Swedish women fight for right to bare breasts

It would be a tough situation to avoid here, Walter, though not impossible.
It would probably eliminate watching any HBO movies or series and pre-screening just about everything on Cinemax.

Joe(Sports. Watching sports is good.)Nation

As a parent of a 16 son and 19 daughter year old I resent your implication that I am a liar. (At least I believe i'm their father. They continually deny such association)

You may feel uncomfortable, I dont. Do not presume to lay your prudish cultural mores on me.

I don't intentionally expose my kids to boobs or healthy sexual relationships but if it happens it happens.

I'd go on with a few more choice word about what seems to be your prudish attitude but you are entitled to your view and I respect that.

I am not prudish.

So Dad, you're watching a movie with your daughter when she was a bit younger (say 14 or 15) and a scene comes on where a naked woman is writhing to the beat of a guy underneath her.....

and you don't feel a bit weird????

And I'm a parent of a 6-year-old daughter -- sex scenes would be handled much more carefully than nudity per se. She's seen her share of nudity, and again, nudity is not the same as sex.

sozobe - No, of course nudity is not bad.... at all.
But, most teens here in the U.S. are conditioned via tv, movies, video games and music videos to look at women's bodies. and the various parts of their bodies, only in a sexual way.

It's conditioning on a mass scale.
Unless you throw out your tv and video games and never let your kid go to the movies or see even a Cosmo magazine....you're doomed to them being turned on by what they are told and shown as being sexy and suggestive, even if they've never thought about it before.

Peer pressure is a strong motivator. If a son's friends are giggling and pointing at a girls breasts, then chances are your son is going to view them as something to giggle and point at.

Then again, I also would hate to expose my son to that horrible naked bike parade as someone posted here.
I don't want to scare the bejesus out of him, so that he can't even look at a naked woman....or a bicycle again.

Who watches movies with a 14 year old which are likely to have such scenes?? Cripes.

Joe(Do some scheduling.)Nation

I think dadpad does. Because he's not prudish.

This all started because I said if I was on the beach with my teenager, I'd be uncomfortable watching a beach babe with naked boobs bounce across the sand in front of us.

Because of that thought, I'm prudish?

Right..

However, that is not at all in the least whatsoever the thing you actually said earlier that people were reacting to here, is it?



How in heavens name does "topless girl on beach" equate with "naked woman writhing to the beat of a guy underneath her"????

Yes, I think most parents would feel uncomfortable watching scenes of "a naked woman writhing to the beat of a guy underneath her" with their children.

What that has to do with any of our reactions to your post about how its wrong to have your son see topless girls on the beach, only God knows.

(Dude.)

crap! so much for using humor


oh i do resent that. as much as i loathe politics, i'm inclined to think of the iraq war.

your ultimate premise, is nonsense. your ultimate objective, is nonsense. the ultimate weapon being used, is nonsense itself.

and you expect anything more or less that "a battle of nonsense," in a nonsensical war against the natural state of the human body? you might as well put butter, flour, sugar, and eggs in a bowl and be suprised that you end up with cake batter.

the bottom line is, you just assume your stand is reasonable and any argument against it couldn't possibly be- that by explaining your war against human skin, it will suddenly just "all make sense."

sorry to disappoint! but you know, the same people that are typically in favor of women dresssing a certain way are usually against them speaking as well. if you lot ever "win" this one, rest assured, you won't be a part of the next real debate. you'll be "in your place," as unseen and unheard from as that awful old nipple itself. lots of luck to both of you.

censorship hurts people. excuse the hell out of us for arguing that your gender should have any rights- even if you are personally too uptight to appreciate them fully. i just can't believe you have the bloody gall to call it "nonsense."

Happycat, you are on a beach, there's likely to be all sorts of skin exposed.

On the Florida Gulf Coast, the snowbird girls troop by in their thongs and what appear to be pasties with a bit of string attached, accompanied by their equally exposed boyfriends who wear little more than an athletic supporter with a pattern of colors on it. I have finally trained myself to gape without having my jaw actually touch my chest.

The girls on the New York Subway aren't dressed up much more, between belly shirts and thigh-high skirts I think many shall die of exposure this winter.

I don't envy you raising a son in this era. (My youngest is thirty-five.) We are drowned with sexual images of women in this country from every media outlet possible, you may be uncomfortable, but he may just see the girl on the beach as just another in a long line of girls.

Joe(Oh, and buy him condoms. He'll need them)Nation

Just popping in here to add my 2 cents on a few points:

1. I agree - what kind of show are you watching with your son where there is suddenly a woman writhing under a man in a sex scene?

2. Would I feel uncomfortable watching it with him? Only as much as I would with anyone else. (I hate feminine hygiene product commercials more, actually). And I admit to being somewhat prudish. I do think those things belong in private. Seldom are those scenes necessary to the movie. But I also don't enjoy watching others open-mouth kissing, so there you have it.

3. I would not feel uncomfortable with my son and me viewing a bouncing set of boobies on the beach. I'd probably laugh with him at the sight.

4. Sex and nudity are two different things and both can be beautiful.

5. And I am a parent and I'm not lying. Please remember to speak for yourself only.

Scratch that.... I wrote a long post, read it, thought it sounded potentially judgmental, which I don't want... so. I'll share "where I come from" instead. Because that might best explain how we feel and what we think about these things.

My parents never made a big deal of nudity. My mom, to this day, starts disrobing the second she hits the front door... There goes the skirt, there flies the shirt... and when it's sunny she's literally running to the backyard to sit in the sun and read...in her underwear if we're lucky

They were also very liberal in their upbringing of us. My dad used to take me to theatre plays that were 18+ ever since I was twelve or so. It would make the theatre staff pause, but he insisted I'm 'mature enough' and he's stubborn. They always let me in. We would discuss them, too. I enjoyed it tremendously. There were 'writhing scenes' and they were live. Uncomfortable? No. I took it as a learning experience, i wanted to understand the world and all of its components, including the complicated world of adult relationships. That I discussed with my mother a lot, too. Nothing was taboo.

We also swam a lot in the summer- family, with close friends... Used to go to these writers' gatherings, which were really like a big family. Nobody wore swimsuits there. It was just swimming, no hint of sexuality, and since everybody felt comfortable and just natural, it wouldn't even had crossed my mind. And we have a video from a topless beach, I was about 15 at the time. Again, not uncomfortable to me, not even back then.

My dad never liked TV. He likes documentaries, he'll watch a good movie, but when we'd watch whatever popular crap, he'd jokingly call us videots. I guess it imprinted upon me.. I don't watch TV. Occasional SNL (maybe twice this year?). We watch movies only. And I never read the glossy magazines...so I am not 'in touch' with that at all, and don't care to be... I don't know how having a child would change that for me. I know I'd have to deal with popular culture lot more than I'd like, but I do know it would not change my approach to nudity or sexuality. I expect I would bring up my child very much the same I was brought up by my parents.

Others had different childhoods, different imprints, different 'lessons learnt'. So what. There's no right or wrong.

But there is increasing amount of nudity all around, whether we like it or not, and I presume that trend will continue. We'll all have to grapple with that best way we can.

Brings sweet memories to mind, Dag...

But not sure about the "increasing amount of nudity" bit, unless it will be under burqas...

So funny to me that Happycat mentioned the sex scenes in "silly teen movies" as being not-discomfort-inducing to see with her son, unlike a realistic sex scene. I feel exactly the opposite-- the teen movie sex scenes are always the ones that treat sex and the female body as a big dirty joke. I find that highly offensive; all the teen movie sex scenes I've run across have been truly disgusting.

At least a realistic sex scene doesn't make the woman into a thing to be giggled about with your buddies.

I'm not a parent but I can speak from the perspective of the teenager watching movies with my parents-- and we watched grown-up movies from the time I was really young, so we had our share of running into sex scenes. The funny thing is I treat sex scenes exactly the same alone or with anyone else as I did with them... Hit the fast forward! ....wait, does it look like they might be saying something important? Hit play-- nope, just moaning, fast forward again....

Oh, and I forgot to say--

Tinygiraffe, your Imagine parody was too funny! I thought you'd copied it from somewhere, I'm impressed that you made it up (also liked the police boxes suggestion)

ahem....I would just like to request of fellow A2Ker's, after reading Happy Cat's posts, that no one, particular Thomas, ever indicate I am a prude, ever again.

I suppose I can see now how people from other countries percieve Americans as backwards and repressed.

My apologies to the world.


Anyway....A womans breasts, although undeniable sexy, are not sex organs, no more than a man's chest is. Regardless of what some people say as far as what an entire culture believes, a womans breasts have the purpose of feeding small humans.

In fact, I personally feel the choice of clothing a person makes is generally much more provocative than if they just went naked in the first place. A partially dressed human is tons more erotic than a completely naked one.

Two girls try to get attention on a beach and you all take up their cause like it was some sort of right they are being denied.

lmao!

I don't want my son titillated (pun intended) in public by Pamela Anderson wannabes, nor do I want him freaked out in public by old saggy naked grandmother boobs..... nor do I want him to see his friend Josh's mom topless at the community pool.

Yeah, call me prudish.

And if you want to go as far as nude beaches, I don't want some guy (young or old) dangling his dick in front my face while I'm sipping a frozen margarita and trying to watch the waves.
Although, if he's good-looking and hung well, I'll consider letting him do it in private.

Maybe a woman's breasts aren't sex organs to others, but mine are to me.



On exposure, I take these questions as matters of context. Dag's description of a gathering swimming et all sounded nice to me. I'm sure I'd get used to european (etc) beaches quickly.

If I saw those swimdancer folks in the olympics bobbing about sans suits, I'd split a gut laughing. Well, for me that sport is pretty hilarious anyway, though I gather it takes some ability to carry it off...

Re scenes on tv, I'm much more annoyed by gratuitous violence than gratuitous sex. My gripe re the sex would be ... when it is shown in unexpected context. There was an argument here on a2k about commercials a while back. If, on the other hand, it is shown all the time, that's another context.

And I'm one of the few people on earth than didn't like the superbowl boob shot, not because I thought it was awful, but that puritan USA wasn't expecting it on their tv at that hour, thus some fraction of the population who had children so protected that they might be shocked didn't know to not watch. It's ironic in the context (well, probably in several contexts) that US football is a hell of a violent sport. Talk about gratuitous... and I'm a hypocrite, since I like football (Futbol and Football, not to compare the two).

The teenage tittering and tit follies will always be with us; probably more so with us in the US, but not limited to here.

Thinking fondly of Fellini's Amarcord... and Malena, whoever wrote/directed that.