Is America Too Prudish, or is Europe too Lose?
Dec 1st, 2004, 11:58 AM
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Is America Too Prudish, or is Europe too Lose?
A thing that always strikes me in Europe is how prudish, or Puritanical America seems to be in comparison. I just returned from the UK and frontal nudity for women is routine it seems on network TV, not just on cable as here. Janet Jackson's breast would not evoke government action there. It's not unusual to see women of all ages going topless on beaches without batting an eye. In Germany I saw teens playing volleyball topless in a park. Or Munich's Englischer Gartens, which on a nice day has hundreds of nude bathers laying and prancing about. Redlight districts are open and apparently operate legally. Soft drugs are being decriminalized. Etc. etc.
Do you think Europe is over the top or do you too find America excessively prudish? Just curious.
Do you think Europe is over the top or do you too find America excessively prudish? Just curious.
Dec 1st, 2004, 12:29 PM
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I'm guessing the girls playing volleyball topless were quite 'athletic'. Can't imagine anyone who needs a sports bra playing without one. Oh, well, I guess you can have them surgically uplifted later on in life.
In the grand scheme of things Americans are all over the map on prudishness. If we had grown up with topless beaches as the norm, it wouldn't bother us. Moms nursing babies can cause outrage to some.
In the grand scheme of things Americans are all over the map on prudishness. If we had grown up with topless beaches as the norm, it wouldn't bother us. Moms nursing babies can cause outrage to some.
Dec 1st, 2004, 12:36 PM
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Since this country was originally settled with several different Puritan groups, is it any wonder our mores are prudish? Not that I'm condoning it -- I enjoy the freedoms in Europe when I'm over there. However, my upbringing makes it so I still see it with guilty pleasure rather than just simple pleasure...
Dec 1st, 2004, 12:55 PM
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mamc : put your glasses on. Re-read the OP. Didn't say he just returned from Germany. Said UK.
If USA keeps nudity under wraps, it preserves the millions / billions of dollars surrounding the industries surrounding sex. Promoting guns, video games with gunplay, movies with gunplay, blowing up foreign countries all preserve that industry.
Whenenver you see a seemingly "wrong" idea in the US, it points to the dollar. Period.
If USA keeps nudity under wraps, it preserves the millions / billions of dollars surrounding the industries surrounding sex. Promoting guns, video games with gunplay, movies with gunplay, blowing up foreign countries all preserve that industry.
Whenenver you see a seemingly "wrong" idea in the US, it points to the dollar. Period.
Dec 1st, 2004, 01:06 PM
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Everything is relative. America may seem prudish to European tastes, but we are regarded as hedonistic libertines in many Muslim nations. Meanwhile, on the beaches of Rio, Europeans may be seen as uptight. Whatever. It is a logical fallacy to believe there is an international standard of conduct that nations and cultures are measured against. When in Rome...
Dec 1st, 2004, 01:19 PM
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>It's not unusual to see women of all ages going topless on beaches without batting an eye.<
True, but some of those women (and the men, too) have caused me to close my eyes for some moments.
True, but some of those women (and the men, too) have caused me to close my eyes for some moments.
Dec 1st, 2004, 01:36 PM
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<b>fehgeddaboudit</b>
perhaphs you should see an eye doctor. The OP reported that s/he saw the topless girls playing volleyball in Germany.
BTW, what's a good fare to Germany from east coast and a nice hotel close to the park?
perhaphs you should see an eye doctor. The OP reported that s/he saw the topless girls playing volleyball in Germany.
BTW, what's a good fare to Germany from east coast and a nice hotel close to the park?
