Babli wrote:I never understood whats the big deal about nudity in any kind of media. Seriously.
I think Metalangel covered a great deal of the reasons, and I don't necessarily disagree with inquisitivenegro (
Lilly in her cheongsam does a number on me, not to mention the fetish-worthy aspects of Emi's P.E. uniform or Shizune's thigh-highs). Of course it's also going to depend upon whom you ask (though I think it's worth mentioning that people telling others what they should believe isn't unique to religious people). For the sake of clarity - rather than intending to spark a religious discussion - I'll try to explain my own reasoning that I often object to it.
First and foremost, I would prefer not to be titillated. This will probably make me sound like quite the prude, but I actually do believe that looking at a woman lustfully, fantasizing about her in sexual ways, etc., is a bad thing unless you're married to her (
Jesus's words). As far as my own personal experiences: seeing a nude woman is seeing something that I'm not normally privy to in everyday life, and of course 98% of the time in media it's going to be an attractive woman presented in an erotic context, so obviously it's going to have an effect on me. That can be anything from a momentary longing to recurring fantasies, and one of the end results is that may both weaken my resolve to be faithful to my wife in some degree (possibly negligible in one instance, but as one is exposed to more media, one witnesses more nudity, and it can have a cumulative effect), and make me dissatisfied with my wife's appearance, which is admittedly at less-than-swimsuit-model level. So, there's the building up of unrealistic expectations (subconscious or otherwise) and brewing discontent, both of which can seriously harm a couple's sex life. That's one reason I think porn addiction is such a big deal.
Second, the way in which nude women are so often presented in media is as little more than an excuse to just show someone naked. "Sex sells," as they say, and so often there's very little justification for it in terms of story, character, etc. This is where I feel it starts to overlap with numerous feminist arguments (look out, Kenji) concerning the difference in the way women are portrayed in media as opposed to men. Often I think the way the depictions are handled are demeaning, both to women (by presenting them as a side of beef to drool over rather than a human being, or a fantasy creature whose only desire in life is to have sex with some guy) and to men (by suggesting that this is all that men are interested in, and trying to capitalize on our baser desires).
The way the girls are depicted in KS is different, to my mind: like I said before, when we see them nude it isn't strictly fanservice (I suppose one could argue that the entire premise of the game is a sort of fanservice, but that's a broader definition than I would use), it's an important part of the story, and they're presented as human beings instead of just bobbing love-dolls who only exist to be laid. While I am attracted to these imaginary characters - and to be honest I should certainly admit to my own erotic pleasure at seeing them nude - the fact that I care so much about them as people at that point makes the feeling less sordid to my mind.
When I'm seeing Hanako undress for Hisao, and then seeing him initiate sex with her without necessarily knowing if that's what she wants, or
seeing Rin trying to pleasure herself while in abject misery, I'm not really feeling titillated so much as worried, disturbed or sympathetic. Does that make any sense? I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself clearly, or even justifying myself. As you can conclude from my comments about the girls' various outfits above, I'm hardly pure as the driven snow here.
Admittedly, I make allowances that many of my fellow Christians won't, and I wonder if part of that is because I'm an artist - not that that somehow makes me more enlightened or anything, but because it means I've studied nude people and drawn them, and that has rarely ever been an erotic act for me, so I can see how not every instance of nudity is necessarily an invitation for lust. But different people have different levels of tolerance or willpower when it comes to sexual temptation, and even I have to agree that I'm hardly immune.
I've also heard the argument made that Americans have a strange double-standard, because we shy away from nudity but we embrace depictions of violence. I wouldn't disagree with this, though I think that a person is less likely to behave violently after witnessing cinematic violence than he is to engage in lustful thoughts after witnessing alluring depictions of nudity. Still, I would agree that Americans could probably stand to tone down the imaginary remorseless bloodshed a bit.
