Censorship

[LRM]

This was started in a separate thread and I think it worth continuing.

Graen wrote : At least we be playin'!
Regarding the sex in the media, it's not as bad as people like to make it out to be. There are tits in the God of War games, as well as Dante's Inferno. Both games are rated "Mature" There is even full frontal male nudity in one of the Grand Theft Auto 4 expansion games.

It is getting better in America, slowly but surely. Even then, it wasn't taboo before the days of the rating system. Games like Daggerfall and Ultima Underworld had nudity, not just the Leisure Suit Larry games of yesteryear.

The perception that nudity is wrong in games, while not wholly an American product, is also not a world wide phenomena.

What is a world wide phenomena, is money, and trying to accrue more of it. That's the main reason there isn't as much nudity in Western games, the belief that some of largest markets for those games would be intolerant of any such subject matter.

Fortunately game designers are trying to push the boundaries, and that is why we're seeing a resurgence in risqué material in Western games now. Because people are buying it!

There will be Hot Coffee!

LRM wrote : Grean
I spent 3 years in Germany (20 years ago). I did not see the prudish behavior that we display. Topless sunbathing was common. semi nudity on beaches was not rare. Many television commercials through out the day had nudity. Evening programming was rarely edited. I did not see the pointless violence that we see here. I perceived a healthy attitude toward sexuality, not an open display but a bare breast was no big thing (although a few were - LOL), Arnulf and a few other Europeans please comment especially about today. AFRTS was certainly censored but German television was not. We knew about Chernobyl and sheltered our children thanks to German TV. It was 3 days before it was mentioned on AFRTS. I found Germany in general much more open with it's citizens than is the US.
L

Craban wrote : LRM: I live in Europe and was in NY twice but it's nearly 20 years ago.

One of the things I remember and that fits here was the way the dummies in the shop windows of clothing stores in Manhattan were presented :-) We even took pictures because we never saw dummies with such long and obviously erect nipples before. We are used to more or less anatomically correct breasts on dummies but these were really extreme.

On the other hand each "fuck" is cut out or beeped. There is a show in German TV (called "talk talk talk") that makes fun of other talk shows. They take most of the clips from German talk shows and comment in a very funny way but there are always some clips from US shows as well. The difference is obvious: The US shows they quote go more into extremes (not that this may be representative, of course they collect the most extreme ones) but even the smallest partial nudity is censored and some of the arguments are hard to follow because there are more beeps than comprehensible words.
For us this is unusual. There is a certain limit of what you can see in German TV at certain times and this is mostly regulated in what we call the optional self control (FSK). From around 10pm onwards you can see partial or even full nudity (no hardcore of course - I'm speaking of erotic scenes, striptease, etc.) and after midnight this can get very annoying because of all the brain-dead sex hotline ads.
But the censorship that even blurs the top of a butt or a nipple is hardly known. Typically there is a screen that says that a movie is not suitable for minors and give a hint on the minimum age just before it starts. There are erotic movies that are FSK16 which means a 16 year old may watch it. Movies with more explicit sex scenes or brutality are typically FSK18.

That is what I remember Craban. The Fa commercials always held my attention. Here we crank up the volume to hold the attention of the audience... there they turned up the heat! I do not recall ever needing a bathroom break bad enough to leave a Fa ad. I am not certain what they were selling but enjoyed the pitch.
L

[Newdood]

I think the American fascination with sex is barely (some would say HARDLY) hidden by the thin, sheer layer of Spandex that gets stretched over it.

Much like the nipples on Craban's store window mannequins, the American fascination with sex is only made more obvious to the rest of the world by the Puritanical covering that we try to hide it with.

[Craban]

It took me a while to get what you mean with Fa ad but then I remembered. I think what Fa ad were are Dove and Axe ads now. I found one example that was sent in prime time (something around 20:00 - 20:30).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vilUhBhN ... re=related
Not that I'm of old women fetish but I found it quite brave to show that.

By the way: Do you remember the Axe ad with the eunuch who gets a manly voice by using the "revitalizing shower gel"? And the face when he gets back to the harem for examination? Hilarious!

Edit: found it ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wHTsk4sRuU

[LRM]

Fa was likely a female product (a scent?). The models usually wore a large thin silk scarf and nothing else while facing a wind machine. They were shown throughout the day. I did a double and triple take the first one that I saw. I asked the Wife if I had had seen what I thought, she thought the same as I.

Here today it is OK to do the act fully clothed, or under the sheets. It seems to be OK to show a side shot of a bare breast. But show a nipple and the world stops spinning. Butt crack is off limits too. America's Funniest Videos often includes nude babies... pixilated body parts are the norm. In your country I remember nudity was nothing of concern, but remember none of the sex portrayal during the day.

None of us spoke German when we arrived. I picked up the least as most days were spent on base (Spangdahlem). My daughter played daily with German children. They spoke English to her and she spoke German to them. They had no problem correcting and took no offense when someone corrected their speech. The last year there her friends took her to a Saturday school lesson. The instructor called on her to speak English and commended her on ability. The class laughed. Only after explaining she was American did the Instructor know. My son made no friends where we lived (Kyllburg). He did enjoy peering out the kitchen window at the neighbor Fraulein sunning in her back yard.

[Squeeky]

Now, being a good "God-fearing" parent you did not censor that last image??

[Hell no, he answers me, just wished I was a bit younger!]

[mudplugger]

Personally I find the American level of hypocrisy on this subject to be hilarious. They won’t enforce the wearing of school uniforms because it “infringes on the 1st amendment rights for freedom of expression” but they go mental if anyone actually shows a nipple in public.

I am a big fan of the NFL and anyone on here who is will know the infamous expression “wardrobe malfunction”. During the NFL season there appears to be a competition between the cameramen of different TV networks to show the most provocative images of cheerleaders that they can. I swear it is only a matter of time before one of them actually manages to get a camera into one of the girl’s cleavage or even panties . There is nothing subtle about this, they want to fill your TV screen with as much detail as they can.

A few years ago during the Superbowl halftime show Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson performed a routine to “Rock Your Body” which ended with a choreographed gesture of Justin ripping Janet’s top. It worked too, ‘coz her tit popped right out on live US TV. The Americans went absolutely fucking nuts. The result was that the company that had been staging the Superbowl Halftime Show for the previous years (a lot of years) had its contract terminated and all live stage events were broadcast with a 2 second delay from then on. this was so the broadcast director could stop the transmission without anything “inappropriate” being broadcast.

Justin and Janet tried to excuse their actions, as a result of the backlash, by claiming that her costume was not supposed to open as it did but that the whole unfortunate incident was due to a “wardrobe malfunction”. I believe that the broadcast company actually tried to sue the performers over the incident but the case was thrown out.

I’m adding a link to the video at the bottom of this post, but you will get an idea of how famous this incident is by going to you tube and just searching for “wardrobe malfunction Superbowl” you don’t need the year, the name of the artists or any word pertaining to breasts.

Talk about an over-reaction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOLbERWVR30

[Craban]

Just found a funny thing I have to share with you: http://www.incrediblethings.com/pets/re ... -for-pets/

How can our pets be so shameless and show an ass?

[Greebo]

Oh, I don't know, I think the 'BIOHAZARD' one is rather appropriate!

[Teaser]

Just found a funny thing I have to share with you: http://www.incrediblethings.com/pets/re ... -for-pets/

How can our pets be so shameless and show an ass?

Hahaha, that ad for the butt-covers one was great. Never would have believed that to be possible.

Just on the context of ads in Germany. The Fa girls (Fa is a large shower gel series, previously only for women, now they have expanded into the male market, too) have been legendary since the early 70's. Hell, I even grew up with ads of totally naked women taking a shower. Alright, they were shown sideways, sometimes covering their boobs with their hands, but they were definitely scrubbing them down with their shower products, showing their glistening, wet bodies... ummm, you get my drift. At the time the earliest of these ads were shown I was a kid of six to seven years of age, and I watched them around 4-5 p.m. during the commercial break between kid's TV shows (maybe the mom's were watching, too). My parents couldn't have cared less and never really mentioned those ads because they weren't bothered about them. Growing up in a house with a sauna and seeing your parents and siblings naked regularly makes you feel much more comfortable with your own nudity and those of others.

Just so you know what I mean watch these Fa ads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwm83iGFpTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCxjwsp ... D0F69C5E24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcouhvZtmDY

just a few of the Fa ads throughout the years.

Or the Axe shower gels. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4-vkJbluM
All of these ads ran/run throughout the day and no one really cares about the sexual implications. Strange, tho, that in the last years the 'political correctness bug' has spilled to Germany.

[ExtraStiffy]

I can't speak as to other countries, but quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of the "nanny state" that exists here in the U.S. Remember the flap that erupted some years back over a certain New York Cop Show because they had the audacity to show (and I quote), "female dorsal nudity".

Really? Because absolutely NO ONE has ever seen a woman's bare ass? Oh! The humanity!!! o.O