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.

Ok, let's go. Time to bash Bush and Middle America.

America's just prudish overal, Europe just isn't shocked by things that shouldn't shock.

I find many things that go on in America very shocking indeed.

Repent, repent the end is very near!

zzzzzz

Slow day at the office, Pal?

For some the cry seems to be more like "Repent, repent, but do as much as you can until the very last minute but make certain it is heterosexual for the end is very near."

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.

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...

You just returned from Europe where you saw girls playing volleyball topless in Munich? Boy, I bet they were cold. It is winter in Munich.

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.

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...

>Is America Too Prudish, or is Europe too Lose?<

Did you mean "LOOSE"?

Is Europe too loose, Lautrec?

>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. :)

Europeans think American are prudes. What do you think?

mclaurie posts
>Europeans think American are prudes. What do you think?<

Hmmmmmmmmm.

You have asked every European and they all have made this statement?

When I go topless on European beaches I certainly have the good sense not to bat my eyes as well...that could really stir up trouble! ;)

If my daughter were on network TV bearing frontal nudity, I would not be happy. Does this make me prude? Hell no. A country that allows this is nothing to be proud of.

I'm just glad that I don't wear speedo swim suits. Not only do they look silly, they can show a man's shortcomings, mine included.

<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? :-D