MetaChat - Ridiculous.

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26 January 2008

Ridiculous. →[More:]
For goodness sake! I'd have thought that the vast majority of people who watch NYPD Blue are hardly likely to be offended by seeing a woman's butt.

post by: essexjan at: 17:27 | 21 comments

"ABC has rejected the claims, saying the buttocks are not a sexual organ."

Amateurs.

posted by dismas 26 January | 17:37

They proabably insist on a safe-word, too.

posted by MonkeyButter 26 January | 18:01

I'm pretty sure I've seen naked women on NYPD Blue before. I fail to see how this is new or shocking.

posted by Daniel Charms 26 January | 18:24

*wags weenie at FCC*

And how many people went to how many meetings for how many hours to study the how many pounds of regulations written by how many bureaucrats? ON MY TAX DOLLARS. OVER A BUTT CHEEK.

Pernicious stupidity will destroy us. Institutionalized, pernicious stupidity will be indistinguishable from fascism.

I'm gonna go sulk in Five Fresh Fish's "everything sucks" thread.

posted by BitterOldPunk 26 January | 18:34

I saw this earlier. Absolutely insane. I *cannot* understand how, with the gargantuan problems that the States has, that they're so hung up on a tiny amount of nudity. It's not as if they showed huge amounts of animalistic sex on screen - it was a woman's backside. If that in some way offends you, I hope you don't own any mirrors and have never been in a relationship with anyone.

posted by TheDonF 26 January | 19:54

I think the nudity hangup is BECAUSE of the other issues. People don't want to think about the economic collapse in progress, or the clusterfuck we've caused in the middle east. That leads to fear, or difficult moral questions. They want something simple to get worked up about. Naked butt on tv! Oh noes!

posted by kellydamnit 26 January | 20:05

I feel safer.

posted by Claudia_SF 26 January | 20:11

I was going to say that I'm surprised NYPD Blue is still on the air, but then I noticed that the episode in question aired in 2003.

posted by box 26 January | 20:14

I was going to say that I'm surprised NYPD Blue is still on the air, but then I noticed that the episode in question aired in 2003.

Which kind of proves my point, I think. They're digging up shit from six years ago just to keep people's minds off the real issue.

posted by kellydamnit 26 January | 20:20

The FCC deems "sexual or excretory activities" shown in an "offensive" way before 2200 as indecent.

No nudity for twelve years?

posted by jonmc 26 January | 20:45

Hey, if Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters want to keep their clothes on, it's a-okay with me.

posted by box 26 January | 20:50

(I think the '2200' refers to 10 pm.)

posted by box 26 January | 20:54

This would be less ridiculous if it were about boobs and not an ass. We all have asses, we all no what they look like, which kind of removes any shock or trauma at seeing them.

The flipside of this is that the ass is the erogenous zone that will unite us. Think about it: only straight men and lesbians are aroused by boobs and pussy, only gay men and straight women get into cock (and of course bisexuals love it all) but everybody digs a superior posterior.

I call this my Unified Butt Theory.

posted by jonmc 26 January | 21:01

You can't suck a tit, but you can cut one off in the movies...

posted by eekacat 26 January | 21:20

Give the networks an ass, and they'll take a pecker.

posted by eekacat 26 January | 21:21

Absolutely insane. I *cannot* understand how, with the gargantuan problems that the States has, that they're so hung up on a tiny amount of nudity.

Here's the reason, TheDonF:

Australia absorbed all of your thugs, highwaymen and cutthroats.

America, on the other hand, got the Puritans.

And you know why that is?

Australia had first pick.

posted by jason's_planet 26 January | 22:04

Would this have been such a big fucking deal if it were a man's ass?

posted by casarkos 26 January | 23:14

casarkos: as I noted up above, the ass is the one 'forbidden zone,' both genders and all sexualities share. Pretty much everybody has a working knowledge of it.

posted by jonmc 26 January | 23:20

Would this have been such a big fucking deal if it were a man's ass?

Clearly not, as they got away with showing Dennis Franz's some years ago. I remember it being quite the controversy at the time. And also thinking "that is an ass I do not need to see."

posted by kellydamnit 27 January | 03:31

I'll never make sense of the fact that you can't turn on the television and watch realistic, intersting depictions of adult humans, including their sexuality; while any night of the week, you can easily turn it on and watch drug dealers' innards spattered around grotty apartments, women lying in spreading pools of blood, melodramatic drawn-out depictions of tortore, and the like. We've got a serious screw loose in that we'll accept almost any depiction of serious, horrifying violence with comfort and ease, but don't show us a booty! That we can't handle.

posted by Miko 27 January | 12:27

I mentioned it because I seem to remember an episode of Law & Order: SVU where Elliot's butt (that's his name, yes? I don't actually watch the show) is kinda-sorta clearly (highlighted curves among a bunch of shadows) revealed as he's stripping down to get into bed with his ex. Or maybe my memory's been edited by wishful thinking?

Vague outlines of my theory about how American media works:
- Older, aging, wrinkly male butt: humorous, therefore OK for mass showing
- Younger, toned male butt: will arouse Teh Gayz; also may cause feelings of inadequacy in males 18-35
- Older, aging, wrinkly female butt: ewwwww, that's my grandmother! NOT OK
- Younger female butt: OMG SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN; sells things

posted by casarkos 27 January | 14:27

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