Oh and one of my favourite examples of the fact this is not linear graph a “prudish” past to a “libertine” present, is one of the more amusing passages from Herododus’ Histories from 300BC.
The passage tells of the king of Egypt running out to try and convince his Ethiopian troops to stop deserting, by reminding them of their Egyptian families. They respond, in the original by pointing at their private parts and saying:
In these less liberal times the “pointing at their private parts” is usually translated as “with an unseemly gesture” or other demure language.
In a culture more and more open to everyone just expressing themselves, it is revealed that a larger than previously understood cohort thinks life should just be one long brofest frat party.
Witness the never ending ‘f*** her right in the p***’, being shouted and female reporters. Any city, any time, and it’s never a teenager frat bro, but a professional male! Witness a stock broker humping a statue of a young girl, for all to see. Witness this board where women cannot have earnest conversation on certain biological processes without a lot of tittie jokes, or even the appearance of, ‘that’s what she said!’, in any conversation at any time.
When called on this behaviour we see the standard fratbro response, ‘Get a sense of humour! Don’t be so sensitive already! Grow up, it’s a joke! No, I’m not ashamed!’
It’s just more openly expressed nowadays, I think. And it’s not going to end any time soon, I’m afraid.
(McWhorter ties this shift to how we used to appreciate the vocal talents of, say, Ella Fitzgerald, and now we prefer the earthiness of, say, Tom Waits. It isn’t McWhorter’s best book, but it’s not a bad read.)
I certainly would not say that’s the case. I would say that vast majority of people do not prefer Tom Waits to Ella Fitzgerald by any stretch of the imagination. But that’s a subject for another thread.
I’d argue this has actually always been the case, and the current situation is actually more healthy.
I would say over the last 50-75 years what is considered sexually taboo to discuss in “polite company” has changed drastically. What that meant in real life is “impolite company” meant exclusively male (aka the “brofest frat party”). So the only place that sexual things were discussed was in that kind of all male “boys club” environment. This has really serious negative side effects when it came things like sexual health and sexual assault.
The “brofest frat party” infantalized, heterosexual, patriarchal sex talk has always been there. What changed is now society as whole can call them on that bullshit without fear being ostracized for mentioning sexual things in “polite company”.
There are offensive jokes, and then there are offensive jokes. Those certainly weren’t appropriate for GQ if anywhere even if spoilered. Don’t do this again. You can make your point without quoting the jokes themselves.
One way to make almost anything a sexual innuendo is to put air quotes around it. My colleague and I were looking at some Egyptian hieroglyphics and I pointed out one character who seemed to be holding a surfboard. She replied with air quotes that Egyptian men spent a lot of time “waxing their surfboards.” Hilarity ensued.
It’s all in the mind. On the GQ threads page right now:
Declining to appear for a subpoena
When does mail become your property
Lubricating door joint / hinges
Retrofitting a baby stroller to a shopping cart
Which came first, gaudy or Gaudi?
New outdoor spigot tied to kitchen water sink supply
“When correctly viewed, everything is lewd” - according to Tom Lehrer, and, no doubt, to the philosopher asked by a seeker after truth for an example of a double entendre - so he gave her one.
I certainly see what you mean but I am not so sure it’s a sign of the times.
I am a big fan of the WWII and 30s movies and radio shows and they use quite a lot of innuendos. Puns for instance were a big thing for those two decades and Burns and Allen did quite a few routines that came off that way. Mae West of course was the queen of sexualizing innocent sayings.
And also change of word meanings comes into play. I find myself laughing a lot at virtually any use of the word “gay” from that era, because it sounds so off when heard today when it obviously just meant “happy” or “colorful.”
Rather it could just be a trend, or perhaps not, but it definitely isn’t a new thing.
I recall listening to George Burns from an interview in the 70s, saying how in the late 20s, you’d pay a dime to see a fan dancer, in skin colored tights and she’d wave the fans while dancing, and you’d get all hot and bothered and it was only after the dance was over and you left, that you then realized that not only had you NOT seen anything but you PAID not to see it.
A famous cuplé (cabaret song), La Pulga, has lyrics that basically say “what a pain, this flea keeps biting me, if I catch it I’m going to smash it flat”.
But in an era in which showing bare ankles was considered uncouth and provocative, a woman lifting her skirts… a little more… a liiittle more… to search for the damned flea caused riots in the room.
I agree with most of the posters here that it’s nothing new.
But I think the Internet era, along with greater voluntary and involuntary exposure to porn, has had some effect.
For example, a colleague was recently looking for things to do in Beijing, but was using the abbreviation “BJ”. She was somewhat surprised by some of the results coming back, and eventually pieced it together.
At a future time, it might be a cause of embarrassment to forget that alternative meaning, so you can bet she will never forget that meaning now (whereas she possibly may never have known it, sans google).
I’m not saying this is the only way such terms creep into the conciousness, it’s just an example