The FCC is proposing to fine ABC affiliates $1.43 million over an "indecent" episode of NYPD Blue that aired in 2003. The FCC fined all ABC affiliates in the Central and Mountain time zones that aired the episode because of a statute that female nudity cannot be shown on television before 10pm.

But here's the interesting thing. In the liability notice that the FCC sent to the ABC affiliates [DOC], the agency makes the argument that buttocks are "a sexual organ":

As an initial matter, we find that the programming at issue is within the scope of our indecency definition because it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs -- specifically an adult woman's buttocks. Although ABC argues, without citing any authority, that the buttocks are not a sexual organ, we reject this argument, which runs counter to both case law and common sense. [...]

With respect to the third factor, we find that the scene's depiction of adult female nudity, particularly the repeated shots of a woman's naked buttocks, is titillating and shocking.

Of course, the buttocks are not an organ. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, they're "the back of a hip that forms one of the fleshy parts on which a person sits." But why should the FCC let medical fact get in the way of fining television stations more than a million dollars?