4 January 2013
Now, bare with me. This isn't my take on Fifty Shades of Grey. It's supposed to be a technical analysis of present day life, not literary porn. Disappointed? You disgust me.
Now, for those who are still here, let us proceed into the seedy, erotic world of modern-day life. I have just seen, on that evil of evils: Facebook, a photo that got me thinking. It showed a Hollywood actress (I don't know who) in a 'revealing' dress. This dress, ha it not been see-through. Would have been fairly skimpy. It was a narrow band of fabric covering the breast but leaving the stomach exposed. Now, it may have been a bit chilly on a Newcastle evening, but nothing too outrageous. However, as I have stated, the dress was see-through, or at least the top was, so the breasts were as clear as day, with only a light shade on it. This was clearly permitted at whatever place it was, for as far I have heard she has not been detained by police.
Now, to some this might just be an outrageous dress that is too far to be allowed and puts you in a state of alarm. However, to me it signals a change in society. No longer do we collectively rage in protest at this virtual nude. We permit it, if only grudgingly, whereas in the past we would have shunned it, and the woman would have been arrested.
Howe long will it be before we permit women to go completely naked? How long before we see women in venues (and perhaps men, though this is less likely) exposing all, leaving, as my school deputy puts it, nothing to the imagination? Twenty years? Fifty years? A century? Will it even happen at all. Will we get to a point where a line is crossed and we revert back to our Victorian morals in reclusive clothing?
'Victorian', in this context, is an odd expression. We see the Victorians as an uptight people who liked to keep all that well concealed, thank you very much. It is true that in daily life, a see through dress showing all would have been seen as depravity of the highest order. But the Victorians were connoisseurs of prostitution. It was referred to as 'a necessary evil.' Now, Im not suggesting that one revealing attire is going to return us to a prostitution-endorsing nation, but it may make us more sexualised. The Victorians were very sexualised, though in private life, not public. We seem to have become a nation which is very sexual in both sides.
Is this bad? If we were to go to a time when sexual privacy is seen as mundane and old-fashioned, would the world really end. If people broke into intercourse in public places at their own pleasure, would civilisation fall to its knees. Perhaps. But then, on the other hand, we are animals, after all, designed for reproduction and living life like animals. Perhaps it would be a very organic, very natural, and dare I say it, good thing to do.
This is not for me to decide. In fact, I don't know which I think is right. I've been told I am Victorian in all but time. (I even have a top hat, cane and jacket!) I would be very interested to hear what you thought about these ideas. Please comment, an discuss. Thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you found this, if not enjoyable, at least interested, or enlightening. Thank you.
Sexual Society • Opuss № I