I'll talk about it too. Especially since he referred to it as "the hbo special about penises." It's CALLED Private Dicks: Men Exposed. I picked it because I feel like being exposed to other people with varying body types and personalities makes me feel more comfortable with my OWN body and personality, so I assumed Brett would be the same way. I was wrong.
As soon as he opened the envelope he was like, "I don't wanna hear guys talking about their wangs." No amount of discussion could get him to see it as a healthy natural thing; he said it just made him feel uncomfortable, like he was seeing something he shouldn't see.
I thought he might feel differently after watching it for a couple of minutes, but no. As soon as they started the photo montage of circumcised and uncircumcised penises at the beginning of the "circumcision" section (about halfway through the doc), he was like, "God! Please turn it off! Ugh!" and I knew he'd hit his limit. So I paused it, we watched this weeks Top Chef episode which I'd taped for him, and I finished the rest of the wiener DVD on my own while he talked to Shannononon about our hanging out plans tomorrow.
It wasn't like, the pinnacle of enlightenment that I thought it would be, but it was way better than that stupid shitty Vagina Monologues DVD. GOD I hate Eve Ensler. Blah. I still didn't like it as much as Naked States or Naked World, though. Not that they're really intended to be similar films, but they both talk about and show varying sizes and ages of nude people in a documentary setting, so...you know. Sort of similar, in a way. Brett liked Naked States and Naked World just as much as I did, and so did my mom & step dad. They're definitely worth watching, and not at all sexual. Private Dicks wasn't really sexual either actually, though obviously they do talk a lot about sex and sexuality. But there's a big difference between TALKING about sexuality and BEING sexual. Despite the appearances of Jonah Falcon and Lex Steele (the latter shown waist-up only), this movie is clearly meant as a thoughtful humanization of the male form, and does not objectify it at all.
Please don't take this post as confirmation that I'm some sort of closet nudist or something. I'm not. Clothes are cute, and keep me warm! But I hate how...I don't know...ashamed? secretive? self-conscious? people are about their bodies in this country. I'm self-conscious about my weight right now, but only because it's unhealthy. When I was a kid, even through high school, most of my friends and I were perfectly comfortable undressing around each other. It probably helped that several of us swam together at school (so we had to shower together daily anyway), but we took baths in front of each other, went to the bathroom in front of each other, etc. Partially, or totally nude.
Ironically, I didn't learn to feel modest about nudity until I started college. My first set of roommates were all conservative Christian types from The Burbs, and the very first time I walked around the suite in a bra (with pants on) one of them complained, and the others concurred. It was inappropriate, and I wasn't to do it again. So I didn't. Though I was out of that crap-hole suite before the year was up (those chicks were nuts), the feeling of shame they imposed on me still impacts my behaviour today.
It's funny...even artists are often a bit uncomfortable with nudity. Most everyone is fine staring at a nude model for hours on end, and I mean REALLY STARING. But usually the models undress/disrobe in the back of the room and walk to the platform nude. The few times I've witnessed a model disrobe ON the platform, almost everyone in the class averted their eyes (or even physically turned away) until s/he was finished. Because seeing them in that awkward "in between" time would be too much of a reminder that the girl serving you coffee down at Stuart's is the same girl whose tits you stare at for three hours twice a week. It just feels...weird.
I guess it's just too intimate. Logically it doesn't SEEM to me like it should be that way, but in our culture sometimes there's just no getting around the FEELING of discomfort. Like, even if you're okay with showing me, I might not always feel okay about seeing it. It's a bizarre learned reaction, but still...it's there, even in me. But I refuse to feign more modesty than I actually feel, and I still like hearing the stories of other people's experiences with their bodies. And once I send back Private Dicks, Breasts: A Documentary will be on it's way, which I'm hoping will be...well, revealing.
For now though, it's sleepy time. Good night! :)
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