I’m a bit puzzled about the American meme regarding nudity, so I was hoping the folks in IMHO could help me out.
You can go to a grocery store and buy magazines which feature a stock in trade of very attractive young women, often attired in nothing more than a thong, sometimes wearing only a smile and some strategically placed bits of shrubbery (examples: FHM, Maxim, American Curves, Blender). You can buy mags featuring musclebound guys wearing teeny speedos and huge glutes.
But if you wanna buy pics of women (or men, I assume) exposing their naughty bits, you must hie yourself hence to a pornographer.
Now, here’s the deal. I can’t speak for women’s reaction to men’s naughty bits, but I gotta tell you … women’s naughty bits aren’t the incredibly arresting visual thing you might suppose they are, based on all the effort that is put into concealing them. It’s not that they aren’t nice looking – they are. But measured against the sheer poetry of a beautifully curved pair of female hips or a wonderfully rounded pair of breasts, or a powerfully expressive pair of eyes, nipples and vaginal lips don’t stand a chance.
(OK, I used to be VERY interested in naughty bits when I was younger, but having seen quite a few in magazines and in person, then novelty has worn off. They’re just another part of a woman’s body to me now, only a total turn on when I see them IRL which means Something Is In The Offing, if you know what I mean.)
Thus the thong-clad beauties on the grocery store shelves are in certain respects just as appealing as any hard-core porn … all the really good parts are on display.
So, let’s do a thought experiment. Suppose we did away completely with the media taboo in our media. Split beaver on the cover of Newsweek, erections on display on Cosmopolitan’s cover, nude weather reporters showing us what phase their moon is in, labia jewelry ads in Lucky … would this be the end of Western Civilization? Or would people get bored with it pretty quickly once the novelty wore off?
I’m thinking “bored.” And if “bored” is the answer, what’s the point of the taboo in the first place?