I have some big issues with obscenity. Why? Because sex is a natural and healthy thing. People have been fucking and sucking and so on and so forth in happy, loving, healthy relationships since the beginning of humanity. Your parents fucked, your grandparents fucked, and even if you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, his grandparents totally got it on. If you want to argue semantics, you can say that they made love. Fucking is a crude term for the same general act. There are nuances, but generally speaking it's referring to the act of coitus. Most words that are considered "profane" are referring either to sexual acts or the sex organs.
some examples
suck
dick
cunt
ass
balls
cocksucker
motherfucker
tits
bollocks
clusterfuck (one of my personal favorites)
douchebag (female hygiene product)
jagoff
jerk (come on, what do you think it means? And this one isn't even profane!)
minge (british term - female genitalia)
nuts (we don't think of it as dirty any more, but...)
pussy
peckerwood
prick
schmuck (I love Yiddish)
twat (also twatwaffle, the favorite of one of my best friends)
wanker (british)
So the epithets that we hurl at one another, even in jest, are foul because they have to do with sex. Sex, which is a natural, healthy, and positive part of life. None of us would be here without it (except for Jesus, of course). So why is it foul?
Let's look at another category: scatological profanity. As the children's author wisely acknowledged, everybody poops. Like sex, it's a natural and healthy, if kinda gross, part of life. And yet!
Scatological swearwords
shit
crap
poop
asshole
ass-hat (another favorite)
pissed/pissed off
pisser
shithead
shit-for-brains
horse-shit (horses poop too!)
Another natural, healthy part of life tossed around like it's something profane. If we all do it, every day, for our entire lives, how can it be profane? The taboos surrounding these words run deep. If you really want to get the Supreme Court up in arms, start arguing about obscenity with them. So-called "foul" language like the terms listed above are working their way slowly into television, but not without moral condemnation from mothers everywhere.
This brings us to nudity. The big one, if you will. One glimpse of a middle-aged actors hindquarters or, heaven help us, a hint of nipple, and the FCC goes nuts. Mandatory delays for censorship purposes are enacted because what if an innocent child saw a nipple!
Actually, yeah. What IF that happened? Most of these children spent a lot of time attached to them as babies. They got all of their nourishment from them. So what's so foul? And as far as butts go... well, come on. We all have one! Everyone is so worried about exposing children to sexuality at a young age. I get the concern. It makes me sad to see 8 year olds wearing the same wardrobe as a middle-aged hooker, too. But that doesn't come from the exposure to sexuality as much as from the glamourization of sexuality.
These young girls don't want to have sex, they want to be sexy. Television, music, and movies feature mostly scantily clad women with perfect bodies. Women are demeaned as sex objects rather than equals to men. We're sending children messages that women are only sex-objects (even the kick-ass ones are crazy hot), so what do you expect? Is it the T&A? Or is it the overt demeaning of women? Because let's be honest. If the kiddos don't have those body parts, they have accidentally and somewhat scarringly seen them on family members by barging in places without knocking. It's embarrassing for everybody, but it doesn't "subvert the mind" of the kid. If anything, it makes them doubly sure that the opposite sex has cooties.
What is foul, you may ask? Am I one of them crazy liberals that thinks that nothing is obscene in the name of the First Amendment? No. Not at all. Violence is obscene. I've seen more dead bodies than I could ever hope to count because I really like crime dramas. A body destroyed by violence is totally fine on prime time. You can see scads of people get shot, something that most parents never want their children to see or experience in real life. You see torture. You see beating.
Almost 100% of adults have sex at some point, if not frequently. Your parents. Your neighbors. The Weatherman. The hosts of morning shows. They're all doing it. Everybody poops. You don't even need to be a grownup for that one, not by even the most conservative standards. But a bloody death? Shooting? Domestic abuse? These things happen. They're a horrible and unfortunate part of the real world. We all would hope that children would never see or experience these things.
But here is my big question: Is violence obscene? I think that it ought to be. I think it's disgraceful that "fuck" is about the worst thing a kid can say. We use the words "kill" to describe finishing a box of cereal or eating the last of the mashed potatoes. If something was a "kick," it was a good time. A great headline is "punchy." An attempt at something is a "shot," or perhaps you take a "stab" at it. When you drop your phone in the water, it "dies."
I'm not saying that we should stop using those words. I'm saying that, as a society, we need to start treating things that are a normal and healthy part of life as obscenity.
Have at thee, Justice Scalia!
Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46943248/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.T3uALqs7VYs
