Frank, this is one of the more interesting posts on the list as of
lately. I mean, those not directly related to doing the photography.
I will omit certain parts for brevity and intersperse my thoughts on the
matter accordingly.
On 11/25/2013 4:14 AM, knarf wrote:
The catalyst for this little missive, I must admit, is Bruce's recent
series of NSFW semi-nudes. That being said, it's not directed
specifically to or at Bruce. It's more a comment on the whole female
nude thing. Others have posted similar photos in the past and likely
will do so again.
Let me ask you and other list members - don't you think that the whole
NSFW is as problematic as what you state? Why on earth it would not be
permitted for adults to look at beautiful pictures of human body, male
and female alike?
For all I care - pictures of smartphones are as pornographic as anything
else out there, especially in terms of being a distraction from work,
such as mine that requires concentration of mind.
So, my question stands. Now, consider that as you say the female nudes
far outweigh in numbers the male ones. So then, the NSFW thing does
promote hypocrisy. At least in my opinion.
And I'm being totally serious here.
However until there is some balance between portrayal of the genders
I can't support female nudes. Because until that happens females will
be sexualized and males won't be. And I just don't think that's
right.
You may be right, at least as far as common sense goes. However, I see
two points:
1. The less important one is that of free choice. If artist freely
chooses not to work in male nude genre, why would you or I be given any
right to criticize them for their choice?
I would expect you to parry with the idea that this choice is not
entirely free and rather is affected by the largely patriarchate
society. To that end, as a quarter-decent chess player, I have prepared
my gambit.
2. You see, Frank, what you appear to suggest (correct me if I'm wrong)
is that there has to be a corrective stimuli applied until the
quantities of female and male nudes posted (not on this list, but
general) are roughly equal. Then, I suppose you would say that your
criteria have been satisfied and all is good.
That's the point where I would fundamentally disagree with you. You see,
I firmly believe that in order to correct something in society, such as
gender inequality two things must be done:
1. Obviously have the laws that deal with the actions of individuals or
groups that are, well, unlawful. However, the laws must be absolutely
symmetrical and further applied symmetrically and ultimately - I would
expect as many females to be accused of unlawful acts as males.
2. Educate the younger generations.
Any kind of corrective inequality is, well, fundamentally wrong. You
simply replace one bad thing by another. You create atmosphere of witch
hunt; loud news coverages proliferate, but ultimately society sustains a
blow. Now, I maintain that as this happens, the society won't be able to
put a brake on this process and eventually stop at the point of
equilibrium. It will badly overshoot or better yet end up being far more
hypocritical than it was at the starting point without having sustained
any useful change.
I can give you examples related to internal life of my country, but I
much rather do it off list as it will be most certainly not related to
photography in any way.
In closing, I'm no prude. And I'm sure I'll be accused of spouting
the politically correct lefty party line. So be it.
I did not read you this way.
What I'm really doing is expressing my personal opinion. Thanks for
you indulgence.
Thanks. You had my mind up and in gear very fast this morning.
Boris
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