When are breasts breasts?

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Watching the South Park movie (not for the first time) on cable, the double standard disgusts me. There's a scene where Kenny's going up to heaven, and there are naked women waiting to welcome him. I won't spoil what happens next, but the important part to this discussion is that those naked women aren't censored. And the next thing on...a Girls Gone Wild commercial where everything is censored.

So what's the difference? Are they really not breasts because of the construction-paper style of the cartoon? Where is the line drawn? Abstract drawings that include a breast somewhere? Ancient art that doesn't bother to hide nudity, like Venus(?) riding on the clam? Maybe a hidden nipple on a magazine cover? What the hell are our conditions?

 

I assume you watched it during Comedy Central's "secret stash," where they show uncensored R movies during late night hours? Correct me if it was during regular hours - though I doubt it. If it were shown during prime-time, they would have blacked it out. Same with the F-bomb being dropped about every other word (love that movie ).

Evidently Comedy Central has some deal worked out with the FCC where they can show uncensored movies after midnight, at least in my time zone (central). As such, this arrangement probably only applies to the programming and not the commercials that run during that time. All other prime-time regular South Park episodes bleep out cursing and block out nudity. Girls Gone Wild commercials are made to air on all stations at all hours of the day (unfortunately), and are made to comform to the absolute bare minimum FCC decency standards.

So to answer your question: no, I don't think there's a double standard, and if there is one, this isn't really a good example of it.

 

Oh, but they wouldn't show "actual" nudity even in the secret stash. At least, I've never seen it. Perhaps it isn't a good comparison to the GGW commercials, but it's pretty hard to compare to something that simply isn't there at all.

 

I'm pretty sure they do show regular nudity. There's nudity in Bad Santa, and I know they've shown that. I can't remember if there's nudity in either Dogma or Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, but they've shown them both too.

Besides - I can't imagine the FCC allowing them to say "unclef*cker" repeatedly, yet a nipple here or there is so much worse.

But then again...it is the FCC we're talking about here, so who knows...

 

The main difference is that real breasts can pop a woody, animated ones don't, unless you're sick.

 

They've shown the movies, yes. But I've seen all three of those on the stash, and not a single piece of nudity. Though if there's something I missed, it might have been during one of the few times in each show that I go off to do something else really quick (ADHD, don'cha know). If you can tell me for certain that they've shown (non-cartoon) nudity in the stash, I suppose I'll have to take you at your word. But otherwise...this is the FCC we're talking about here; they're not going to let a single piece of "filth" past them.

 

If they're so keen on censoring everything, it's kind of funny that they're airing the South Park movie in the first place... How did Sheila Broflowski's slogan go again? "Graphic gruesome violence is okay, as long as there are no naughty words."

 

One question, can any organisation in the US use censor? Or is it just under certain conditions or can anybody censor anything in that case the freedom of speach is worth nothing.

 

Hey, maybe they allowed the South Park nudity as a satirical element? Satire has more liberty than even typical cartoons. I don't watch South Park, so I don't know, but maybe the use of nudity in that episode wasn't sexual? It's obviously different when it's not sexual, and it doesn't take actual nudity to make something sexually explicit, either.

 

Actual nudity on Comedy Central's "Secret Stash" is censored. I was watching Van Wilder on it one night and they bleeped out breasts.

 

Was the "nudity" in the topic with the parenting magazine sexual?

 

What I said, nudity can be sexual but can also not be. What contains no nudity, however, may be more sexual than actual nudity, depending on the kind of message conveyed. A stupid horny college girl is more sexual while attending her classes than that breast-feeding woman from the magazine cover.

 

No, it's not a matter of anyone just complaining and suddenly they have to censor something. There's a central organization (the FCC in this case) that handles the "standards of decency" for each medium. It is a forfeiture of freedom of speech, but a voluntary one. There are specialty channels, like the Playboy channel, that don't follow the FCC's lead, but it means that they can't be part of cable programming. They're simply not meant for public consumption.

 

There is freedom of speech, but there's no freedom of being listened to. Cutting a scene or two out might be it, but preventing porn channels from normal access just by mashing the P+ button in the default setting, while porn lovers can still order it specifically, is hardly a forfeiture of freedom of speech.

 

Technically, Freedom of Speech does not apply. It really only applies to allowing people to say whatever they want about the government.