Kids: Let them smoke!

A news headline on World Sex News today, "Stripper parents on probation", mentions a mother who hired a stripper for her son's 16th birthday, and had her 14 year-old help take photos.

Yes, I can see this story polarising readers.

But here in the UK where 16-year-olds can legally purchase cigarettes, I find it somewhat alarming that if the mother had bought her son 200 smokes, hardly anyone would have batted an eyelid.

Go figure.

Watch what you might be doing

The advert on the right is demeaning and offensive, so says one person who complained to Britain's Advertising Standards Authority?

Why? Because the woman's hand is resting on her tummy with her fingers hidden by her thighs, suggesting that she might be masturbating. And of course we all know that masturbating is demeaning and offensive.

What bothers me is that only a few people complained, and the advert was pulled. I am quite sure that if I complained about an advert, which does not have sexual overtones, not only would I not succeed, but I would be thought to be a little unusual.

I could argue that advertising alcohol should be banned outright, because not only are thousands of people killed each year from alcohol-related diseases, but drink drivers cause the deaths of innocent people nearly every day of the year.

Lets stick to sexually provocative adverts. We must ban all adverts showing good looking men and women as they suggest to me thoughts which I won't publish here. We must ban all adverts showing undressed limbs since they are offensive to some people in some cultures.

Alternatively, perhaps people should just turn the page of an advert that they find offensive, and look in a mirror and ask themselves what makes them feel that way.

The suggestion of masturbation is not demeaning and offensive. It is some people who find it so.

Original Accurist Watch News Item

Do Sagittarians have penises?

I'm curious why some people wouldn't go to a nudist resort. Just what is the big deal?

Embarrassment? Well, we all do things that are embarrassing, whether it's saying something inappropriate or forgetting someone's name. Is embarrassment from nudity any different to other forms of embarassement? I suppose it avoidable.

I'm not sure that the nudity is the whole story. Would you go to a nudist beach if you were the only one able to keep their clothes on? I guess the embarrassment now, is other people's nudity? Where would you look... don't you stare at the crotch of everyone you meet?

I guess this all begs the question, why the embarrassment about nudity?

I imagine that people invisage some bizarre scenario highlighting their nudity. "Good afternoon and welcome to our nudist club, and might I say that's a fine set of genitals you have... I must show them to our treasurer and his parents' family".

Perhaps people think they will be judged on their genitals? "Is that a 3-inch penis you have there, are you a Sagittarius?". Of course we're judged all the time, but it does seem unlikely that someone as naked as you, would be as critical as you might think.

I should confess that I've never been to a naturist resort before. But from what I've read and heard, nudists are far more accepting, than other groups. We've all heard and seen the snobbery expressed by some groups.

So is there any valid reason for not wanting to visit a nudist resort. Sure. You just don't want to. But I'd still be curious why.