began with her being filmed from her feet up. So you not only saw pubic hair but what the UK broadcast regulator OFCOM, rather spectacularly, describes as; "Vaginal Detailing." The scene continued as one, seemingly continuous shot. Which tracked up over her pelvis, stomach, breasts etc.

It was shot in a rather lingering, salacious way. What you would normally find in a sex scene rather than an autopsy scene. So by the time the camera arrived at the woman's head and face the intention seemed to be that you would be a little turned on.

They then suddenly and shockingly they peeled the skin of the woman's face off.

The seemingly continuous tracking shot was not continuous after all. At some point it had been cut and the actress had been switched out for a prosthetic.

This had the effect of the program makers seeming to half a laugh at the viewers expense by going;

"Ha! Ha! You've been perving over a piece of plastic!"

Which I thought was very funny.

The makers of the 2019 Starz show; "Dublin Murders" clearly also thought it was very funny.

That centres around a female detective investigating the murder of a woman who looks exactly physically like her. This involved the production building a life-sized mannequin or dummy of the actress.

There is an autopsy scene where the actress is stood over the nude dummy version of herself. Surrounded by her leering male colleagues. Which was, I assume, intended to seem as creepy as it sounds.

It also begs the question of what happened to the life-sized dummy of the actress once production had finished.

There's long been an issue of nude a sex scenes done by actresses appearing on pornographic websites. There's also been the growing issue of "DeepFake Pornography." In which pornographic videos of celebrities are simply created using digital animation.

I can't help but wonder if life-like sex dolls of celebrities are the next step. In our clearly doomed society.

The reason why it has taken me so long to mention Silent Witness' contribution to the 2016 Oscars debate is that they shoot a full year in advance.

So they were making this clever contribution at the time it was relevant to the Oscars. Yet didn't actually show it to anyone until a year later.

By which time everyone had moved on and it was no longer relevant. 


16:30 on 22/1/20 (UK date).