Singer Erykah Badu
By now you have no doubt seen the stories about singer Erykah Badu stripping down for a naked stroll in the city of Dallas. Dealey Plaza, which is mainly known as the place where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, is in the news once again but for an entirely different reason this time. There is no doubt that Ms. Badu broke the law by stripping in a public place while filming her new music video. The facts of the case are not in dispute. She has been charged with disorderly conduct—a charge that typically carries a $500 fine. As generally happens with celebrities, you will probably see people who think the penalty is too lenient for someone who can probably expense the fine to her record label. You are also likely to have the typical celebrity sycophants, who always find superficial reasons for absolution and will demand that charges be waived.
The points that I think are more interesting are the philosophical considerations. Specifically, is nudity—which is unarguably natural—a threat to society? Is Ms. Badu endangering the children who are clearly visible in the background of the video clip below? Are we even sure that nudity is something that children need protection from? Are we simply uptight and therefore, overreacting? Before I continue, be warned that I tend to discuss sex and sensuality in objective terms like any other topic without all the guilt, recrimination, and discomfort that many people feel. Such discussion makes some people feel very uncomfortable or embarrassed. If you are such a person, the following discussion may not be for you.
First, let me say that as an American who lives in Europe, my perspective is bound to be quite different from someone who has never seen nudity in public. My first experience with public nudity was during a business trip to Stuttgart, Germany nearly 20 years ago. I stayed in a 5 star hotel that had a beautiful sauna and pool on the Mezzanine. I was with 3 American colleagues and it was our first trip there. We were amazed that most of the Germans were swimming in the nude. About 10 feet away from the pool was an open shower and people were coming out of the pool and the sauna and showering out in the open. After we swam for a while, we all sat by the pool and talked. Our disbelief was evident as people showered out in the open as if it was nothing. The experience was especially memorable because later on, a very tall and very beautiful blond woman went to the shower and lathered up like she was filming a soap commercial. I mean, she was very thorough giving all due care to every nook and cranny. As we looked on in disbelief, one of our group, call him Mike, chose that moment to go and hit on her. This would turn out to be a disaster we’d remind him of for the next several years. As he approached the shower area, his arousal became evident to everyone in the vicinity. The woman, who could easily have been that year’s Miss Germany, laughed out loud. So did everyone else. One gentleman sitting a few yards from us said under his breath, “Heh, Americans.”
My second experience was a trip to Amsterdam with some friends. We decided to make a detour to a lovely beach town called Zandvoort. The first thing any American notices there is that 90% of the women are topless. Not just while sunbathing mind you, I mean everywhere. I went with a friend to buy ice cream. The shops are lined along the boardwalk, with a separation of about 3 feet and a drop of about 2 feet down from the walkway. In order to get ice cream you stood in line on the boardwalk and when it was your turn, you walked down 3 or 4 steps then over to the counter where you would place your order. After my friend and I got our ice creams, I turned around to leave. A young woman stood directly behind me on the second step, so that her breasts were quite literally in my face. I can’t imagine what my facial expression looked like but the young lady and her friend both laughed. She said with a Dutch accent, “From the shock on your face you must be American.” “Is it that obvious,” I asked. “Look around you, no one else finds it interesting,” she replied. She was right. No one else was looking at her, which amazed me since she was absolutely striking. I stepped aside and said, “Oh, sorry.” She giggled and said, “It’s okay, I thought it was cute.” We stayed there for the weekend. I began to see what she meant because as the newness wore off, it became less and less interesting. Over time I came to see that the reason Americans are so hung up about nudity, is the novelty of it and its taboo nature in the United States. I can vouch to any young guys who want to come to Europe to see young naked women on the beach, that if you want to remove the excitement you currently feel about it, that is exactly what you should do. It doesn’t affect everyone that way but the majority of Americans I have spoken with over the years agree that if you stay longer than a few weeks, you are likely to become substantially desensitized to nudity.
So what does that mean? If you are religious, remember that in the story of Adam and Eve, it was only after they ate the forbidden fruit that they saw a problem with nudity. In other words, there was nothing inherently wrong with their nudity until they THOUGHT there was. Theologians generally agree that the sin comes from the way nudity makes one feel and how it affects a person’s behavior, not from the state of nudity itself. Nevertheless, society has collectively decided that public nudity is something to be avoided altogether. Is there a way to qualify this belief in scientific terms? There is clearly no biological reason to avoid nudity aside from the obvious environmental concerns. In other words, clothing is practical when retention of body heat is a concern. There are also various other utilitarian considerations. The answer to our question of whether or not nudity poses a threat to society is clearly no, when considering effects of nudity in purely physical terms.
How about psychological terms? There are many traditional cultures like several in the Pacific islands, Africa, and South America where adults wear little or no clothing. No ill effect has ever been scientifically documented of exposing children to social nudity although there were occasions where possible consequences were inferred by Freud and Spock with regard to self-esteem (An interesting discussion can be found here or just Google it). Contrast Freudian ideas with old civilizations like Germany and the Netherlands were people are cultured and live in highly structured societies, yet no negative effects can be found from their openness toward nudity of the human body.
Is Ms. Badu endangering children? As noted above, a typical beach in Holland will have dozens of very attractive, almost completely naked women within viewing range of the average frolicking family on a given sunny day. There are 8, 12, 16-year-old males playing hacky sack next to groups of high school to college-aged girls throwing Frisbees or some similar activity while topless. I swear to you, you would think the girls were completely transparent because the boys have absolutely no reaction to them. To be sure, there are always boy-meets-girl stories. The human race must go on after all. The point is, the boys don’t react to exposed breasts at all. I can understand this because on several occasions, I have been in situations like those described above where the nudity held no interest for me at all, after so many years. That is not to say that I am not aroused by an attractive woman but typically, it is the setting that differentiates a sensual experience from a non-sensual one. In a setting with intimate implications like going on a date, nudity has the effect it always does when two people are attracted to each other. In answer to the question, my experience suggests that the nudity Ms. Badu exposed the children to, posed no danger to them at all.
The last question I asked is, are Americans simply uptight? Do we tend to overreact to nudity? Well my answer is yes and no to both questions. One of the most common threads that arise when discussing this topic with non-Americans is the hypocritical aspect of the American sexual dichotomy. It is difficult to reconcile being the country that exports the most pornography, sexually explicit movies scenes, and sexually suggestive television, not to mention the most successful erotic publications in the world with the public cries of outrage and anger that are expressed when a woman walks naked in public for a few minutes. In addition, does anyone doubt that we could easily see the D.A. bringing the case, the mayor, the governor, or even the citing police officers finding themselves embroiled in a prostitution or infidelity scandal any day now? It seems that every time someone tells us they are fighting for public decency, their names are found on a madam’s list immediately preceding their being Spitzered by the press. The question of whether or not we are overreacting depends on whether or not you can prove definitively that harm will be done if we do nothing. Again, I think the answer is no.
On the other hand, a society has the right to protect its values. I don’t think you need to prove that harm will occur to say, “I don’t like that.” Opposition to public nudity is valid in a society that values modesty, provided that an individuals constitutional rights are not encumbered. Also, people have a right to decide when they think something jeopardizes the belief system they want their children to be brought up under and once a threat is perceived, to react accordingly. Just like an individual has the right to fight to preserve their rights, conservative-minded people have a right to champion the preservation of their way of life. The problem I usually have with this is the way they go about it. First, they typically try to suppress dissenting voices, which I believe underscores the weakness of any position. When you believe strongly that law, right, and common sense are on your side, you are likely to tell the opposition with confidence, to take their best shot. Second, they usually cite bogus comparisons, statistics, and other things taken out of context in a feeble attempt to prove their point. Again, this underscores the weakness of an argument when a person or group is forced to do this. Essentially I think in this case it is reasonable to answer yes, that it may damage ones ability to live within ones belief system, provided that it is consistent with public laws and the overriding will of the people. In such a case, it may be a simple matter of explaining to someone, “Your nudity is fine, just not in my community.” The obvious caveat is that a person need not accept that if they think they can successfully challenge the law.
To people who enjoy thoughtful discussions of a wide range of topics, a topic like this can be refreshing but can also get heated. As a parent, I am happy that this probably won’t affect me. My children are both Dutch-German and African-American. All indications are that nudity will have no affect at all on them. They watch Dutch TV and go to Dutch schools so any American puritanism they might have inherited from their dad has become entirely irrelevant. I recognize that my outlook would have been entirely different if I was the same fundamentalist Christian I was when I came over here but a little bit of knowledge makes the world a much easier place to live in. The main thing I learned is not that you must give up your beliefs to get along with people who don’t believe as you do, what you must give up is the desire to control how people who don’t share your beliefs live their lives. I don’t believe for one second that Erykah Badu did what she did for spiritual or philosophical reasons nor was it done on principle. Perhaps she observed how Apple gets the most free publicity of any entity on Earth and decided she could use some as well. By reacting predictably, the public has given her the free press she had hoped for, if not a hundred times more. A pragmatic look at the situation would have revealed that the best way to “protect” children in the future would have been to usher her aside, confiscate the video, and release her without comment. The overreaction of all concerned virtually guarantees that other children will get “mooned” in the future as well. After all, there is no such thing as bad press is there?
Comments
Is A Woman’s Body Obscene?
Singer Erykah Badu
By now you have no doubt seen the stories about singer Erykah Badu stripping down for a naked stroll in the city of Dallas. Dealey Plaza, which is mainly known as the place where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, is in the news once again but for an entirely different reason this time. There is no doubt that Ms. Badu broke the law by stripping in a public place while filming her new music video. The facts of the case are not in dispute. She has been charged with disorderly conduct—a charge that typically carries a $500 fine. As generally happens with celebrities, you will probably see people who think the penalty is too lenient for someone who can probably expense the fine to her record label. You are also likely to have the typical celebrity sycophants, who always find superficial reasons for absolution and will demand that charges be waived.
The points that I think are more interesting are the philosophical considerations. Specifically, is nudity—which is unarguably natural—a threat to society? Is Ms. Badu endangering the children who are clearly visible in the background of the video clip below? Are we even sure that nudity is something that children need protection from? Are we simply uptight and therefore, overreacting? Before I continue, be warned that I tend to discuss sex and sensuality in objective terms like any other topic without all the guilt, recrimination, and discomfort that many people feel. Such discussion makes some people feel very uncomfortable or embarrassed. If you are such a person, the following discussion may not be for you.
First, let me say that as an American who lives in Europe, my perspective is bound to be quite different from someone who has never seen nudity in public. My first experience with public nudity was during a business trip to Stuttgart, Germany nearly 20 years ago. I stayed in a 5 star hotel that had a beautiful sauna and pool on the Mezzanine. I was with 3 American colleagues and it was our first trip there. We were amazed that most of the Germans were swimming in the nude. About 10 feet away from the pool was an open shower and people were coming out of the pool and the sauna and showering out in the open. After we swam for a while, we all sat by the pool and talked. Our disbelief was evident as people showered out in the open as if it was nothing. The experience was especially memorable because later on, a very tall and very beautiful blond woman went to the shower and lathered up like she was filming a soap commercial. I mean, she was very thorough giving all due care to every nook and cranny. As we looked on in disbelief, one of our group, call him Mike, chose that moment to go and hit on her. This would turn out to be a disaster we’d remind him of for the next several years. As he approached the shower area, his arousal became evident to everyone in the vicinity. The woman, who could easily have been that year’s Miss Germany, laughed out loud. So did everyone else. One gentleman sitting a few yards from us said under his breath, “Heh, Americans.”
My second experience was a trip to Amsterdam with some friends. We decided to make a detour to a lovely beach town called Zandvoort. The first thing any American notices there is that 90% of the women are topless. Not just while sunbathing mind you, I mean everywhere. I went with a friend to buy ice cream. The shops are lined along the boardwalk, with a separation of about 3 feet and a drop of about 2 feet down from the walkway. In order to get ice cream you stood in line on the boardwalk and when it was your turn, you walked down 3 or 4 steps then over to the counter where you would place your order. After my friend and I got our ice creams, I turned around to leave. A young woman stood directly behind me on the second step, so that her breasts were quite literally in my face. I can’t imagine what my facial expression looked like but the young lady and her friend both laughed. She said with a Dutch accent, “From the shock on your face you must be American.” “Is it that obvious,” I asked. “Look around you, no one else finds it interesting,” she replied. She was right. No one else was looking at her, which amazed me since she was absolutely striking. I stepped aside and said, “Oh, sorry.” She giggled and said, “It’s okay, I thought it was cute.” We stayed there for the weekend. I began to see what she meant because as the newness wore off, it became less and less interesting. Over time I came to see that the reason Americans are so hung up about nudity, is the novelty of it and its taboo nature in the United States. I can vouch to any young guys who want to come to Europe to see young naked women on the beach, that if you want to remove the excitement you currently feel about it, that is exactly what you should do. It doesn’t affect everyone that way but the majority of Americans I have spoken with over the years agree that if you stay longer than a few weeks, you are likely to become substantially desensitized to nudity.
So what does that mean? If you are religious, remember that in the story of Adam and Eve, it was only after they ate the forbidden fruit that they saw a problem with nudity. In other words, there was nothing inherently wrong with their nudity until they THOUGHT there was. Theologians generally agree that the sin comes from the way nudity makes one feel and how it affects a person’s behavior, not from the state of nudity itself. Nevertheless, society has collectively decided that public nudity is something to be avoided altogether. Is there a way to qualify this belief in scientific terms? There is clearly no biological reason to avoid nudity aside from the obvious environmental concerns. In other words, clothing is practical when retention of body heat is a concern. There are also various other utilitarian considerations. The answer to our question of whether or not nudity poses a threat to society is clearly no, when considering effects of nudity in purely physical terms.
How about psychological terms? There are many traditional cultures like several in the Pacific islands, Africa, and South America where adults wear little or no clothing. No ill effect has ever been scientifically documented of exposing children to social nudity although there were occasions where possible consequences were inferred by Freud and Spock with regard to self-esteem (An interesting discussion can be found here or just Google it). Contrast Freudian ideas with old civilizations like Germany and the Netherlands were people are cultured and live in highly structured societies, yet no negative effects can be found from their openness toward nudity of the human body.
Is Ms. Badu endangering children? As noted above, a typical beach in Holland will have dozens of very attractive, almost completely naked women within viewing range of the average frolicking family on a given sunny day. There are 8, 12, 16-year-old males playing hacky sack next to groups of high school to college-aged girls throwing Frisbees or some similar activity while topless. I swear to you, you would think the girls were completely transparent because the boys have absolutely no reaction to them. To be sure, there are always boy-meets-girl stories. The human race must go on after all. The point is, the boys don’t react to exposed breasts at all. I can understand this because on several occasions, I have been in situations like those described above where the nudity held no interest for me at all, after so many years. That is not to say that I am not aroused by an attractive woman but typically, it is the setting that differentiates a sensual experience from a non-sensual one. In a setting with intimate implications like going on a date, nudity has the effect it always does when two people are attracted to each other. In answer to the question, my experience suggests that the nudity Ms. Badu exposed the children to, posed no danger to them at all.
The last question I asked is, are Americans simply uptight? Do we tend to overreact to nudity? Well my answer is yes and no to both questions. One of the most common threads that arise when discussing this topic with non-Americans is the hypocritical aspect of the American sexual dichotomy. It is difficult to reconcile being the country that exports the most pornography, sexually explicit movies scenes, and sexually suggestive television, not to mention the most successful erotic publications in the world with the public cries of outrage and anger that are expressed when a woman walks naked in public for a few minutes. In addition, does anyone doubt that we could easily see the D.A. bringing the case, the mayor, the governor, or even the citing police officers finding themselves embroiled in a prostitution or infidelity scandal any day now? It seems that every time someone tells us they are fighting for public decency, their names are found on a madam’s list immediately preceding their being Spitzered by the press. The question of whether or not we are overreacting depends on whether or not you can prove definitively that harm will be done if we do nothing. Again, I think the answer is no.
On the other hand, a society has the right to protect its values. I don’t think you need to prove that harm will occur to say, “I don’t like that.” Opposition to public nudity is valid in a society that values modesty, provided that an individuals constitutional rights are not encumbered. Also, people have a right to decide when they think something jeopardizes the belief system they want their children to be brought up under and once a threat is perceived, to react accordingly. Just like an individual has the right to fight to preserve their rights, conservative-minded people have a right to champion the preservation of their way of life. The problem I usually have with this is the way they go about it. First, they typically try to suppress dissenting voices, which I believe underscores the weakness of any position. When you believe strongly that law, right, and common sense are on your side, you are likely to tell the opposition with confidence, to take their best shot. Second, they usually cite bogus comparisons, statistics, and other things taken out of context in a feeble attempt to prove their point. Again, this underscores the weakness of an argument when a person or group is forced to do this. Essentially I think in this case it is reasonable to answer yes, that it may damage ones ability to live within ones belief system, provided that it is consistent with public laws and the overriding will of the people. In such a case, it may be a simple matter of explaining to someone, “Your nudity is fine, just not in my community.” The obvious caveat is that a person need not accept that if they think they can successfully challenge the law.
To people who enjoy thoughtful discussions of a wide range of topics, a topic like this can be refreshing but can also get heated. As a parent, I am happy that this probably won’t affect me. My children are both Dutch-German and African-American. All indications are that nudity will have no affect at all on them. They watch Dutch TV and go to Dutch schools so any American puritanism they might have inherited from their dad has become entirely irrelevant. I recognize that my outlook would have been entirely different if I was the same fundamentalist Christian I was when I came over here but a little bit of knowledge makes the world a much easier place to live in. The main thing I learned is not that you must give up your beliefs to get along with people who don’t believe as you do, what you must give up is the desire to control how people who don’t share your beliefs live their lives. I don’t believe for one second that Erykah Badu did what she did for spiritual or philosophical reasons nor was it done on principle. Perhaps she observed how Apple gets the most free publicity of any entity on Earth and decided she could use some as well. By reacting predictably, the public has given her the free press she had hoped for, if not a hundred times more. A pragmatic look at the situation would have revealed that the best way to “protect” children in the future would have been to usher her aside, confiscate the video, and release her without comment. The overreaction of all concerned virtually guarantees that other children will get “mooned” in the future as well. After all, there is no such thing as bad press is there?
Comments
from → Commentary, Politics