Re: Comments on "Nay-Sayers of Nudity"

I think the U.S. adherence to religious zealotry (Puritan for us, Islam and such for others) to command what it does and doesn't consider "obscenity" is highly damaging.. both in its initial closeting and restriction, and in the many forms of backlash that it causes - both effects compounding the other over time.

First you have the imposition of shame upon us, lumping our naked bodies in the same category as their main functions (sex, eating, etc) so that seeing or talking about nudity/sex/etc. is considered taboo. When something is "taboo", that causes unnatural fixation on what is being kept away from us. That fixation turns to obsession, which often causes people to have pent-up explosions that stray into other issues considered taboo and criminal. Repressed people (besides of course, outright oppressors) are most likely to act out odd fetishes and rape, driven mad with misplaced sexual frustration and obsessive compulsion.

On top of that you have commercial interests capitalizing on this backlash effect. They know they can not only sell you on what is "decent", like The Passion of The Christ, toilet bowl cleaner wipes, SUVs, and such using "decent" advertising - but also they know to sell you borderline "indecent" things by pushing all of our Taboo buttons.. tapping into that pent-up frustration for maximum profit. Companies barrage us with backlash elusions, innuendoes, shameless flirts of all that has been made taboo. Ad after ad on TV, radio, magazine and billboard - all screaming SEX! FOOD! MONEY! PARADISE! VIOLENCE! GLUTTONY! GREED! while the church and state (becoming less separated every day) are screaming ABSTAIN AND REFRAIN! SPEND AND BREED! DO AS WE SAY! PUNISHMENT! HELL! FEAR! TERROR!

So from this hypocritical soup, millions of cracked and broken people stumble from one extreme to another - taken momentarily over by either taboo desires or imposed shame... driven to them by these social storms, battling over your attention and your money, squeezing the playing field tighter and tighter until you inside the pressure-cooker either go insane or give up.

Leading social ills, from bulimia to sex crimes, are a direct result of this conflict between moral fascism and its backlash.

"You MUST cover your shameful and sacred body." vs
"You MUST be shaped and dress like this style of model."

"You MUST abstain from sex and get married." vs
"You MUST desire sex right now and buy this."

Some of you commented on some of the calmer eddies of the storm, seeing the brighter sides of being in your prison. Sure it's great to discover something special and new with your friend/lover/mate but it doesn't have to be everything on both sides of a taboo battle. Consider the larger picture, our interconnected society.. The slight embarrassment or lack of specialness anyone might feel from appearances of public nudity (that of others, yourselves, your loved ones) pale in comparison, PALE in comparison to the amount of suffering that bulimia, anorexia, augmentation surgery, incest, rape, homophobia, and other self-image based disorders inflict upon millions of people and their families every day..

I say we put nudity outside of shame and taboo.. make it no big deal, distinct and matter-of-factly separate from sex. Do that and a couple generations down the line you'll see those disorders, crimes and backlash just fade away.