Why are Americans so prudish?

[Zontar]

This might sound like a swipe as American media, and in part it is, but why are Americans so prudish compared to Canada and Europe? I know there's a stereotype of Americans loving violence, but at even the hint of blood a movie will be made R and a game M, so say nothing of the ridiculously strict rules applying to swearing or anything sexual. A perfect example of this in action is Kingsmen: the Secret Service. While in the US it had an R rating, here in Canada it got a 13+ one, and while some adult Americans took issue with the (pretty funny) joke it ended on, while north of the boarder there hasn't been any negative blow back due to content for the movie despite children being not only permitted, but making up a pretty big portion of its audience (I know that when I went at least 20% of the audience there was below 14). Seems only American audiences give a rat's ass about seeing a rat's ass.

This is not only limited to media either, when I've been with Americans over the years, alone they're like everyone else in terms of being causal about everything, but in a group Americans seem to get a collective stick up there and are the most serious people I've ever met. I'm scratching my head at why Germans are stereotyped as being the people with a stick shoved up there.

So what gives, is there something I'm missing or am I going insane again?

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

It's sort of a cultural thing that goes on in America as far as I can tell as an American. A surprising majority of people are conservative socially speaking on a lot of things when it comes to a group dynamic. Partially I owe it to the fact that most Americans can simultaneously not give a damn at all, while at the same time, when in group dynamics especially, we wonder how what behaviours are going to affect children. While it's not the only factor it plays a large part. Another thing is that a huge portion of Americans are not from the largest cities like New York, LA, Chicago, Seattle. Most of our sizable cities are small, most people live in sheltered suburbs, small towns, and rural communities.

The Germans get the stereotypes because of what legally you can say, what political parties are allowed to exist, what sort of imagery you're allowed to use, and so on. Plus they're like the most polite people around.

But I've met enough prudes from other Countries to say it partially falls on what social circles you hang in. Because individually most people tend to be alright and pretty laid back about pretty much anything. You put them in a group dynamic and suddenly the social leanings of the group take over.

 

[Foehunter82]

Well, a couple of years ago, the A-Team film was released, and a bunch of people were bitching about the "graphic violence" in that film. I had a discussion with my dad about how I thought it was pretty stupid to complain about it, seeing as how the movie itself is pretty low-key violence wise for a modern film.

My dad said something like: "That's why our country is kind of crazy like it is. We abhor showing the reality of warfare to the public, and yet we glorify violence to justify everyone's desire for guns and warfare." He then added: "If we showed more of what this sort of violence really does, fewer Americans would be eager to rush to violence when dealing with others (both here and abroad)."

 

[FirstNameLastName]

So what gives, is there something I'm missing or am I going insane again?

I would say, the fact that any country has what is know as the "Bible Belt" should make it rather obvious.

 

[Silent Protagonist]

In my personal experience the line between what is and isn't prudish (or perverted for that matter) is very fuzzy, arbitrary, and tends to zig zag around quite a bit no matter what part of the world you are in. Even if I were to accept that the US is generally more prudish than other Western nations, I don't see why that is particularly noteworthy or potentially problematic.

Side Note: It drives me crazy when supposedly open minded, tolerant, and/or progressive individuals are so quick to resort to stereotypes, most commonly when talking about Americans or Christians

 

[Erttheking]

I think it's because in the western world America is one of the few countries were religious moralists are still taken seriously in some areas by people in power. And according to religion sex is EVIL! And we get this weird spot were moral America abhors sex in media yet corporate America thinks that it sells, so they shove it everywhere.

Yeah, we're a mess.

 

[Parasondox]

Religion. Mostly that. It's always violence versus Sex and violence always wins. I mean, have you read the bible? God, "told" a lot of his believers to do some horrid things. When I said "told" I mean, they claim God told them to do those things but maybe it was just their ego at play. Also when I hear religious folks say, "giving a women the pill is against God... but Viagra is perfectly okay", I just wonder who that supports most. Just can't put my finger on it.

Seriously, any kind of female sexuality being talked about or shown in US programming and movies gets a lot of heat compared to a movie about a guy who just "bangs" left, right and double centre down the middle. And they both get heat.

Look at the sex education system in Texas and other states. They wish to ban it all and when kids ask questions about sex, the answer they give is either, "God wouldn't want you to do that until you are married", "Don't touch yourself because God is watching" or "Schools shouldn't teach sex ed and kids should stop asking questions". They are meant to ask questions to keep safe and blue balling is not safe.

Yeah, the US is strange like that. For example with 50 Shades of Grey, France wanted to have no ratings for that movie because they thought it weren't the "sexy". I've seen many French movies and they are correct. 50 Shades would look tame compared to other French/euro movies. While in the US, news media and mothers with a lot of complaining, will try to ruin a woman's reputation if she is seen on the beach topless, a naked selfie or their nipple just slips out during a dance and demand a nationwide apology.

"Women are mean't to have self respect". So talking about their sex life and wearing what they wish is having no self respect. Thanks 1950's attitude that is, for some reason, still in the 21st century.

Sorry for the rant. Most of the prudish area is targeted towards women and whether they are open sexually or not. Heck it's not even the US. The UK government banned, or are planning to ban, female ejaculation in porn. FEMALE EJACULATION!! And yes, something tells me that BDSM acts will be banned next or in the future at some point.

Religion and very conservative views creates a very prudish environment at times and when things don't go to blame, the teenager is either punished or "blame the liberals".

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

About the violence: We Americans love violence. Fighting against wrong people, shooting our way to apple pie and democracy, etc. Shows up on our sports too. The NFL has staggering problems with injuries, we made fun of a baseball pitcher for wearing a padded hat.

We hate showing the downsides of violence: Shooting a guy is fine, showing anything but a "clean" kill is an instant R rating or worse. Long-term brain injuries in Boxing or the NFL are routinely shoved under a rug.

We like "Fantasy" violence. Anything that portrays the hero getting hurt as anything more than a heroic annoyance or violence that might make someone sympathise with the "Bad Guy"? Not okay.

EDIT: It's easier to sell guns when people aren't afraid of them, and it's easier to start wars if people have never seen what they can be like.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

We're more prudish about sex than we are violence. Games are the only medium that automatically gets a harsh rating on violence, and that's more because there's still some lingering effects of the old "videogames are toys for children" stigma hanging in there, even in 2015. Also because we're short a rating compared to the systems in the rest of the world -- game ratings here are based on the MPAA system, which jumps straight up from nobody under 13 to nobody under 17, with our highest rating just being nobody under 17 again, except this time you can't get in to see it under that age even with an adult to vouch for you. In contrast, ratings systems in Europe and Asia tend to have about the same number of ratings between birth and the age of 13 (well, 12, actually), but they also have an additional rating for 15+ between 12+ and 18+, which we don't have. This system works alright for movies because movies in general get rated pretty loosely, but games, with the harsher ratings due to that stigma I mentioned earlier, wind up with games like Halo, which is rated 15+ in Europe, and would be a hard[footnote]In terms of ratings in the US, "hard" and "soft" mean that a given movie is on the high or low end, respectively, for objectionable content at that rating. The Nolan Batman films are considered "hard" PG-13 movies, while something like Star Wars: Episode III would be on the spft end of PG-13. They're not an official part of the rating system, just descriptive terms people use.[/footnote] PG-13 if it were a movie series in the US, winding up with a soft M (our 17+ rating for videogames).

As for the sex thing, it really does boil down to religion. Not necessarily literal puritans, who both had less of an impact on our history than we like to pretend, and were *way* less sexually repressive than most of us realize, but the US is still a very religious country in general, and we most definitely do have tons of Christian fundamentalists. They were even proud of the name from the late 19th century to around 2001, when most of them started calling themselves "Evangelicals[footnote]co-opting an existing movement in the process[/footnote]" instead because everyone now associated fundamentalism with terrorism.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

All cultures have their conservative and expressive qualities I find. Mainly because all humans need to vent and all humans have different ideas of what represents decorum.

In Australia, I find it to be language and comedy on the expressive side of things. Nothing's sacred, and you can (should) be able to take the piss out of everything only if you can level an equal degree of self-deprecation. Conservative side of things seems to be politics. I don't mean the politics themselves (though it can certainly be the case) ... but Australians whinge and moan, but they never seem to revolt.

We never do the French thing of 'Enough is enough' and start taking over corporate buildings that, for example, are downsizing staff despite still being profitable.

I recently met some American friends as they were coming here on a work visa. Californian (as they inform me that West Coast Americans are almost a different breed of American to everywhere else) ... and some of the stuff they say is downright shocking. It's like ... a quasi mix of rude plus friendly to those they know, type of language ... that is perplexing to me.

Then again, cultural bias, as I find the same language by a young Liverpudlian equally shocking, though in a different way. Still love my BBC, however ... but the countrymen portrayed within (even in shows like Red Dwarf) is far more tame than certain elements of less well-to-do real life Britons.

 

[faefrost]

If you think Americans are prudish, I shudder to think what your views on the Chinese are?

Honestly most of Americans cultural prudishness stems from the heavy Protestant philosophies that largely settled it. My personal theory is that after watching the Benjamin Franklin naked street parade one too many times the other founding fathers quietly baked a "please keep trousers in the upright and locked position at all times in public, cause nobody wants to see that" clause into the national political landscape.

 

[Fox12]

Because, we like to feed off of the flesh of Virgins. That's the source of our power. But how are we supposed to feed off of the flesh of virgins if the kids are fucking everywhere? Therefore, it's necessary to push abstinence in schools. We can then use this flesh to fuel our militaries, and use our love of violence to bomb your cities.

 

[Silent Protagonist]

That the religious, particularly protestant christians, think sex is evil is a common misconception I hope I can address and maybe educate a few people on. Most denominations of Christianity regard sex and sexuality as a very good and even holy thing, but that it is sadly something all too commonly abused and corrupted. The analogy I would use would be the use and misuse of pain killers. In medicine, pain killers are incredibly useful, helping patients recover from their injuries and illnesses with far less discomfort and even saving lives. Pain killers are a very good thing and I imagine few would contest that. However, there are many who misuse pain killers in order to get high and many become addicts. This is a bad thing, which I hope most would agree. The people who work to discourage and limit the misuse of pain killers by addicts rarely think pain killers themselves are inherently evil. The religious tend to look at the popular culture as having a rampant problem with the misuse of sex, not that sex itself is the problem. I hope that makes sense. I hate using analogies as people tend to attack the accuracy of the metaphor rather than the message it tries to convey.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Different countries have different standards. Different things they find taboo or distasteful.

Kingsman, for example, was edited in the UK for a 15 rating instead of an 18 rating. It's very common for films to be edited in the UK to get a lower rating. It often boils down to economics.

There ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN "fuck" variations in Kingsman. There is no blooming way that such language can be crammed into PG-13. PG-13 was created for stuff like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Scary or intense films too violent or scary or whatever for PG and too mild for an R.

In Australia, Kingsman was uncut AFAIK, and given an MA, which is the hard version of M15, and a notch below R18.

So no, there's nothing hugely prudish about Americans compared to many other countries.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

The theory I've long heard is that Europe is far more sensitive to violence due to the firsthand experiences of two world wars, while the US shores have been largely untouched (save Pearl Harbor) by warfare since the civil war. This doesn't really explain Canada, though I'll admit to not knowing much about how Canadian culture handles sex and violence.

Meanwhile, the US is far more sensitive towards sex due to much of the original settlers being hardcore puritans, and the generally stronger presence of religious zeal in the US. All theoretical, but having lived on both continents it largely makes sense to me.

 

[Zontar]

Snip

It was more an example then anything else, Americans are more prudish when it comes to violence (real violence, that is, not the fake 'clean' stuff) as well as swearing and sex. I think something that makes the divide pretty clear is the reaction to the ending gag that some in the US had that no one to my knowledge outside the US took issue with.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Wow, that's a question that can't be answered in anything less than novel length. Very short summary: we never quite outgrew the 1800s. Except for a brief period in the 1920s. Also doesn't really help that we have a rather politically powerful conversative movement that happened to claim a ton of religious authority in the 80s, but that's more an answer to "why haven't things changed" than "why did they get that way in the first place."

Meanwhile, the US is far more sensitive towards sex due to much of the original settlers being hardcore puritans

The puritans really weren't that sensitive towards sex. Their society was pretty open about sex in daily life, and while they paid lip service to the idea of premarital sex being taboo, they were realistic enough to not bother enforcing it all that strictly.

And their attitudes pretty much held sway until the early 1800s when everyone (on both sides of the Atlantic) started getting hypersensitive, euphemising everything, and deliberately and desperately ignoring that they even had bodies. Especially women's bodies.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Just on the subject of "Kingsmen: the Secret Service" and why it got an R rating by the MPAA. In all fairness if you use the word fuck more than a few times in any movie it basically disqualifies it from being rated anything less than R, with the exception being that it depends on the context but the word being used in the movie in question came up at one hundred and eleven times... To the MPAA's standards it's not the sex, nor the violence, but the very fact they used some variation of fuck so many times.

 

[Platypus540]

Serious answer? Cultural tradition dating to the very, very beginning of American settlement. Remember that the Pilgrims were Puritans. As the dominant region of the country for some time in its early days, Puritan-influenced culture spread into lots of aspects of American culture, some of the effects remaining visible today, most notably prudishness and the American work ethic (as opposed to the one found in most of Europe).