Malone

Why is violence so much more accepted than sex in the media? Or in life in general?
I just posted a flash story with about a paragraph of sex (used to make a social commentary), and it was pulled by a mod within about thirty seconds. I had big warnings all over it to stay away and that it contained adult content, but this didn't matter. I offered to post it in a google.doc and link it to anyone interested in the actual post(those who even made it past the gratitious warning labels), but this was rejected.
Yet, I've seen many violent posts on this board that are accepted with no problems. I myself posted a quite violent story and no one complained.
So why, in television, print, and elsewhere, is violence so much more accepted than sex? Are we still that repressed?
Seems like everytime I turn on the television or watch a movie, there is ever increasing violence. Continually. Yes, sex is around too, but it's just so much more frowned upon and shunned as inappropriate. Parents who let their children watch horror movies and Terminator style action movies will keep their children from things like Monster's Ball because of a minute or two of sex. Just doesn't seem right.

Rumrunner

I thought this thread was going to be about what was cooler, violence or sex. I was going to vote for violent sex.

But on the topic at hand, I think it depends partially on where you are; in Europe sex tends to be more accepted in the media, and violence less so. Not to start off the whole America vs Europe thing again, but the US is still in a very puritanical mindset when it comes to sex. I mean, ultimately, religious morality (and the power structures & motivations of organized religion) is what it all comes down to. Sex is one of the more intimate and powerful aspects of what it is to be human; control that and you can control pretty much anything.

Thou may smite thine neighbours if they are heathen non-believers, for that is good, but you can't have sex unless you pay a big chunk of money to the religious authorities to say you can. At least, that's the way it worked historically, and the motivation for religious leaders to maintain the status quo is pretty clear I think -- kill their enemies and give them money.

As far as the post on this board goes, however, the rules pretty clearly state that nothing approaching erotica is permitted. It's really up to the Mods to determine where that line is drawn. But the reality is, as a family board, they have to take into account what the prevailing morality demands -- and that, as noted, is inclined to say violence is okay but sex is not.

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"But as he gazed on truth his aching eyes grew dim...."
-- Byron, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the First

Malone

Sex is as primal as violence, though. I wonder how such a huge rift formed between them. They're both just base human actions.

Charlie_Eleanor

darn...i thought this thread would be about which is better....

i agree with much of what rumrunner said. no need to repeat it.

But, I do think that people in the US are still under the illusion that sex is purely a reflection of the intimate love shared by a husband and wife. At least, that is what they want to believe....or at least that is what most women want to believe... in my opinion. Therefore, they would not want it to be so blatently displayed, but instead kept in secret.

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Rumrunner

Hell, that's what I'd like to believe, too. But, do you really have to hide love? If it really exists (no longer convinced) is it and it's expression something to be ashamed of?

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"But as he gazed on truth his aching eyes grew dim...."
-- Byron, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the First

Charlie_Eleanor

You are right rumrunner, but there is also another type of sex two people can enjoy, and that is the dirty nasty kind. I think people think that if you admit to enjoying something other than purely 'makinglove' it deminishes the honesty of their love. That, of course, is just rediculous. These are the same people who are not able to laugh at themselves during sex, or laugh at their partner.

(I'm sorry. I know my spelling is really bad...but I am soooooo sleep and just trying to stay awake until my laundry is finished )

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wyf

If its a straight choice i vote for sex.

my favourite!!!!! i find it restrictivethat i cant post here because the nature of my writing is very sexual but the mods know best (i have to say that) and there are other places i can goto post my writing for critique and i will soon have my website finished i hope.

WriterDude

If you watch TV, take a look at two TV-series. 24 and Californication.

* 24: Pretty much every season (not that I've watched much, though) evolve around a major disaster like nuking american cities, spreading a deadly plague and so on. To combat this, the hero uses any means necessary to get information from the bad guys. And yes, this includes torture. People are killed, beaten up, raped (at least in the first season, as far as I know) and so on. Even purely executed. It's perfectly fine to show in prime time, and so far we're into the seventh? Eight? season. Kiefer Sutherland was declared a genious for making it.

* Californication: Supposed to be a comedy, of all things. It's about a stupid writer who doesn't actually write anything, and just enjoy life, booze, some drugs perhaps and sex with pretty much any women he can. There are a few scenes with a topless woman, even the occasional sex scene. I tried watching an episode, but switched off halfway through for my own sanity. It was incredible boring. Worst piece of crap I have ever seen. Last I heard it was on pay per view in the US and almost had to be cut before being aired in Norway. Go figure.

Why is it ok to show a guy being tortured, but it's not ok to show a topless woman? In a sane world, it would be the opposite. When you are born, where do you get food from? That's right, your mother's breasts. We've all seen that, it's nothing special. Quite boring in most cases, even. Besides, take a walk on a beach in the summertime, and what do you see? Women. Lots of them. In minimal bikini's that doesn't really hide much.

If anyone can explain the logic why sex is banned and torture is perfectly fine, please share. I certainly don't get it.

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Shavixmir

Have you ever read the old testament?
The bible makes it very clear: God kills, he doesn't fuck.

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In Vino Veritas

WriterDude

Thou shall not kill, anyone?

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Shavixmir

Well, besides the fact that good Christians haven't really stuck to that there code (code? It's more of a guideline really...), God was all into the killing.

As sure as Hendrix is in hell, God drowned thousands of people (and other animals, but hey... that's Godlateral damage for you).
And he struck lightning bolts up various arses. He made Abraham kill on of his own sons...

Yeah... God might be shoutin': "Thou shallt not kill." but he's talkin' the talk, I ain't been readin' him walkin' the walk!

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In Vino Veritas

WriterDude

Do as I say, not as I do!

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abbeyd21

Viloence doesn't have potential to spread disease. People are terrified of illnesses that are spread through sexual contact. True there are ways to have sex without getting said illnesses but it's much easier to make sex unacceptable then it is to properly educate the younger generations. And to be honest even the smartest people ignore safe sex guidlines from time to time. And to boot, what better way to attempt to keep populations down? Make sex bad and violence good and the two will balance each other out.

Malone

Haha. Interesting take there on population control, abbey.
I'm getting the impression from some of these responses that many people consider sex and violence linked, or at least related.

smilinghelps

At the very least, rough.

Or completely inhibited. Dirty, nasty sex can be equivalent to "making love" as you put it. I guess it just depends on the people. I never understood that quiet, still 'lovemaking' in movies--how fun is that? I thought sex was supposed to be fun and that's just *yawn* boring. A moment or two of sweet tenderness is nice as long as there's a couple hours of the good stuff.

To answer your question Malone--maybe because people are afraid that their kids will turn out like me, I don't have a violent bone in my body.

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"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
E. B. White