Time to talk

I was watching a fan video of one of my favourite TV shows (one of the few things I watch on TV - THE TUDORS.) I was linked to video in which Natalie Dormer (<3 Anne Boleyn) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (<3 King Henry) appear on The View. The bit that stood out for me is when Meyers was called out on what he said in a TV guide episode. His comments were in regards to the fact that people were getting too shocked and uncomfortable with the sex scenes in The Tudors.

Fast forward to 4:34 in (if you don't want to enjoy the entire - fantastic - interview)




" I think people are getting too worked up for nothing. I think that we're all too busy in our lives to be doing the real thing. I think if we turned off our televisions and got into bed, we wouldn't be so shocked."


After taking a moment to savour the delicious irony (of the fact that I have to keep my TV on to watch this brilliant show), it made a lot of sense to me.


In North America we spend a lot of time censoring nudity, censoring sex, and anything referring to it. But violence can be seen on TV at all times of day and nobody really bats an eyelash to it.

I really do wonder why people spend so much time censoring on TV what we then (hopefully often) turn the TV off - or we should do - to partake in. And it's the very thing our bodies are made for (there is no denying that). Physically, we respond to sexual, to sensory contact so it baffles me that people spend so much time publicly suppressing it. Why are we so ashamed? Why are we embarrassed?


I think the lack of conversation is something that has even more of a negative impact then anything else. The taboo of it (and the resulting adrenaline rush/getting off of bit) + the lack of knowledge (consequences, how to protect yourself) = a recipe for disaster.


but.....


conversation (about sex, what happens, how you feel) + knowledge (how to protect yourself) = making an informed decision which suits the individuals involved.


Another point that I wanted to make is our very terribly skewed sense of self-image. This may seem like I'm stretching it a bit, but hear me out. People watch porn (which is out there but is heavily sanctioned and carefully distributed) and BOTH sexes get the so called ideal about what a "good" body looks like and what good sex looks like. So when two people get together, aren't they going to be blowing their tops in embarrassment, anxiety, apprehension about - not only how they feel about themselves - but how the other person sees them?

It's like we're still in some sort of a garden of eden where we've just discovered we're naked and we're all scrambling to gather all the leaves on the ground to cover our 'essenials.' We spend so much time covering EVERYTHING about is; our personalties (we are walking idiots perfoming our roles - what we think we're supposed to be, how others want to see us, how we think they want to see us) and we're no longer anything. We're all perfoming what we think the other wants us to be and we don't spend any time understanding ourselves - or if it even exists.

I think I'll just end it there (as i've got an essay to work on - silly me!)

But I wanted to know: What are your thoughts?

- Adaora