Male and female nudity in culture

[Bonobo]

Last edited Sat Mar 15, 2014, 06:57 AM - Edit history (1)

I am listening to an NPR show about nudity in pop culture. It is quite interesting but at one point. A woman commentator mentions that there is no male equivalent of boobs.

This is true, but on the other hand, full frontal for men means showing genitalia whereas full frontal for women is pretty much just showing a triangle of hair.

Admittedly this is not a stunning or even a particularly interesting revelation for you readers I am sure.

Really just an off-the-cuff OP here -the equivalent of small talk, so don't make too much of it.

[Doctor_J]

1. I suppose we could try to set a trend

When you take your date to a nice outing (fancy restaurant, nice night club, fundraiser), it's perfectly acceptable for her to expose her cleavage. Many of the women in attendance will probably have theirs on display. So next time you go to such a thing, leave the tie at home and unbutton your shirt to show off your pecs - no nipple though. Maybe it will catch on. Then our entire gender will be liberated from the neck tie. (FWIW, I think we are burdened with the choking apparatus to make up for those crippling shoes they have to wear when they dress up).

[Exultant Democracy]

2. This is the USA plenty of men have boobs...

not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Major Nikon]

3. Nudity didn't become dirty until the Victorian age

And not even then for Eastern cultures. Japan's public baths were joint use until after WWII.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. The Butt?

Conceivably, could a bare butt shot be a boob equivalent? Shit, it conceivably could.

But conversely, it's conceivable that Beiber's bare butt could be equivalent to a bare beaver. It could.




Now, say all that 10 times fast.

[ElboRuum]

5. The Victorian era was a silly, silly time.

It's particularly depressing for me that we still gauge modern social codes and norms from such a culturally and morally contradictory time which seemed very invested in class difference.

[the_working_poor]

6. The Victorian era was a horrible and self-destructive period we are still feeling the repercussions

Long short, we would be so much more advanced in gender relations if the victorian age, as such, never happened.

it dammed both men and women into our "patriarchal roles".... Ironically by a MATRIARCH, the Queen Victoria of england, at that time.

[kwassa]

7. Movies are made by men

with a very few exceptions.

Almost always heterosexual men, in terms of the ability to green-light a project.

They like seeing naked women, not naked men. That is the real reason this happens.

A different example: We were watching a movie last night where, so surprisingly, a much younger women was falling for a much older man. My wife turned to me and said "this only happens in movies", movies made by older men, of course, that reflects the demographic that actually makes the films.

The actors involved in this were Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz. In real life, she is 20 years younger than him, but looks 30 years younger than him. It was quite creepy. Both are superb actors, but they couldn't pull this off.

[opiate69]

8. I would posit that the MPAA rating board actually has much more to do with it.

And, IIRC, that board is mostly women. See "This Film is not yet rated" for more details.

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Excellent movie (suggestion)!

You are also quite correct in how it explains how nudity is treated, even today. When we were little, we weren't allowed to watch rated "R" movies, unless they were rated "R" for (tasteful, as seen by my mother) nudity. If it had excessive violence or gore, it was a no-no. My mother was forward thinking in that nudity or sex scenes, not raunch, were natural parts of the human experience. While violence is also "natural," my mom say it as 'unnatural' and didn't want us seeing such things. My dad was/is a prude. Even today, with all grown children, two married, one single, and me and my partner in limbo, he still won't watch nude scenes with us in the room and gets up in a huff. I remember one time my mom, dad, and I were all watching a movie and this woman exposed her breasts. My mom shouted, "Holy shit, I have never seen so much silicone!" I giggled. My dad angrily jumped up and said, "is this something our son should be watching?!" I was 30 at the time and openly gay! My mom and I looked at each other and burst out in laughter. My dad stormed out of the room. We had to rewind part of the movie because we kept laughing so hard we couldn't hear the dialogue.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. I still can't watch nude scenes with my mother in the room

She frequently decries modern films as everyone swearing and doing drugs and women with their tops off, yet she loved the Sopranos. I could never watch an episode with her when i still lived with them.

My father meanwhile discovered Skinamax when they got all the movie channels and doesn't realize how loud the volume was late at night.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. My mom has always been very open about sex.

When I was in 4th grade, I was made to read "Sex & Love in Plain Language." A horrible book by today's standards, especially in regards to homosexuality, which was described as a "phase" and a "choice" and a section I read over and over. When I was done reading it, I had a test. It had diagrams I had to label, true/false questions, multiple choice, and an essay. The thing is we were all proficient in the particulars of sex, but the nuances were lost on all of us (4 boys). However, when push came to shove, my coming out, one of my brother's condom wrappers being found in the car, she turned back into a mother right quick! Today, though, it ain't nothing but a thing.

I have this unique ability to recognize an actor who's klingenspritzer I have seen in another movie. We were watching a movie and I shouted out, "I have seen him nude! Who is he?!" My dad turned a shade of red I have yet to name and my mother said, "Oh fantastic, I have a son who can't remember someone's name, but knows their penis on sight." My partner just laughed because I do it all the time at home.

My dad is still very much a prude, yet loves walking around in the nude, which I had to prepare my partner for...just in case. To me, it demonstrates the difference some make between being nude/seeing nudity and sexuality, but it also shows how they can easily get mixed in a negative way. Really, what is the difference in seeing a nude statue and a movie where a woman changes her clothes and you see her breasts? To me there isn't a difference, but for some, it makes a huge difference.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. My mom is not

Though she and my father self identify as liberal Democrats, my mother is fond of saying "I live a conservative lifestyle". I'll never forget the day when I was about 20 she flipped out on me when I suggested people should live together before marriage (because it's not about sex which is usually out the barn door by that point, it's about LIVING together). She said she did understand why any woman would want to "give the man what he really wants" without marriage. Needless to say, being that I'm not a huge fan of traditional legal marriage we don't talk too much about that life philosophy any more.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Klingenspritzer?

At first glance, I thought he was wheeeling a challah.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. The things we remember.

It is a line from the "Golden Girls." I am just that gay!

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Yep

that's pretty gay!

[kwassa]

10. Interesting thesis, something I had not thought of.

and I haven't seen this movie, so I don't know what it contains.

but according to Wikipedia, only half the board is women.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated

Head of the Board: Joan Graves (the only member of the board whose information the MPAA makes public)

Anthony "Tony" Hey - 61 - separated - age of children: 16, 28, 30

Barry Freeman - 45 - married - elementary school aged children

Arlene Bates - 44 - married - age of children: 15 and 23

Matt Ioakimedes - 46 - divorced - age of children: 17 and 20 (had served as a rater for 9 years as of 2005)

Joan Worden - 56 - married - age of children: 18 (twins)

Scott Young - 51 - married - age of children: 22 and 24 (next-door neighbor of Mrs. Bates)

Joann Yatabe - 61 - married - age of children: 22 and 25

Howard Friedkin - 47 - divorced - no children (aspiring screenwriter)

Kori Jones - deceased