Friday nudity quiz
You may or may not know that I do the occasional survey for Yougov and this came through the email:
Most people, I’d suggest, have little problem with this sort of nudity in strictly aesthetic terms:
… though they might in moral or socio-political terms and I’d guess they might possibly draw the line at this. Indeed, it’s a good libertarian debate – aesthetics versus personal freedom no matter what. Google’s attitude to this nudity above, vis-a-vis google ads, will be interesting.
As far as I can see, that young “lady” doesn’t offend me in the least but what might is if:
1. They were grannies or others who should really keep their clothes on for aesthetic reasons, including myself;
2. It was being done rampantly. In socio-political terms, it is certainly the precursor to other things when it becomes the norm. Just as the percentage of Muslims in a community really does determine how the community reacts, then on nudity – as long as it is Femen or sportspeople or a few others, it’s not going to bring down society in itself, even if it is the thin edge of the wedge.
When everyone in the society sees it as open slather, the history of such societies is that something else gets in there as well and it’s not nice. Societies like that, e.g. between wars Paris and Berlin, go down and it’s not pretty. It’s a male fantasy that it would be nice to have a law that young women should be naked but if you look at the whole cross-section of young women, you might modify that fantasy to “just those young women who fall into the nubile category”.
In the interests of fairness, of course, we have to run a naked boy:
Anyway, to the nudity quiz:
1. What’s the name for fear of nudity?
2. What is the statue called in Cap d’Agde?
3. Name the Clouseau filmpartly set in a nudist resort.
4. Seven Mile Beach in Negril, Jamaica is not nudist – what is it?
5. Should there be age/body shape limits to nudity?
Answers to 1-4 later.
Filed under: Art, Diversions, History & Culture, Humour, Society & human issues
Shocked and surprised no one’s done the quiz yet – was it the Blondie clip which offended?
It would have been wittier if the girl in the first picture had been holding a camera ready to take a shot of the others.
Sackers It’s not impossible that she is holding a camera the hands are in the right position !
No oh i’ll get my coat.
She might have one in her pocket.
Coincidentally, last night we watched an old VHS tape of “Calendar Girls”. I’d forgotten what a fun film it was.
No nudity enough to frighten the horses, but enough to make a point to those whose attitudes are set in amber.
Aesthetics? Really? A woman can walk naked in public with a photographer in attendance snapping away, but a man cannot. It is something to do with male dominance and female oppression, I am told. She may display her sexual bits with abandon but he may not. He must hide his penis at all costs. It is of such shamefulness that he would be arrested if he showed it in public. Old ladies would faint; younger ones scream; dogs would howl and little girls need counseling for the next 35 years (at taxpayer expense).The law actually forbids it, as people would be traumatised.
The oppressed woman, dominated as she is, will get her kit off at the click of any camera button. That’s the fault of the Patriarchy, of course.
Amfortas – it’s hard to gainsay your argument – it’s a good argument.
And yet there is something vaguely repellent to me, in an aesthetic way, seeing male bodies en masse in the street, with those rolls of fat and tadgers swinging in the wind, with those great hairy feet and nether regions – not conducive to a pleasant day out.
Yes I know the hypocrisy in that – we see it at the gym all the time but bodies at the gym tend to be of a certain kind.
So perhaps the best default position is that people, generally speaking, keep their clothes on in public.
I can understand, James, being well past my prime too. However, my own todger, Viscount the Honourable Percy remains in fine shape, displaying such virtuous masculinity as would grace any display in a Lady’s Magazine. He also prefers not to appear alongside hordes of others, even of similar stature and vigour, but is happy to stand to attention for a pleasant lass with a pleasant shape. For that, I have to allow him his own way, as has been his wont for most of my life.