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Why do Americans and foreigners alike describe the USA as prudish? Why do I see nothing prudish about the USA society? USA feels like one of the loosest countries although Americans claim to be very reserved.

13.06.2025 02:00

Why do Americans and foreigners alike describe the USA as prudish? Why do I see nothing prudish about the USA society? USA feels like one of the loosest countries although Americans claim to be very reserved.

For 34 years, movie and TV studios censored themselves to appease the Puritanical whims of Will Hays.

couples in the same bed, even if married. (Laurel and Hardy came before the code)

The ridiculous 2004 Superbowl ‘Nipplegate’ was a more recent reminder of how US attitudes have not really advanced much since the Hays code.

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Remember the Hays Code?

lustful kissing is to be shown with care

Some ridiculous highlights of the code in effect banned or discouraged:

How is cultural invasion being carried out by Bollywood?

toilets being shown

nudity, or even suggestions of it (e.g. a silhouette)

the display of bellybuttons

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disrespect of authority figures. Crooked judges are OK if they are also clearly portrayed as evil people

sexual perversion, including homosexuality (naturally), and sexual relationships between the white and black races.

any profanity to the Christian religion, e.g. hell, damn, God (unless used in a holy sense), or ridicule of the clergy.

How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?

Meanwhile, the rest of the world still sniggers at American prudishness.