The USA... why is your media so scared of sex compared to the UK.

[Palmerama]

I think i prefer a more relaxed culture like the netherlands (amsterdam anyway) where sex and soft drugs are very relaxed

As a Dutchman, I can say that we are indeed very comfortable around sex and drugs. That doesn't mean everyone is doing it in an extreme way, Holland is actually one of the countries where drug use is low, and so are teen pregnancies. Because childeren are taught from a young age what sex, drugs and alcohol are, they don't feel the need to go overboard with them as they do in America. America seems to have the "if I don't tell my child about sex it won't participate in sex either" mentality. Which isn't the smartest idea when we look at shows like "16 and pregnant".

Which means that the problem that Americans are simply not comfortable around sexuality. Sex is something that is not normal, and it's a sin to show your sexuality. Which would explain the fact that simply 90% of the jokes in American comedies are about sex. Talking about sins, we are back at religion. "blame it on faith" is just too simple though. A start would be to include sexual education at school, by good teachers, before the childeren actually reach the age where they'll start doing these things.

It seems in politics that whatever you say, it will be used against in you and it will always upset someone. So I don't mean to generalize, and I know that there are a lot of Americans are mature, but I'm just looking at the big picture here. I don't mean to bring offense.

You do bring up a good point. Id something becomes less of a taboo then there's less curiosity around it. If drugs like weed were legalised to a certain extent (obviously the strength would have to be regulated), it would have less of a stigma and would appeal less to younger people as a cool illegal thing to do (only to a certain extent though as teenagers are going to be teenagers). In the UK when cannabis was lowered to a class C drug there wasn't a massive increase in its use. There was no story about people moving onto harder drugs because of it. In fact since its gone back up to a class B more money has been wasted policing it which could have been spent on other things.

That being said, when it comes to sex we're still terrible. At primary school, we get given sex education so we know a bit about sex, and what occurs and in secondary school we learn more and have to watch a video of a live birth. But we still have the largest teen pregnancy rate in Europe. Though I put that down more to the Jeremy Kyle generation and kids thinking that if they have a kid they get a free house and free money.

TV shows however we're far more relaxed compared to the US. Something as conservative as the BBC has been showing nudity for years. The Tudors was famous for it. Was also a damn good program.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Because, for the ~400 plaged, horrible years the USA has existed, they've always been very religious and morally uptight.

Whereas, over this side of the pond, anything after 8PM goes. So, don't be suprised to find lots and lots of sex on the BBC at night.

But honestly, other than those very basic reasons, I.. have no idea. Probably because they're all so worried that their kids seeing a penis on a medical show will make them gay (people who believe things like this, sadly, exist in today's society), or will skew their sense of morality.

 

[Ryotknife]

sexual content is all over our media, its just nudity they draw a line at.

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

I'm going to go out on a controversial limb here, and ask if children actually need to be protected. Sex is, and is likely to remain, a natural part of human life, and whilst children should obviously be protected from sexual violence, I think we should question the motive of hiding this huge aspect of adult life from them. I don't normally like using the 'Caveman life is best life' argument, but is it really likely that early human tribes went to such efforts to hide sexual behaviour from children? I doubt they would, and neither do I think the children were traumatised for life either.

I think the key thing to do is to ensure that the depictions are not removed entirely, but made more realistic and resemble actual human interaction. The real harm only occurs when children/teens start imitating abusive scenes in pornography, believing it to be what normal sex is like when the truth is anything but.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

It's part of US culture vs. European culture (largely). America was largely founded by Puritans and Quakers who were leaving the "old world", and thus our sensibilities reflect that, while Europe tends to have a much more open attitude about sex (and mainland Europe far more than Britain, at least it seemed that way when I lived there). I remember seeing nude photos and advertisements all over the place in downtown European cities, something that would never fly in the States.

On the flip side, I've found that the US is often much more tolerant of violent imagery than Europe is. Some sociologists think that this has to do with Europe experiencing two World Wars firsthand, which the US obviously didn't experience in the same capacity.

 

[Parasondox]

because our government is really, really stupid, and we are run by religious fundamentalists. also wykydtron, no offence taken, it is completely true. but honestly, comparing us to the UK isn't really fair, as you guys just initiated a nationwide lockdown on porn.

That law hasn't even been passed and if it was, it's not a lockdown on porn just porn automatically filtered out once you sign on to a new internet provider and you have to call them to take off. The Tories (Conservatives) only want to pass that law to get cheap votes from mothers and parents who are against porn and think children shouldn't be corrupted by it. So ban anything of a sexual nature even if it's just for adult viewing. Also they think it's an easier solution to stopping child porn they think who ever looks at porn images of any kind, even if it's a naked man or woman, is a pedophile. Stupid I fucking know. So the law hasn't passed and looks like it won't.

 

[shootthebandit]

I think i prefer a more relaxed culture like the netherlands (amsterdam anyway) where sex and soft drugs are very relaxed

As a Dutchman, I can say that we are indeed very comfortable around sex and drugs. That doesn't mean everyone is doing it in an extreme way, Holland is actually one of the countries where drug use is low, and so are teen pregnancies. Because childeren are taught from a young age what sex, drugs and alcohol are, they don't feel the need to go overboard with them as they do in America. America seems to have the "if I don't tell my child about sex it won't participate in sex either" mentality. Which isn't the smartest idea when we look at shows like "16 and pregnant".

Which means that the problem that Americans are simply not comfortable around sexuality. Sex is something that is not normal, and it's a sin to show your sexuality. Which would explain the fact that simply 90% of the jokes in American comedies are about sex. Talking about sins, we are back at religion. "blame it on faith" is just too simple though. A start would be to include sexual education at school, by good teachers, before the childeren actually reach the age where they'll start doing these things.

It seems in politics that whatever you say, it will be used against in you and it will always upset someone. So I don't mean to generalize, and I know that there are a lot of Americans are mature, but I'm just looking at the big picture here. I don't mean to bring offense.

You do bring up a good point. Id something becomes less of a taboo then there's less curiosity around it. If drugs like weed were legalised to a certain extent (obviously the strength would have to be regulated), it would have less of a stigma and would appeal less to younger people as a cool illegal thing to do (only to a certain extent though as teenagers are going to be teenagers). In the UK when cannabis was lowered to a class C drug there wasn't a massive increase in its use. There was no story about people moving onto harder drugs because of it. In fact since its gone back up to a class B more money has been wasted policing it which could have been spent on other things.

That being said, when it comes to sex we're still terrible. At primary school, we get given sex education so we know a bit about sex, and what occurs and in secondary school we learn more and have to watch a video of a live birth. But we still have the largest teen pregnancy rate in Europe. Though I put that down more to the Jeremy Kyle generation and kids thinking that if they have a kid they get a free house and free money.

TV shows however we're far more relaxed compared to the US. Something as conservative as the BBC has been showing nudity for years. The Tudors was famous for it. Was also a damn good program.

I have to agree that all the arguements against weed logically point to its legalisation

It just seems to me that if something is legal not only does it take away the taboo but it also means people are educated as there is less mystery around it. Thats the problem with sex-ed, people pussy-foot around the subject and it creates some sort of mystery and therefore it soon becomes interesting

The benefits culture doesnt help things either. When you get a free house and money simply for having a kid. I know im dealing in daily mail superlatives here but there has been a few cases of people with about 10 kids who have been given mansions simply because every other house is to small to accomodate them which is fucking disgusting considering the average human works their entire life and can only dream of living in such a house. In my opinion you should only have a child when you can afford it and not let the taxpayer foot the bill

Ive touched on it and youve touched on it. It stems from ignorance, the less people know about sex and drugs the more teenage pregnancy and drug dependancy we will see

 

[shootthebandit]

because our government is really, really stupid, and we are run by religious fundamentalists. also wykydtron, no offence taken, it is completely true. but honestly, comparing us to the UK isn't really fair, as you guys just initiated a nationwide lockdown on porn.

That law hasn't even been passed and if it was, it's not a lockdown on porn just porn automatically filtered out once you sign on to a new internet provider and you have to call them to take off. The Tories (Conservatives) only want to pass that law to get cheap votes from mothers and parents who are against porn and think children shouldn't be corrupted by it. So ban anything of a sexual nature even if it's just for adult viewing. Also they think it's an easier solution to stopping child porn they think who ever looks at porn images of any kind, even if it's a naked man or woman, is a pedophile. Stupid I fucking know. So the law hasn't passed and looks like it won't.

I dont see the problem. All i have to do is ring sky and tell them to take my filter off. This whole thread is about taboo and i personally dont have any problem phoning them

What i do have a problem with is that fact that if parents were actually good parents and didnt use an ipad as a surrogate parent then we wouldnt need this in the first place

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Because violence is considered "justified" as long as it's a (perceived) good person doing it to a (perceived) bad person. It's a fairly essential yet flawed part of American culture and is commonly used in political rhetoric (Why did we invade *insert middle eastern country here*? Because they were bad!).

Conversely, sex is seen as something perverse and disgusting. Portraying it as it is, a natural part of human reproduction often done between two consenting, loving adults is too hard and requires too much subtlety to easily do. This idea made its way into pop culture and now anytime anything vaguely sexual is seen outside of the bedroom it's seen as disgusting.

Of course, I'm of the opinion that if we teach children sex like it's an actual thing that happens rather then acting like it's the worst thing ever we'll get more sexually mature adults, but try telling the parents that.

 

[mattaui]

When you consider all the various and sundry laws that exist due to religious preference (see Blue Laws - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_laws_in_the_United_States), the fact that parts of the country are especially uptight about the naked body looks almost more reasonable.

Still, the laws are (very slowly) changing, but what's available on network TV or in mass media publications is going to be the slowest to change, since no mainstream business is going to want to risk offending anyone. This is a case of commercial dollars really magnifying the effect of a shrinking number of people.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Because, for the ~400 plaged, horrible years the USA has existed, they've always been very religious and morally uptight.

Well, formally but in practice?. I think it's pretty accurate to say the more spiritually bereft a nation is, the more it needs to demonstrate its uprightness via its media. You only have to visit the US for a short time to see the schizophrenia in how it behaves compared to how it views and presents itself.

 

[Hagi]

The biggest problem is foriegners like myself who come to amsterdam and take advantage of this.

Don't worry about that mate, we've got no problem whatsoever taking your money.

Let me assure you that the two billion euros we're raking in yearly are much appreciated. However, we are currently facing a financial crisis so maybe, to compensate for whatever problem you're imagining there, you could visit us again perhaps?

 

[JordanJefferson]

As an American, it irritates me to no end to see non-Americans make these claims about the U.S. Some of these complaints have merit, but it's nowhere as extreme. It is not as simple as violence good, sex bad. When I was a kid Mortal Kombat had debuted and it didn't take long for parents groups and the government to cry fowl and then there was the Power Rangers, parents again, often had a problem with the show's violence and yet the show's idea of gore was people bleeding sparks.

As for the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson Superbowl fiasco: My personal opinion was that they shouldn't have done it. How did we go from Whitney Houston back when she was America's sweetheart singing an iconic version of the Star-Spangled Banner at SuperBowl XXV to those two doing a pointlessly kinky music video-like performance at SuperBowl XXXVIII? It was the SuperBowl, so many people, including a lot of families would be watching, and they new it. It was trashy and inconsiderate.

And please, enough with the half-truth that America was founded by Puritans. Many different groups emigrated to the Thirteen Colonies, not just Puritans: You had Quakers in Pennsylvania, Catholics in Maryland, Pilgrims in New England (Yes, Pilgrims were a different group from Puritans) while Puritans were mainly in Massachusetts. However, most English colonists in the Thirteen Colonies were mainstream Anglicans no different from their brethren in England. And the Puritans were not the psychos we assume that they were: They thought that alcohol was a gift from God to be used responsibly, they saw sex similarly and believed it to be something enjoyed under the confines of marriage and some Puritan communities penalized spouses for neglecting their bedroom duties. But this was the Colonial Era, America was actually founded by learned men whom were students of the Enlightenment, many of whom were Deists and held non-traditional religious views.

I also need to point out that teen pregnancy in the U.S. is in fact dropping, and I mean at record lows. Our problem isn't sexuality, otherwise sex-heavy HBO and Showtime shows like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, True Blood, Californication, Sex and the City and The Wire wouldn't have made it past episode 1, video games like GTA, Mass Effect, God of War and Saints Row wouldn't have a single sequel and films like 300, Sin City, or pretty much anything by guys like Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino wouldn't have made a penny. It's really children being exposed to sex. The real problem is that we are often overprotective of our young here in the States. Our impulse is to shield them from EVERYTHING harmful.

 

[FalloutJack]

Because sex is a barbaric and illegal practice while violence is perfectly acceptable for day to day life or at least that's how the FCC sees it. You can watch a hundred people die horribly but not one of them will be vulgar about it. We really need to fix this stuff.

All this and you can't say 'shit'. Yeah, bit imbalanced, me thinks.

 

[michael87cn]

It's the same reason they're sent to school, and that schooling takes way longer than it needs to (or basically, just long enough for them to fear police/law enforcement or 'mature').

1) People don't want children walking all around the place. Can you imagine a world where children didn't have to go to school OR work of any kind and could just freely roam the cities all day? They'd be EVERYWHERE. Getting hit by cars. Stealing, polluting, being foolish, etc. It'd be a fucking nightmare and a half.

2) Parents don't feel comfortable with their children thinking about sex.

Parents want their kids to stay young and innocent, it's that simple. Now that I think about it, the whole school thing doesn't apply at all, but it was fun to type so HAH!

 

[Your Rival]

Doesn't the UK literally censor all internet porn? This kinda seems like the pot calling the kettle black. Both countries have an unhealthy taboo of sex and nudity.

 

[Parasondox]

Doesn't the UK literally censor all internet porn? This kinda seems like the pot calling the kettle black. Both countries have an unhealthy taboo of sex and nudity.

I already addressed that issue. Look through the thread.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

We don't mention sex much because our culture is very sensitive to sex.

I remember one of the people who puts ratings on games said in some online interview that they have to follow cultural sensitivities. Though it doesn't make sense to a lot of people that violence is entirely acceptable to most of us but sex is an enormously untouchable taboo, they can't change culture, so they have to conform to it.

I can't tell you why it started because I don't have any idea, similar to everyone else in this thread.

 

[Quadocky]

All this and other sexual dichotomies brought to you by: Patriarchy ("What are you? GAaaaaaay??")

 

[SillyBear]

The answer definitely lies in religion and the religious differences between the two countries. Conservative Christianity is actually quite rare here in the UK.

Having said that, the UK isn't sexually liberated. Sure it might seem so if you compare it to the USA but as far as Western Europe goes the UK is probably the most conservative.