Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just watching prime time TV?

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one of those outfits that tells us what's good for us, the number of sex scenes on prime time TV has doubled since 1998.

According to Reuters:

The study, "Sex on TV 4," also found that the inclusion of references to "safer sex" issues, such as waiting to have sex or using protection, has increased since 1998 but "leveled off" in recent years.

The study examined all sexual content in a representative sample of more than 1,000 hours of programming, with the exception of daily newscasts, sports events and children's shows. The report describes sexual content as including talk about sex and depictions of sexual behavior, ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse.

The report found that 70% of all shows examined included some sexual content and that these shows averaged 5.0 sexual scenes per hour, compared with 56% of all shows and 3.2 scenes per hour in 1998 and 64% of all shows and 4.4 scenes per hour in 2002. During primetime, 77% of the shows examined included sexual content and averaged 5.9 sexual scenes an hour.

Of course, the sex is implied rather than explicit but the line between faking it and doing is is blurring on other venues. Filmmaker Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny, released last year, includes a scene where actress Chloe Sevigny is actually giving head to Gallo. The scene leaves nothing to the imagination. Over on The Playboy Channel, available on sat TV and some cable systems, the sex have crossed the line between softcore and hard-core with graphic sexual content shown after 11 p.m. Hard-core programming helped Playboy, which also owns the hard-core Spice networks, to post a increased third quarter profit.

A new film, Lie With Me, will take the trend even further. As Gail McDonald writes on Fradical.com:

To be released in 2005, the $2-million film has tongues in town wagging because of its explicit sex. It's a closed set, so no one knows for sure how far the film's main stars -- Eric Balfour (The O.C. and Six Feet Under) and Vancouver's Lauren Lee Smith (The L Word) -- have actually gone. But sources say everything's apparently there -- full nudity, (simulated) penetration, (non-simulated) cunnilingus. There's little left to a fertile imagination.

The controversy and speculation pleases director Clement Virgo and his backers, Toronto-based distributor ThinkFilm, who say they're on a mission to shake North American moviegoers out of their puritanical boots. The press release promises the film will "explore human sexuality with a bravery and honesty not seen since [Bernardo] Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris." It goes on to promise the most "erotic and intimate film about sex ever made in North America."