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Lesson Plans


Re: Censorship

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Rosa Juliusdottir (rojul)
Wed, 21 Jan 1998 18:40:12 +0000

I really agree with you Deborah. Unfortunatly I think many of the problems
Americans have with complexes about nude bodies comes from such beliefs as
thinking the naked body must be something sinful and bad. I remember when I
lived in America and my children were very young they could not be naked on
the beach, they were only 1 and 2 yrs. old and were used to feel
comfortable like that, I thought it was very strange. Also considering that
the same people who oppose that their children view naked sculptures and
paintings probably donīt oppose the selling of guns to ordinary people!
Rosa

>Are we saying now that viewing the nude sculptures and paintings so
>prevalent in European art history, is the equivalent of watching
>pornography on TV? I think that is a bit of a stretch. For one thing, the
>intent is different - the intent of drawing nudes is to better learn to
>draw the human form, clothed or unclothed...the intent of pornography is
>titillation.
>
>To say that when a child is older, they can choose whether or not to view
>the human form naked sort of defeats our role as parents and teachers,
>don't you think? What sort of a choice can they make at that time when
>they have been taught all those years that the naked body is something
>sinful and bad? I think our culture is already one of the most sexual
>confused on earth because of just such viewpoints. We are actually
>teaching our children to view their own bodies with distain, and then we
>wonder why so many of our citizens have emotional problems.
>
>Deborah