In case you hadn't noticed, there are an awful lot of lady parts being discussed on broadcast TV these days. And they aren't the only ones exposed the male anatomy is explicitly mentioned on prime time as well, markedly more than even a few years ago.

So says a new study from the conservative watchdog group the Parents Television Council that tracks the number of times the words "vagina" and "penis" are spoken in dramas, comedies, TV movies and reality shows.

The research found that in just nine fall episodes of CBS' hit sitcom "2 Broke Girls," characters said the word "vagina" more times than anyone did on broadcast TV across all networks in an entire season a decade ago.

In fact, the anatomical term gets tossed around eight times more frequently on TV now than it did during the 2001-2002 season, which served as a benchmark. The word "penis" was used nearly four times as often in a recent season as it was in the relatively tame early 2000s.

With tallies for individual series, the study cites CBS' "2 Broke Girls" and "Two and a Half Men," NBC's "The Office" and "30 Rock," Fox's "American Dad" and "Family Guy," and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" as those that invoke the words most frequently.

"It's a broader reflection of the progression of raunch," said Tim Winter, president of the PTC, which took up the study after TV critics and industry watchers noticed the trend. "So many shows and networks seem to think they need it to be funny or successful."

Although the mini-study wasn't timed to the current U.S. Supreme Court deliberations about broadcast standards, it may add fuel to the fire for those arguing against relaxing the existing rules about profanity, sex and nudity on TV.

The Supreme Court, which started debating the issue early this year, has regularly ruled in favor of free speech claims. But justices have spoken publicly about the need to retain Federal Communications Commission guidelines about what can be aired on NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and the CW.

At the heart of the court case is "fleeting profanity" that was uttered during live awards shows on Fox and a partially visible bare bum shown on an ABC drama. There's no firm date on when the court will issue a judgment, but it's expected within the next month or two.

"Broadcast networks say they have to compete against cable and that's why they're pushing the envelope like this," Winter said. "They're forgetting that they're broadcast networks that use public airwaves and go out to every single person who has a TV."

Link:
Parents Television Council study: Anatomy of a trend