A while back, I remember seeing something in a legitimate (network news) news source that the country’s economic and political elite were worried about their nudie shots making it into the public. As best I can remember, there was a long running study at a few ivy league schools where students were required to be photographed naked. I think that it had something to do with linking intelligence to body shape.
I’m not jonesing to see naked senators or anything. It just struck me as odd that a university would require this of students and that students, especially in the 1940’s and 1950’s, would submit to this.
Then again, it may have just been an urban legend that made the newswire. Does this ring any bells?
Did a Google search on “ivy league photographs scientific experiment” and found this:
http://www.urbanlegends.com/collegiate/ivy_league_nude_photos.html
and this:
http://www.innerexplorations.com/psytext/shnyt.htm
The fellow’s name was William Sheldon. The site above has a lot of…ahem…“information” about Dr. Sheldon. Grain of salt required.
45ACP
I believe there was a thing a few years ago where someone had the photo of New York’s fine Senator, Ms. Rodham Clinton, in the buff from one of these experiments.
I seem to remember that there was confirmation that the photos did exist, but that they had been destroyed. Source was initially the Enquirer, but I seem to remember reading a follow-up in the Washington Post.
So at least the whole thing wasn’t imagined.
Gack… Nude photos of HRC… ::shudder::
Well, that paper shredder did at least one good thing while it was destroying all those billing records and FBI files.
BTW, is that “fine” as in “Read The Fine Manual”?
-Rav
While we’re on the subject…
“Posture photos” of incoming freshmen were taken at many prestigious colleges into the 1960s. I have seen a few (no not of anyone famous), and they are more strange than erotic. The subjects, some naked and some in their underwear, have some sort of pins attached to their spines, which (I guess) would show the angle of the spine at any point.
The most surprising thing, it seems to me, is that people posed for these photos without a peep of objection.
The second-most surprising thing is that this kind of bizarro science had some credibility at top-flight universities into the space age.
Every year or two, another college seems to stumble on its own box of photos, so the story is always current.
Since this story has some of the earmarks of an Urban legend, even though is is not one, it comes up now and then on AFU. Check out this article from the AFU archive:
http://www.urbanlegends.com/collegiate/ivy_league_nude_photos.html
It has a pretty good run down of the story.
Ugly
Now I understand what Monica Lewinsky saw in Bill. 