[Osmium]

> I'm personally rather more disturbed that people actually enjoy watching the Saw series of films

Isn't that the truth. I appreciate this is largely preaching to the choir, but it seems increasingly bizarre that sexual content (including simple nudity) is so often censored, while graphic violent acts are everywhere in mainstream entertainment. What are people afraid of?

[Swizec]

And by people you mean Americans. Here in Europe the world is a little different.

A few years ago a large advertising festival ran jumbo ads across Slovenia. They were everywhere. The only thing on them was a pair of naked soaped up boobs.

Nobody even batted an eye.

[TwistedWeasel]

It's always amazed me that we seem to try harder to protect children from seeing a nipple than we do to prevent them from seeing depictions of people being killed.

[btilly]

There was some fascinating research on this in the 90s. Apparently most Americans were more concerned about violence in movies than sex. But thought their neighbors were more concerned about sex than violence.

Our beliefs about other people's beliefs affect what issues we'll complain about in public. With the result that there is more care taken in our ratings to prevent children seeing sex than violence.

[balsam]

Isn't there a name for this kind of fallacy? It's on the tip of my tongue. There was an anecdote (an example, rather) where each member of a family wants to go outdoors while assuming that everybody else will choose to remain indoors, and, out of being "considerate", everybody chooses to remain indoors. Comedy or tragedy ensues.

Edit: Found it: Pluralistic Ignorance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance. Uncited, but interesting statement: "...Pluralistic Ignorance can be caused by the structure of the underlying social network, not cognitive dissonance."

[randomx89]

I thought the name for this situation was groupthinking : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

"Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome"

[storf45]

Also, Google, "Abilene Paradox" - sounds eerily similar...

[TwistedWeasel]

I had never thought about it that way. We've found ourselves in a situation where we're more embarrassed to be caught watching something with nudity than violence because we made assumptions about other people that may be incorrect.

[cookiecaper]

It's about the typical reaction to each image. A normal person will repulse from depictions of gore and violence because most people are not naturally inclined to that kind of imagery, so it's less important to regulate because its effect on the vast majority of the viewership is not dangerous, though contributing to the desensitization toward violence and crime is obviously counterproductive and individuals should take care to control their personal intake.

Pornographic or erotic imagery is different. It taps into a natural impulse that almost every person has and most likely doesn't promote particularly virtuous deployments of that inclination. Sex, and by extension sexual imagery, has a very powerful pull on most people and the use of sexual impulses must be tightly controlled if reasonable social cohesion is to be maintained.

Will and Ariel Durant, prominent historians from the mid-1900s: "No man, however brilliant or well-informed, can dismiss the wisdom of the laboratory of history. A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group."

I find that description extremely apt. Sexual imagery provokes a more fervent reaction because it has a much more dangerous effect on a much wider segment of the populace than violent imagery.

[rosser]

And not just being killed, but being dismembered while still alive...