I just read in my paper about the cover of the latest John Irving book being changed for the US version because it was too 'revealing'. Now, this is the original cover:



Ie, the side of a boob. The American version of the cover turns out to be just a white-red color background.

What I wanted to know then was: is it really that unthinkable to see things like a naked boob in everyday context in the US? Not just because of this thing, I'm asking because of recurring news reports about this or that having to be changed in the US because it is 'too sexual'. Editing Lindsay Lohan's boobs a cup or two smaller and redoing the 'jumping scenes' in her latest movie , the Janet Jackson thing, etc...

There's currently a (woman's) magazine over here that is trying to make publicity for their erotic wellness guide by using the following man-size poster in just about every bus stop.



So; a naked woman sitting on a man in meditation position. (as you can imagine, this makes for agreeable bus waits, they are really nice boobs) So, is this unthinkable in the US? Or are the censorship attempts not consequent and are only some things censored and others not? Cos I mean, that cover of irvings book...wtf? That's not even a boob, there's no nipple!

Eagerly awaiting transatlantic input...and preferrably, a stance towards this. (well, I'm 99% sure I know what Satis thinks but still, knock yourself out )

I'm with you. Whilst I'm no nudist, I don't believe strongly in censorship. I think that people need to come back of their "this is what life should be like" cloud nines, and get the fuck on with what us dirty bastards on earth are really like.

We can aim for a better world, but we shouldn't deny natural things, or hide natural things, in order to achieve it.

yes, the US is really that conservative when it comes to sex. Though we're much more liberal than Europe when it comes to violence.

I am a nudist.

I like looking at tits.

Mm, thanks for the answer...and yeah, I've noticed the double stance as well. Not just the violence thing, the US has by far the biggest porn industry in the world. Sucks that there are no boobs in public, though. That explains why the Girls Gone Wild videos have such massive following.

There's not really any boobs over here in the UK. Not with nipple anyway, there was one bill board once, but it got banned.

The "most" boob you see is say on the front of a mens magasine, they'll have a star or something over the nipple.

Really? Didn't know the UK was so fussed about it too. But then again, you guys are historically speaking notoriously prudish...kinda like we're traditionally debauched.

Yah, in the UK you dont see any of that stuff on TV ads or TV shows. On the other hand, theres a lot of swearing i find on British TV (including censored, but obviously liberlised swearing).

Italy on the other hand is different. Many of the ads have boobs and naked women. My bro and I often joke about how Italian ads are better than softcore.

Heh, Italian TV is just insane. They have half-naked girls dancing in literally every show...politics, talkshow, gameshow: you shall see scantily clad girls dancing.

While I am not really opposed to this (duh) I do have my doubts as to the reason or use...if I wanna see hot girls I'll go out or use the net. If I'm watching a show about politics, it's gotta be about politics.


All this reminds me of a movie of some American kids tripping through Europe, when the girl is trying to hitch a ride by flashing her boobs and not succeeding:

'X (forgot name), this is Europe, they've got orange juice commercials with lesbians and dildos, you gotta show them a bit more than that...'

But that's a slight exaggeration.

I think the film is called Eurotrip, and the place might be beligium, or holland.

lol ox i agree with you. mainly in games. if i want to play Playboy: The Mansion then i will, I don't want the same stuff rammed down my throat while I'm trying to play a Doom type game! hehe but anyway

censorship is a stupid thing. I'm not for total censorship, I'm not against some censorship. I find it incredibly stupid that if you have a boob on tv, then its ok to show all of it except the ... what... inch? that is covered by the nipple. I mean come on, either ban the entire boob or none of it.

I also find it stupid that you can show a womans vagina on tv, but not show a mans penis. Mole has since educated me that the entrance cannot be shown of a vagina (apparently) because of it being 'holy' coz Jesus came from there (whether or not this is the reason who knows) but hell, ban both or neither.

I think the problem is just in the way you get 'brown paper' magazines, books etc can be seen by anyone. Like on tv at least they have watershed, so if a kid happens to be watching tv at midnight, the parents get in trouble instead of the tv station for letting the kid be up that late. Whereas you can't exactly have a go at a parent for letting their child go into Waterstones (big book company over here), you CAN have a go at Waterstones for not hiding the books away, or have a go at the publishers for not giving it a brown paper cover.

Hmm satis and other US peoples, which way round is it over there, violence or sex 'worse' for making a rating go up? Coz I know Sacred has gore in the UK and international versions, but none in the american version because they wanted to avoid an M rating... bear in mind this gore is the kind you can do in Paint with a few pixels, its hardly realistic.

...

dont worry derf. i dont want to play it.

I think Derf was referring to the connection between the Playboy game and getting stuff 'rammed down your throat' in that sentence, rather than you wanting to play the game.

But yeah, you could ask yourself questions about the portrayal of women in games in general. But there is a slight change going on with the increasing amount of female gamers; eg Lara Croft's boobs have been downgraded a cup or 2 (probably still a D tho) in recent history and the amount of games featuring a stick figure with a rack bigger than 2 oversized watermelons is dwindling too.

I think that as long as the vast majority of gamers are puberty kids there will be inherent female sex bombs in games. Personally I don't mind much (though I do get a laugh out of some characters' proportions), as you can imagine.

I do wonder of these women are really a sort of role model to young girls (eg lara croft) as kick-ass, take-no-shit, adventurers like the game developers say, or just sex appeal to male gamers. Or both. If it is the former, 80% of all women should get boob jobs...which can't be quite right.

To conclude:

lol well yeah i know they'll always be there and I dont much care. Someone like Lara Croft... maybe... I mean I wouldn't complain if I could climb like she does, but I sure don't like the way she looks as such. But when you get the army leaders that have nothing but a bikini on... well ok if i looked that good i wouldn't complain but please, going into battle like that? At least wear something that protects the chest and stomach!!!!

yeah some of the 'sexy' ones get laughed at by the majority of gamers as being ridiculously out of proportion, and some of course don't. Games like Leisure Suit Larry and Singles... well the people who sell them love the fact they exist, coz we get to snigger at the few people who buy them! I swear, the people that bring them to the counter daren't look you in the face and its so hard not to laugh... anyhoo I'd guess its more like parents that are mainly influencing things like breast down-sizing, most female gamers (that i know at least) may not always approve of it but once they're playign they don't really care, coz you get into the game. But you would get a few parents buying games for their kids who were just as worried about scantily clad women as they were about swearing and violence. Someone actually refused to buy Midnight Club 3 simply because of the woman on the front. I mean come on, those women appear for like... 10 seconds at the start of each race, if that.

and lol it was too hot last night, or i'd have seen that connection...

sex sells. So does violence. Sex and violence (or violence during sex!) are the holy grail of the entertainment industry.

I'm writing a game. Tentative title: "Porn Blaster". You'll be a porn star involved that has to figure out a conspiracy while humping women and blasting FBI agents. It'll be a best seller.