Laura von Bongard - lovely antipodism act, but a bit distracting/NSFW .

Daniel Simu - 2014-12-06 13:11:05 UTC - Parent #

Yeah, spinning the tassels would be cool. I have been thinking about a ring spinning trick where I could try and spin some nipple tassels for some time... One day, Ill give it a shot!

RegularJugular - 2014-12-18 04:20:11 UTC - Parent #

When she did 6 like that I totally forgot that she did so wearing nowt but nipple tassels and sequinned undies... Yes I have debased myself as a man and as a human being by making this comment... But dammit, I know I can't be the only one who thought that way.

Note the below content contains deranged ramblings:

If only I could integrate/shoehorn a context appropriate and coherent angle on the 'Is this somehow degrading?' sort of shizzle. In theory nudity isn't degrading... But the only times I can remember the full monty and circus skills combined there was too much dude-flash on display for my liking. But when full-on chick-flash and circus skills combined it either contained too much-hula for my liking* or I felt really awkward for the woman, I mean there were like dudes there and they were like woah, juggling OR tits? emphasis on the the OR. I wish it were untrue that these 'mutual exclusives' exist, but I ask you , where are the truly sporting tits anywhere? Is it cultural or is it deeper that art/sport/nudity is like rock/paper/scissors, in that none can win all at once?

Thx :)

*This is to a degree an in joke, but I think hula and fewer clothes seem to go have the kind of cultural bonding that juggling and "naked women" could never achieve.

emilyw - 2014-12-18 10:46:27 UTC - Parent #

I reckon that nudity has so many different connotations, in different contexts and to different people, that it's really hard to say anything coherent about it.

(1) Nudity-as-art is different from (2) nudity-as-porn is different from (3) nudity-as-function (getting in the shower?) and that is different from (4) nudity-as-part-of-power-play or (5) nudity-as-signal-of-sexual-availability.

The matter of how one classifies any individual act of scantily cladness, is a cultural artifact.

Maybe "sexual context considered harmful" is also a cultural artifact, but it's one steeped in literally thousands of years of tradition, and while you might imagine that inventing contraception would negate all that instantly, I think we would also have to negate inequality of power between social groups, in order to entirely lose "sexual context considered harmful". And that would be a tall order. Maybe we should get on it.

I also think that we are very much a product of our time and circumstance, and that circumstances are changing so very fast that humans could be a very different kind of people in only a couple of generations' time. Obviously this very different kind of people might have a very different opinion of naked juggling.

emilyw - 2014-12-20 19:52:36 UTC - Parent #

My problem with objectification is not one with objectification per se. The thing I have a problem with is the existence of marginalised groups for whom objectification is the only option. If the only thing anyone ever sees when they look at me is "someone I would/wouldn't fuck", over and above "someone I might do business with" or "someone I could enjoy talking with over a beer", then that's pretty grating. This sours a lot of us on the objectification of ladies in any circumstances.

Which is why people's opinion on the matter varies so much, I think; if one's experience with leering mainly involves people who respect one another's varied talents in a normal fashion (like most men do with one another), then what's the problem? - but if you've been a couple of rounds with people who are just all like HURR HURR TITS and think you are an idiot, you might be less comfortable with it. To some extent it's a matter of privilege: as a middle aged white British lady with a professional job I'm mostly exempt from leery people's idiocy, but not everyone is so lucky.

The other reason that overtly objectification-focused acts can weird me out is my impression that they have the effect of encouraging the rapier members of an audience. Not something that would worry me for a second at a convention, but if I was on a drunken night out and e.g. a sexualised circus turn was on in a club, that would make me actively more wary of the other patrons. That's not a fun night out.