I just don't get it...In America if a woman has open breast showing, It's considered a taboo and you can get in trouble.
A man has open breast showing and it's considered normal...What the heck?!
Breast are just like man breast except amplified! They are basically almost the same exact thing and men are first born females in the fetus...They have nipples...
In America, the media tries to sell S-E-X all the time! But when it comes down to the small stuff, America has taboos.
There is movies that show breast and there is the breast cancer where they take pictures of naked ladies to support breast cancer---But even those are considered bad and taboo! Movies with full blown breast are usually always rated M or A...Even if that was the only "bad" part in the film.
That's why I love Europeans so much...They don't consider breast as just an sex object but as a functioning tool used to breast-feed children.
For example with Janet Jackson...America was in a shock! But Europeans were scratching their heads.
This also goes to Transgendered/Sexuals because if you don't have the boobs the size of Texas or if they are small, you are considered less female and less feminine!
This disappoints me that a "high-society" like America are soooo immature that they can't see the naked body of humans as an art.
I agree with you about Americas problem with nudity. Myself, a 59 year old caucasian male, I have no problem with the nude female body. Growing up with 3 younger sisters sharing the same bedroom I was exposed to female nudity at a young age. I am a fan of smaller breast and I am turned off by implants. It is enjoyable to travel in Europe and enjoy the nude female body being displayed on the beaches. Hopefully all Americans will come to support the right of women to be topless if they desire. God bless America, Peace & Love, Stephen.
I agree. America seems to have a very "prudish' outlook at times. Most countries have adverts on TV that would be banned in the USA as against decency. As for Janet Jackson, I'm still scratching my head. It's even big news if two women have a pash at the MTV awards.
Do you have TV adverts for tampons and pads on TV? We have a cute one were a guy is buying tampons for his girl, she has just phoned him at the supermarket. He's looking through the range and goes up to the checkout girl and asks "Do you have any bigger than super?" She looks at him and just says no, they will do for her.
A lot of people in Britain and Ireland have the same problem. Especially the tabloid media, they devote Page 3 every day to a full page picture of a topless "glamour" model but they go nuts over public nudity, breastfeeding, anything that portrays the female body as a functioning biological thing. They fight anything that portrays breasts as something other than "funbags" solely for male entertainment.
Claire xoxo
Quote from: Sheva on September 09, 2009, 01:13:58 AM
I just don't get it...In America if a woman has open breast showing, It's considered a taboo and you can get in trouble.
That's why I love Europeans so much...They don't consider breast as just an sex object but as a functioning tool used to breast-feed children.
For example with Janet Jackson...America was in a shock! But Europeans were scratching their heads.
This disappoints me that a "high-society" like America are soooo immature that they can't see the naked body of humans as an art.
As an American transplant to Canada, I find it funny though, that the laws allow open breast nudity here in Toronto, but I haven't seen a single exposed (female) boob in public after two years of living here. But maybe I'm not looking hard enough ;) Maybe it's my midwest US sensitivity, but I know I wouldn't feel very comfortable walking down the street topless. I would certainly be oggled by most every passerby, even in the most liberal area of downtown Toronto. I think even in a "progressive" area like Toronto, which is about one of the most 'Europeanized' cities in North America, the idea that breasts are to be covered, that they are "sex objects", is true too.
There's a number of factors at play here, I think.
One of them is that, despite both male and female nipple areas being erogenous zones, the female breast is viewed in a far more sexual context than the male breast. We have this fallacy ingrained into our collective culture - as is reflected in media, and not just the tabloid mentioned earlier. Nost of the hetero love scenes I can recall from books or movies tend to have him nibbling her breasts far more often than her playing with his nipples!
This anachronistic conservatism isn't limited to the west - you don't walk around with your tits hanging out in China, India, Pakistan, Saudi, wherever. For the most part, a pair of "au naturelle" boobies is confined largely to ancient tribal societies and their photos in the cover of Natural Geographic.
I recall a discussion on nudism on another forum a while ago - should public nudity be allowed or not? Is it really just a bare-breast issue, or is it more than that? :)
Quote from: Melan on September 09, 2009, 08:40:07 AM
As an American transplant to Canada, I find it funny though, that the laws allow open breast nudity here in Toronto, but I haven't seen a single exposed (female) boob in public after two years of living here. But maybe I'm not looking hard enough ;)
One thing to remember is that while many women hate their bras, they hate the idea of not wearing one more.
To me there is nothing ( in the world of breasts ) as a braless breast as seen through a white cotton (or silk) blouse. Here in the Caribbean topless is somewhat common and I do enjoy our liberalism however somehow a bit of fantacy over rules reality, regardless of gender.
The United States is a Dichotomy. We are at once one of the most prudish and religious countries, and we also probably produce more porn than the rest of the world combined. I read someplace that Utah spends more per capita on porn than any other state, and its predominately a religious state, home of the Mormon church. I'm not trying to take aim at any church, just saying that we Americans often live double lives.
I spent some time in Germany as a kid and seeing full page nude adverts for skin lotion in German magazines was no big deal, but if you were to see that in a U.S. magazine...
but if you were to see that in a U.S. magazine...
But of course you could and would, depends on the magazine don't it? After all, we also probably produce more porn than the rest of the world combined so you got to be able to find it somewhere. We have lots of nude people in mags. Hustler, Playboy, Vouge, Cosmo - all have 'em.
And all I can say about being number one in porn is - USA! USA! Even though I don't think its true. We produce a lot, I think our 'amateurs' are out performing the rest of the world, but India, the old Soviet Union places, Denmark, Japan, they all do lots of porn too. Porn as it turns out - is popular just about everywhere, pretty much all the time.
For the most part, we Americans are pretty constipated in our thinking. Queen Victoria's attitude was interwoven into our moral fabric and we think that's a good thing. :eusa_doh:
Julie
Quote from: Julie Marie on September 16, 2009, 12:42:09 PM
For the most part, we Americans are pretty constipated in our thinking. Queen Victoria's attitude was interwoven into our moral fabric and we think that's a good thing. :eusa_doh:
Julie
I agree. Americans tend to be more prudish than people in other places I've been. (I'm an American.) We tend to s->-bleeped-<- about sex. Partial nudity is more likely to get a movie an adult rating than is graphic violence. I don't know if it is from our Puritan forebears or what. (There've been a lot of people immigrating to the US since the few Puritans came here.) ???
Maybe we as a culture will grow up one of these days. :P
- Kate
It's interesting to trace that stuff. That American Sex stuff. For one thing it's so taboo, a boobie on TV, meltdown. If you're caught taking a pee in a parking garage or on the side of the road - pow, sex offender registry listing for life. Though I doubt that the people who caught a quick peek at Janis Jacksons singular breast was permanently warped by the expose. And people have to pee - its not a sex deal at all.
Yet, I dare you to find me somewhere else where sex is absolutely so commercial. Somehow sex and money (money being the motivating factor) are much better than sex is by itself. Money of course, is always alright in the good old USA - we take cash, VISA/MC/AmericanEXPRESS, money orders, travelers checks, and personal checks with proper identification. I'm sure that the US leads in porn, or is right up there. First we have the equipment, the movie/TV/photo instruments to do it in the first place. Second, America has always had a love/hate relationship with sex (with all 'sin' in reality, but we're breaking it down here) and though no one likes it, people rail against it, few people cop or confess to it, but... there is a hell of a lot of porn out there if no one is looking at it. Turn out that a lot of people like porn. A lot. True through history. Sex sells. And if something sells, well by gum, some American type is going to figure out how to make it and sell it. Yup.
The only thing standing in the way of the porn industries (and it is an industry, just like cosmetics) total commercial dominance of the web is that the commercial ethic ran smack dab up against another old American tradition/notion/social value. DIY. Yup, the do-it-yourself culture has created more porn than even the industry. What's better than porn? Apparently its porn you make and are in. Given cameras and computer programs that are easy to use, the average person can take and process pictures on the same kind of technical level as Richard Avadon, or Ansil Adams. But do they do that - ok, a few do. But most take pictures of their naked GF and their own personal extended family greeting.
And while Vicky can earn some the contempt - and in some ways American's were more Victorian than the Brits - the dominance of the Irish Catholic Church in the American Church is a heavy burden also. No other branch of RC is as messed up about sex as the Irish RC church is.
Yeah, I think women should be allowed to go topless if they choose in more places.
I live in southern CA, and it's damned hot here. Those (male-bodied) bastards can take their shirts off when it's hot, at beaches, or after a good run.
SilverFang
No other branch of RC is as messed up about sex as the Irish RC church
Ahhhh the Church view of sex, evil! >:-) Unless of course your married in which case its a mandatory daily exercise in which the goal is not to enjoy yourself but simply to create children for the church to lecture about the evils of sex, or abuse unfortunately >:( Not a glorious part of our history and one we cannot afford to forget!
Claire xoxo
There are a few clothing optional beaches in Calif. where folks go completely nude. The only time there was a problem is when this one guy kept jostling his stuff about. Other than that, everyone got along great :laugh:
The only problem I had was wishing I looked as pretty as some of the gals there :-\
Quote from: Virginia Marie on September 19, 2009, 09:22:28 PM
There are a few clothing optional beaches in Calif. where folks go completely nude. The only time there was a problem is when this one guy kept jostling his stuff about. Other than that, everyone got along great :laugh:
The only problem I had was wishing I looked as pretty as some of the gals there :-\
I'm far enough from beaches where it wouldn't be practical. Plus I'm underage and not a huge fan of beaches anyway.
SilverFang
Quote from: SilverFang on September 20, 2009, 12:20:07 AM
I'm far enough from beaches where it wouldn't be practical. Plus I'm underage and not a huge fan of beaches anyway.
SilverFang
Yawns too much :icon_sleep:
Quoting Tekla:
Yet, I dare you to find me somewhere else where sex is absolutely so commercial. Somehow sex and money (money being the motivating factor) are much better than sex is by itself. Money of course, is always alright in the good old USA - we take cash, VISA/MC/AmericanEXPRESS, money orders, travelers checks, and personal checks with proper identification.
I think this may be the core (sorry) of the issue. Sex is money, money is ?? Sex isn't what it is supposed to be. Fun, healthy, relaxing, nice, something that loving people do and feel warmth satisfaction and comfort. I can look at a nice guys body, or rather the body of a nice looking guy and feel squirmy, I feel the same looking at a beautiful girl body, but I like them to have clothes on :embarrassed: just me.
The rest of the world has discovered sex isn't dirty. America has discovered it makes money.
Cindy
We can't have all these women lowering the price of boob for the sake of their comfort.
SilverFang
Sorry Silver Fang I don't understand?
Hugs
Cindy
Well if topless women are everywhere then it won't be shocking anymore. The market will be flooded.
I guess I was a little vague.
No boobs in America, but violence is all good and well. It's better to die in some non-sensical, macho altercation than to succumb to the evil of boobies...or something like that.
What part of the U.S.A. do you live in?
I feel compelled to post this link.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/07/27/entertainment/e134753D90.DTL (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/07/27/entertainment/e134753D90.DTL)
Quote from: Sheva on September 20, 2009, 04:48:28 PM
Me...?
Everyone in general. I notice that some places are more liberal about breasts than other areas. When I lived in Calif. it was fairly common to see nudity. The place I live now is rather conservative but it is common to see women breast feeding
Quote from: Virginia Marie on September 20, 2009, 05:23:06 PM
Everyone in general. I notice that some places are more liberal about breasts than other areas. When I lived in Calif. it was fairly common to see nudity. The place I live now is rather conservative but it is common to see women breast feeding
SoCal -- Somewhere in the radius of L.A.
Quote from: Sheva on September 20, 2009, 05:47:06 PM
SoCal -- Somewhere in the radius of L.A.
Right on :) I lived in LA awhile. But that was about twenty years ago. I hopped around all over So.Cal and parts of the Bay area as well. I wasn't one to hold still for very long when I was young :laugh:
Quote from: Virginia Marie on September 20, 2009, 06:34:20 PM
Right on :) I lived in LA awhile. But that was about twenty years ago. I hopped around all over So.Cal and parts of the Bay area as well. I wasn't one to hold still for very long when I was young :laugh:
I only moved 3 times in my life, thank goodness but all of them so far have been restricting of the revealing of breasts.
Bay Area, too cold to show anything - except at stuff like Folsom Street Fair - so while its tolerated, we even have a nude beach in SF, on federal land even, but its too cold to get naked there. So it's more or less theoretical.
If you get the chance before winter, check out the one in Santa Cruz :laugh:
A story in the local newspaper,
A policewoman who had just returned to work following maternity leave, left because her male and female coworkers would line up outside the door where she was feeding her child and make titty jokes.
Why is it the human IQ is rapidly descending to that of an amoeba?
I walk to work and there are billboards and on TV adverts, selling push up bras, show more tit clothes etc etc. And the one thing the breast is designed for, feeding babies (in case you forgot :laugh:) is looked upon as shameful.
I reckon if all the people who complain about breast feeding were laid end to end, they would be more useful.
We need to support mothers who breast feed, it's good for the baby and good for the mum. She helps to bond and the baby gets the food it needs.
But we have no problems with silicon boosted 'babes' we just have problems with real babies
Cindy
Quote from: Princess Phoebe on September 20, 2009, 05:23:15 AM
No boobs in America, but violence is all good and well. It's better to die in some non-sensical, macho altercation than to succumb to the evil of boobies...or something like that.
That about sums it up. . .
I can't remember what guest Bill Mahr had that said it or exactly how he said it, but essentially America glorifies acts and images of hate, but suppresses acts and images of love.