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The problem is cultural rather than anything else. I always thought the UK was sexually repressed, and then I experienced the US. As a European you learn fast -

The problem is cultural rather than anything else. I always thought the UK was sexually repressed, and then I experienced the US. As a European you learn fast - never discuss religion, politics or sex with an American. It's a cultural constraint that stems from a government influenced by religion, which paints sex as dirty. Indecent exposure? Social construct, rooted in religion. Fix that and porn and prostitution take their legitimate place in a balanced society.

sixbrx 13y ago
Sure, if Americans don't want to talk with you about something personal like sex, access to which depends a lot on looks which is a very personal thing, then it must be because they're repressed. And the government corrupted at its inception? In fact I encounter a lot of people discussing sex ad nauseum in the US, especially women. ETA: Gender disparity in willingness to discuss sex in the US at least in the workforce may have to do with sexual harassment laws and company policies, which didn't come from the religious establishment.
- Spearchucker 13y ago
  Your points are valid. Have you had, or even overhead such conversations in Europe? Compared the amount of nudity you see on prime time TV or in respectable magazines in Europe and the US?
zupatol 13y ago
Most of the sex seen in media has the purpose of making you buy things. While striking down moral barriers about sex will probably allow healthier discussions to take place, it will be drowned by mindless attention grabbing material without any balance nor legitimacy.
- Spearchucker 13y ago
  It is only attention grabbing while it's novel, and not commonplace. And yes, sex does sell, no matter where in the world you find yourself.
wyclif 13y ago
I was reading the piece with a certain amount of sangfroid, until I reached this sentence: Cindy thinks that the restrictions that policies place on sex-oriented companies like hers are tantamount to wanting to “pretend sex doesn’t exist.” Actually, that's precisely what companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft aren't doing. Not wanting to be exposed to porn does not mean you think sex doesn't exist. It is an illogical and simplistic equivalence. As for the charge that American government is "influenced by religion", why single out the USA? All world governments are influenced by religious principles of some kind. Codified law systems spring from religion. It's why the law makes a moral judgement about murder, or speeding (to use a less severe crime as an example). "Religion", rightly understood, does not paint sex as "dirty." It places sex within the boundaries of a moral, social and legal code. The Puritans were actually some of the most lusty, sex affirming (within marriage) people of their time.
- olalonde 13y ago
  > All government are influenced by religious principles. I don't think China or Russia are for example. > Codified law systems spring from religion. It's why the law makes a moral judgement about murder, or speeding (to use a less severe crime as an example). You don't need religion to make such moral judgements.
  - xentronium 13y ago
    > I don't think China or Russia are for example. We have an absolutely horrifying clerical renaissance here in Russia. Church gets a lot of media attention, a lot of general public attention, a lot of lawmakers' attention. By recent polls, 75% of Russians consider themselves orthodox christians. Just two examples of how this influences everyday life: 1. There is a university called MIFI (aka National Research Nuclear University Moscow Engineering Physics Institute). For a long time there was a statue of a wayfarer on their campus with the following words "Дорогу осилит идущий" (I don't know English equivalent, literally: "The one who walks will overcome the path"). This statue, nicknamed "An Eternal Student", was considered an unofficial symbol and words an unofficial motto of MIFI students. However, right before patriarch Kirill visit to the institution, statue was replaced by a cross. Before and after pic: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/statixaos/16015392/2819/original.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/statixaos/16015392/2819/origi... Also, later they announced they were opening a theological faculty there. In a nuclear research university. 2. A road accident happened in Moscow. Drunk hieromonk Ilia was driving a Mercedes G-wagon (!) at 140 kmph and crashed into a Skoda. Afterwards he crashed into three road workers, two of whom died. Putting aside how monk can own and drive expensive cars, mysterious things began to occur to this case. For some reason, no one bothered to take his blood sample or arrest the young monk, who was taken by (allegedly) unknown person home. In the court a person, who wasn't even present at the crash, told the judge that it was Skoda that crashed into and killed road workers. Video records from the case showing Mercedes were, wait for it, "destroyed by a computer virus". For no apparent reason, after all this Ilia decided to confess to everything. Also, the case of pussy riot, who were given prison time for disorderly conduct and many, many different annoying things.

sixbrx 13y ago

Sure, if Americans don't want to talk with you about something personal like sex, access to which depends a lot on looks which is a very personal thing, then it must be because they're repressed. And the government corrupted at its inception? In fact I encounter a lot of people discussing sex ad nauseum in the US, especially women. ETA: Gender disparity in willingness to discuss sex in the US at least in the workforce may have to do with sexual harassment laws and company policies, which didn't come from the religious establishment.

Spearchucker 13y ago
Your points are valid. Have you had, or even overhead such conversations in Europe? Compared the amount of nudity you see on prime time TV or in respectable magazines in Europe and the US?

zupatol 13y ago

Most of the sex seen in media has the purpose of making you buy things. While striking down moral barriers about sex will probably allow healthier discussions to take place, it will be drowned by mindless attention grabbing material without any balance nor legitimacy.

Spearchucker 13y ago
It is only attention grabbing while it's novel, and not commonplace. And yes, sex does sell, no matter where in the world you find yourself.

wyclif 13y ago

I was reading the piece with a certain amount of sangfroid, until I reached this sentence: Cindy thinks that the restrictions that policies place on sex-oriented companies like hers are tantamount to wanting to “pretend sex doesn’t exist.” Actually, that's precisely what companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft aren't doing. Not wanting to be exposed to porn does not mean you think sex doesn't exist. It is an illogical and simplistic equivalence. As for the charge that American government is "influenced by religion", why single out the USA? All world governments are influenced by religious principles of some kind. Codified law systems spring from religion. It's why the law makes a moral judgement about murder, or speeding (to use a less severe crime as an example). "Religion", rightly understood, does not paint sex as "dirty." It places sex within the boundaries of a moral, social and legal code. The Puritans were actually some of the most lusty, sex affirming (within marriage) people of their time.

olalonde 13y ago
> All government are influenced by religious principles. I don't think China or Russia are for example. > Codified law systems spring from religion. It's why the law makes a moral judgement about murder, or speeding (to use a less severe crime as an example). You don't need religion to make such moral judgements.
- xentronium 13y ago
  > I don't think China or Russia are for example. We have an absolutely horrifying clerical renaissance here in Russia. Church gets a lot of media attention, a lot of general public attention, a lot of lawmakers' attention. By recent polls, 75% of Russians consider themselves orthodox christians. Just two examples of how this influences everyday life: 1. There is a university called MIFI (aka National Research Nuclear University Moscow Engineering Physics Institute). For a long time there was a statue of a wayfarer on their campus with the following words "Дорогу осилит идущий" (I don't know English equivalent, literally: "The one who walks will overcome the path"). This statue, nicknamed "An Eternal Student", was considered an unofficial symbol and words an unofficial motto of MIFI students. However, right before patriarch Kirill visit to the institution, statue was replaced by a cross. Before and after pic: http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/statixaos/16015392/2819/original.jpg http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/statixaos/16015392/2819/origi... Also, later they announced they were opening a theological faculty there. In a nuclear research university. 2. A road accident happened in Moscow. Drunk hieromonk Ilia was driving a Mercedes G-wagon (!) at 140 kmph and crashed into a Skoda. Afterwards he crashed into three road workers, two of whom died. Putting aside how monk can own and drive expensive cars, mysterious things began to occur to this case. For some reason, no one bothered to take his blood sample or arrest the young monk, who was taken by (allegedly) unknown person home. In the court a person, who wasn't even present at the crash, told the judge that it was Skoda that crashed into and killed road workers. Video records from the case showing Mercedes were, wait for it, "destroyed by a computer virus". For no apparent reason, after all this Ilia decided to confess to everything. Also, the case of pussy riot, who were given prison time for disorderly conduct and many, many different annoying things.