Sex Vs Violence in mainstream media.

I think there is an unnatural imbalance in the way that these two subjects get portrayed in the mainstream,  
Now both are interconnected in the animal world, And they are of course heavily associated with the history of our species, But why is it that Sex or any form of Nudity is to be censored? to be Shunned?  
 
I don't understand why nudity is to be frowned upon when if I were to look at a mirror after a shower, BAM! there it is,  
Now don't get me wrong, I Love explosions, I like to sit back and watch a Michel Bay movie for the visceral thrill of action, But why if there is a flash of tit it instantly get's a higher censor rating? 
 
Now For a bit of background, I live in New Zealand, We are liberal in our view of a lot of things, My mother is an artist/writer and is very liberal, My father is from Amsterdam, He grew up in the red light district, It is safe to say that he is not a prude, and they brought me up to have my own voice and my own views in a society that usually restricts what children should learn/not learn, Now I state this because from a young age I was able to have my own opinion without any restrictions, which helped broaden my world views faster than my friends or schoolmates could.  
 
I think it is hypocritical for censors to ban media, be them games movies T.V shows whatever, if they contain Sexual imagery, But they allow violence, I am allowed to shoot people in the head in GTAIV, But the Australian classification  board made R* take their game back and redo a cuts-scene that contains a rocking car? 
 
I for one do not understand that logic, Another prime example is the shitstorm that happened after the "Nipple slip" Wardrobe malfunction, I say "Nipple Slip" because anyone who actually saw the footages or photos knows that there is a clasp or nipple cover over the actual tit. 
It was a staged performance that people in America went absolutely crazy over, Because of a nipple.  
 
Why, Because of the children, Because we have to keep them in the dark about sexual behaviour, We can't have kids running around having, "sex"  well they wont, Sexual behaviour does not start until puberty, so why is it that when they reach that age, 13-18 society dictates that they aren't mature enough to watch a bit of tit. 
But they are absolutely mature enough to watch an act of violence. 
 
I was able to play whatever game I wanted to at any age, except for GTA3, I played the earlier versions but My dad freaked when he saw how realistic the graphics were, how violent the game was, I am 21 now and when I brought my copy GTAIV at launch, he saw the game and flinched, He still does not understand how I can enjoy playing what to him is a sadistic game, And in his defence, it is, I would not let my children play such a game, Assassins creep two is out now, And there was just a   thread   that Jakob187 started, Asking if nudity was prevalent in it, And yes there is nudity, But in paintings, historical paintings, Now he was asking if it was enough to cause a disruption at his place of work, The key thing is that Violence was okay, Any amount of gore was ok, But sexual content was not. 
 
I think that that is backwards thinking, I do not see the sense in that, 
 
I want to let you guys have a debate, I want people that view Violence acceptable but Sexual content is not, Hell even if you don't have that view take up the devils advocate role,  
 
There will be no name calling, I promise not to call anyone a puritan backwater hack. or a prude, (But that's what I'll think :) 
 

good read. i love shooting people in the face and blowing the shit out of gas stations in my video games. while tits are fine, they can be a bit awkward at times in video games. *cough cough*. 

I agree, nudity which is natural, and has done nothing to upset society development and progress is banned, but, violence, associated with war, death, hatred and vengeance is okay.  
I think, that both should be tolerated, when in a appropriate context, without being there just for the sake of shocking. And parents should judge what's appropriate at what age and if they decide to let their child expose himself to whatever level of sexual/violent content they should help him understand it. 

Censorship is only bad when it's something that's restricted only to adults beforehand. Yeah, a kid could see it, but it all just draws back to crappy parenting. However, I sure as hell wouldn't want my kid to be channel-surfing and suddenly come across porn because, believe it or not, porn is wrong. 
 
Yes, there is freedom among adults, and they can do whatever they want, as long as they keep it on the high shelf so their nephew can't reach it.

" good read. i love shooting people in the face and blowing the shit out of gas stations in my video games. while tits are fine, they can be a bit awkward at times in video games. *cough cough*.  "

" @TyphoonSwell: mind if you elaborate? D:  "

"Anyway, Violence = Sex. They are both equally worthy of being cautioned.   One is not better than the other.  "

definitely agree. While some games treat the boobies immaturely (the DOA link mentioned above, DOA xtreme beach volleyball, and the ridiculous tits in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2), I think that if it's presented in a mature way, with mature themes, it should be ok. It's also ridiculous when you have 8 year olds playing left 4 dead 2, with all the dismemberment, and God of War/GTA with all the dismemberment, but something like Hot Coffee is treated like such a big deal when 
1. It was locked and you'd have to mod your game to see it 
2. To my knowledge it wasn't that graphic at all (did they even see anything? I'm one of the few who didn't hack their game/watch the scene online) 
 
Also, the Mass Effect cutscene that the stupid Fox News correspondent talked about, where there was "nudity" when you couldn't see anything. 
 
Yet a level like "No Russian", where you slaughter innocents as a terrorist, hasn't been seized upon as evil at all by the mainstream media. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it should- it's presented in a very mature way to show consequences, and was vital to the plot, but if a Mass Effect cutscene gets that much media attention when No Russian doesn't, there's definitely something wrong, especially considering you might see the Mass Effect cutscene in a PG13 movie.

The main issue that you'll find is that America...being the warmongering society that it is...is also considered "one nation under God"...and God apparently frowns on hardcore fucking, boobs, poon, and blowjobs, but loves him some blood, guts, and gore.
 
This makes me believe that God just needs to get laid. 
 
I don't know how to explain it.  I don't think that any honest person can.  It IS completely backwards. 
 
I blame Christian activists and their hatred for chicks slobbin' on cock. 
 
Then again, if you look at the actual act of sex...the very definition of it...sex is considered an act of violence.  That's the biggest reason why rape occurs - people are incapable of distinguishing the difference between violence and sex.  However, this raises another issue:  if America were less strict about sex, would rape go down?

 
I think its mostly due to the times and the generation gap. I can't remember what podcast I was listening to, but the old "are games art?" debate sprung up, and somebody brought up the point that once all the old folks who all they know is Nintendo and Mario die or realize that games are more than that, then there will be a general accepence of them. 
 
The same thing applies to this I think. The values and morals as a country drastically differ from the ones of even 30-40 years ago, and the country is starting to get more open about everything. Some of the older people find this appalling, and there are definitely sides to both arguments (not gonna take a stand there) but I think in general it will be more accepted as time goes on. 
 
And yes, the acceptability of violence vs. sex is astounding. Just point to Mass Effect and be down with it.

Sex and violence are opposites, but expressions of either in any medium of art or entertainment should not be the purview of any political institutions.

I think the real biggy I'm trying to hit home is the normailty of violence, especially in a dominantly religious state like the US which is also the source for most popular media (T.V, movies, games, comics) in the western civilisation if not most of the world. Case in point Image comics Spawn.  
 
There is one issue where serial killer Billy Kincaid is "finger painting" which involves him gluing the severed fingers of a child onto a piece of paper. Then in another issue he is sent to hell (rightly so) where he is told the motto is "Ca-ca happens little buddy, ca-ca happens." 
 
Why could they not just say shit happens? I could only think because  this would be deemed immoral. Why is it fine then to see someone getting a kick out of gluing a kids severed fingers , or the hero teleport inside someone and rip him open? But to show a naughty word, we can't have that now can we. 
 
I'm not saying open the flood gates and have the kiddies watching porn and back to back Richard Prior live sessions, I just think that swear words and nudity (when used in context and done tastefully) shouldn't be tared with a different brush.  
 
Sex happens in real life, not the cheap synth music "thank god you fixed the air-con, it's been so hot lately I just can't wear anything around the house but this g-string here, I don't have any money but is there anyway me and my identical twin sister Tammy can repay you" kind of sex, but  sex is a part of life.  
 
So are the moments where the only way to express yourself in a certain situation is to use a swear word or a group of mates you'll hit the piss with when you will just casually swear during conversation. These are both fairly natural and (providing you are respecting the opinions of others) harmless aspects of human nature.  
 
Why are they considered immoral, yet detailed and graphic forms of violence are seen as a lesser evil?

Nudetitl is fine along as your parents arnt in the room

" Sex and violence are opposites, but expressions of either in any medium of art or entertainment should not be the purview of any political institutions. "

All the religious nutjobs fled England to found a country where they espoused their ultra-violent, but very sexist and guilt-ridden religious views for a few hundred years. What do you expect? When your loony "manual" tells you violence is always the solution, but sexuality is chided, that's how your society is going to be, until enough people wake the fuck up and grow the fuck up and shrug off the religious fervor and start to think for themselves.
 
So centuries into this, a high level of violence is tolerated (and "too much" is hypocritically attacked as part of promoting activist's careers) while showing too much leg will make you a pariah. Unless you're a corporation that makes clothes for toddlers, in which case you slut up your five year old daughter by dressing her in clothing that says "slut" and "juicy".
 
The answer, of course, is to stop voting the religious cunts into office so they don't have an opportunity to exploit the full power of the government as a tool for engineering society in the way that the voice in their head tells them to.

"Why are they considered immoral, yet detailed and graphic forms of violence are seen as a lesser evil?"

Just open up your Bible- it's exactly the same way. Sex is taboo, but your enemies will fall by your sword. This kind of thing is endemic to pre-enlightenment thought.

 Yet a level like "No Russian", where you slaughter innocents as a terrorist, hasn't been seized upon as evil at all by the mainstream media.

"

I think there is an unnatural imbalance in the way that these two subjects get portrayed in the mainstream,  
Now both are interconnected in the animal world, And they are of course heavily associated with the history of our species, But why is it that Sex or any form of Nudity is to be censored? to be Shunned?  

" @Red12b said:

"Why are they considered immoral, yet detailed and graphic forms of violence are seen as a lesser evil?"

Religion. Religion has controlled the world for millennia(and to some extent, it still does) and since sex is a sin according to the dominant religions, it's hard to get rid of the idea of it being something shameful that should be frowned upon. The same goes for cursing. "

" Just open up your Bible- it's exactly the same way. Sex is taboo, but your enemies will fall by your sword. This kind of thing is endemic to pre-enlightenment thought. "

 Because Sex, the most natural widespread thing in the world which (most) everyone and everything does is teh devil. 

Good write up man!
 
I agree with your point that nudity for nudity's sake, such as is the case with much pornographic material out there, is quite crass, however, such other things as "artistica" make a case for why people shouldn't flip out over nudity. My father is very liberal, my mother also but to what appears to be a lesser extent (she's a tough read in regards to politics,) and that has benefitted me greatly growing up. Case in point, at 11 years old, my father had no problem showing me The Shining. Now, he wasn't about to start letting me chain-smoke, or watch pornography, or see a torture porn type movie. But he realized the artistic integrity of the work and realized that I should be treated as a human being and see something which was rather riveting and had a great impact on me despite its decidedly mature components.
 
And I believe I'm for the better because of it. The people I knew growing up who fetishized violence and porn were the ones who were denied access to such things on a decidedly limited level such as I was. I knew this one guy, and every time I went over to his house he'd be hoopin and hollerin about the fact that he found a T game with limited quantities of blood coming from the corpses of fallen enemies when repeatedly shot. And ya know what,  he's now a chain-smoker with a predilection towards driving drunk.
 
Now I'm not going to say that he's a bad person or that any discernible correlation can be brought up between these disparate things, but you have to wonder, would it really be better to let our children see this stuff so that they can become desensitized and not covet it so much? I'm not saying we should turn Friday family game night into watch young Jenny get railed in the ass night, but I am saying that we likely shouldn't be so far up our own goddamn asses in regards to this stuff.
 
As I mentioned in my PM  with Red12b, I've been reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth, which has at the very least incited the brain juices and gotten me think about life and nurture and the nature of our interactions with people. I'm not gonna spew an agenda against organized religion (though I think it is very much the antithesis of many of  humans horrible actions and represents the subconscious ego inflation of the collective human species), for it gives hope to many people and it would be wrong to do so, but when people get so up their own asses about things and their beliefs and pass it off to God, I find it just utterly depressing, such as is the case with the violence and sex manifested in today's media. 
 
So what am I saying, I don't even fucking know.... I'm rambling. My point? I can't say after writing all that. Interpret it for what you will, I forget where I was getting too...

Great post!
 
It is backwards thinking indeed, I would fully agree. Its rather ridiculous and in my opinion, not relevant at all to the times. That being said, from an American point of view I can see where it comes from, yet I do not agree. For us here in the States it comes from our foundations, of the puritans and essentially the type of people that founded our country. That has stayed with us and therefore while we show violence all the time, and even portray sexual desires through scantly clad women, there's never nudity. Its rather hypocritical and its also historical. I don't agree, but there is a foundation for such crazy beliefs.