Today, Wellington was afflicted with Boobs on Bikesitis. This virus, once it takes hold, is almost impossible to shake. After the initial infection, it lies dormant for a while before rearing up yearly with increasingly virulent attacks rendering some of the male population unable to respond coherently to anything except to the sight of naked female breasts. A bucket of cold water sometimes helps and the weather almost came through, but unfortunately too late to save many of the incapacitated participants.
I think I'll stop now before my first attempt at satire goes horribly wrong and continue seriously from this point on.
These sorts of parades also give the impression that most of the population doesn't mind and even enjoys this sort of spectacle. Yet, the recent kerfuffle in Kapiti over allowing naked people on the beaches and the enormous backlash against that really shows that NZ'ers are not happy with public nakedness. Especially if they think children will be exposed to it.
And just today, a 14 year old boy was arrested for the violation and murder of a 15 year old girl. What type of material was he exposed to? Did he watch sexually explicit TV programmes? How does a 14 year old boy become a rapist and a murderer unless early sexuality is actively encouraged in our society?
It's all just sickening, really.
Related Links :
Boobs on bikes parade draws thousands ~ NZ Herald
Kapiti bares its defiance on nudity ~ Stuff
Study Finds Teens Who Watch Sex-Laden TV More Likely to Become Pregnant or Cause Pregnancy ~ LifeSite
Boy, 14, arrested over Kerikeri murder ~ Stuff
Boobs on Bikes - Fig Leaves on their Faces ~ NZ Conservative
I think I'll stop now before my first attempt at satire goes horribly wrong and continue seriously from this point on.
The chilly Wellington air didn't deter over 20 topless women from riding along Featherston Street and Lambton Quay on the back of motorbikes.Yes, the infamous Boobs on Bikes came to Wellington. I don't live or work there, so I wasn't subjected to the sight, nor did I have to cover the eyes of my children. But still, this wanton disregard for anyone except those who want to see public nakedness is very, very disturbing.
They posed for photos by the statue of Richard Seddon - but probably didn't understand the irony in posing next to the statue of a man who opposed women's suffrage as premier 115 years ago.Bizarre! Apparently being topless in the streets of Wellington is something the Suffragettes would have campaigned for. But the reporter has got it backwards. It was entirely appropriate for women advertising porn to have posed in front of a statue of a man who did not believe in the equality of women.
Boobs On Bikes and Erotica Expo organiser Steve Crow told NZPA the parade wasn't commercial - despite the Erotica logos emblazoned on the few clothes women in the parade were wearing. "It's just a bunch of people having some fun, obeying the law and exercising our rights."Right. And the fact that school kids were out perving at the women is ok?
A group of teenage boys in Wellington College uniforms enjoying the spectacle didn't want to give their names to NZPA but gave their assurances that their parents knew where they were.Well, it seems that teenagers who are exposed to sexuality explicit TV programmes are far more likely to either get pregnant or get someone pregnant. And here we have a bunch of schoolboys, out of school, engaging in a "bit of fun", according to Steve Crow.
The teens followed the parade from Post Office Square on Featherston Street, where it began at 12.45pm, to the grounds of Parliament, and were spotted climbing a wall to get a better view.
A new study confirmed that teenagers who watch sexually charged television shows have a far greater chance of getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant, reports the Washington Post.I wonder what sort of results a study would find on the types of people that go to Boobs on Bikes parades. Would they also be more likely to get someone pregnant? And how do these men treat their girlfriends or wives? Like objects for their own sexual gratification? Somehow, I think, yes.
The study, which was published today in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics surveyed 2000 teens between the ages of 12 and 17, from 2001 to 2004.
The researchers performed an analysis on 23 shows in 2000-2001 to determine the level of sexual content present in the most popular shows, including "Sex and the City," "Friends" and "That '70s Show," among a variety of other programs.
Researchers found that 25 percent of adolescents who watched shows containing the most flirting, kissing, touching and references and/or depictions of sexual situations became pregnant or got someone else pregnant, while only 12 percent of teens who watched shows with the least amount of sexual material were involved in a pregnancy.
These sorts of parades also give the impression that most of the population doesn't mind and even enjoys this sort of spectacle. Yet, the recent kerfuffle in Kapiti over allowing naked people on the beaches and the enormous backlash against that really shows that NZ'ers are not happy with public nakedness. Especially if they think children will be exposed to it.
And just today, a 14 year old boy was arrested for the violation and murder of a 15 year old girl. What type of material was he exposed to? Did he watch sexually explicit TV programmes? How does a 14 year old boy become a rapist and a murderer unless early sexuality is actively encouraged in our society?
It's all just sickening, really.
Related Links :
Boobs on bikes parade draws thousands ~ NZ Herald
Kapiti bares its defiance on nudity ~ Stuff
Study Finds Teens Who Watch Sex-Laden TV More Likely to Become Pregnant or Cause Pregnancy ~ LifeSite
Boy, 14, arrested over Kerikeri murder ~ Stuff
Boobs on Bikes - Fig Leaves on their Faces ~ NZ Conservative
I think most in Wellington yawn at it. However I don't think there is a link between sexuality and violence, at all. The glorification of violence for entertainment doesn't help, but what is by far worse is absentee parenting, and the breakdown of families. THAT is what concerns me far more than some mindless women flashing their boobs. The link between seeing nudity and violence is remarkably weak, the link between violent families, nihilistic culture glorifying violence as entertainment and sheer parental neglect is stronger. Focusing on bare breasts does make those who are conservative seem simply prudish. I continue to find it odd that men can walk around bare chested and conservatives don't raise a peep, but women can't - and men who do get plenty of glares from women.
ReplyDeleteHi Liberty. If you are looking for a link between sex and violence, the Kerikeri murder says it all.
ReplyDeleteA 14 year old boy raped and murdered a child. There's such a definite link to sex and violence one has to ask why that was his reaction to the long list of social causes you blame. I suspect those causes have other causes behind them.
So, it is not so much naked breasts being the issue, it's the objectification of women.
Case in point are your own words:
some mindless women flashing their boobs
Why do you assume they are mindless?
This throwaway comment represents the underlying thought processes that inevitably move women from people to objects.
Mix it up with a culture used to depictions of graphic and excessive violence in movies, games and TV and we see a society whose standards eventually are formed based on the lowest common denominators.
We need to be encouraging a society that aims for higher ideals, not being satisfied with the minimum in everything.
For example, Steve Crowe is entitled to host a sexpo to over 18 year olds. Seeking to ban that does not respect free choice, as unfortunate as those choices may be.
However, using public streets to advertise the sexpo it an unnecessary lowering of standards.
You can't compare seeing topless women on tropical beaches with a porn parade through downtown Wellington. To ascribe the latter as a symptom of prudishness is weak.
You can't compare topless men, who don't have the modesty (simple decency and respect for others) to wear a T-shirt in an appropriate setting with a topless porn parade. In the first, it's a male baring his chest. In the second, it's exploiting female breasts precisely because they are seen by men in a sexual context. That sexualised context is being deliberately linked to a porn show, not a protest for topless beaches or breastfeeding in public.
One thought I had about the parade was if the men that went to have a bit of an ogle are just wimps?
Are they worried their wives and girlfriends would not approve of them declaring they will henceforth be off to the strip clubs Friday night, porn shows Saturday night, a bit on the side Tuesday and Wednesday? Or do they instinctively know this is wrong and thus, as wimps controlled by their lusts, settle for a boobs on bikes parade?
"..and we see a society whose standards eventually are formed based on the lowest common denominators. "
ReplyDeleteOf course--and every time something is banned and regulated because some yo-yo might or has abused it, we take another step down that road.
Boobs on bikes isn't an expression of freedom so much as well organised exhibitionism.
I'd hate to see it banned, but would love to see it simply die out as the onlookers grow up and the flashers gain some self-respect.
A 14 year old boy raped and murdered a child.
ReplyDeleteDid he? I must have missed the trial and the verdict. As far as I can see on the online news sources, a 14 year old boy has been arrested and charged with murder and sexual assault. Charge does not = guilt and sexual assault does not necessarilly = rape. But I guess you know better, your direct line to an all seeing god and so forth.
I didn't see the boobs on bikes parade, but I didn't see anything on the news about it being a violent affair, so cannot see your attempt to link it it violence.
Maybe the bigger problem is the sexual repression exhibited by xtion-cons; hide it, don't talk about it, treat it as dirty and obscene.
You can't compare topless men, who don't have the modesty (simple decency and respect for others) to wear a T-shirt in an appropriate setting with a topless porn parade.
A nipple is a nipple, and I would defy you to accuratly identify a male nipple and a female nipple when there is no breast shown (Why did god decide it was "intelligent design" to give men nipples anyway?)
Maybe you could show a little compassion and, dare I say it, xtian compassion for Liberty Templeman's family by mourning her death instead of using at as a platform to parade your own prejudices and hatred.
Rex Mundial.
Rex, you are obviously living in the dark ages with regards to what Xtians think.
ReplyDeleteSteve Crow doesn't really give toss about the woman who are on the motorbikes. what he does care about is the money in your pocket - he wants it. And he manipulates by appealing to the lowest common denominator.
You can say all you like - the one thing lacking in anything Crow promotes or does is respect.
Yes, my mistake regarding the Kerikeri murder. I should have said "alleged" or "charged with".
ReplyDeleteRe a link from the parade to violent behaviour against women - I think you may be missing the point. There was never a suggestion of a direct link, this is a discussion on social trends.
Maybe the bigger problem is the sexual repression exhibited by xtion-cons; hide it, don't talk about it, treat it as dirty and obscene.
I'm hardly hiding from it. Here we are talking about it. Sex and sexuality is not dirty and obscene. What some people reduce it to is. Can you not see the difference Rex?
A nipple is a nipple, and I would defy you to accurately identify a male nipple and a female nipple when there is no breast shown
A good example of correct but wrong. See how many men turn up for a parade of topless men and you might have a point. But why did you switch the conversation from breasts to nipples? Your point is irrelevant to the conversation.
Maybe you could show a little compassion and, dare I say it, xtian compassion for Liberty Templeman's family by mourning her death instead of using at as a platform to parade your own prejudices and hatred.
Liberty Templeman's family gets my full sympathy and prayers. I am not using her death as a platform, and there is no hatred in my comments whatsoever. I am bewildered as to the reasons why this happened, and as shocked as many people over this tragedy.
Cut the false outrage for the sake of cheap point scoring Rex.
Rex, you really need to read a bit more of this site. Have a look at our sex, lust and pornography tags.
ReplyDeleteSex is not dirty or obscene - but the degradation of women is obscene and reprehensible and anyone who watched the Boobs parade added to the degradation of those women.
.
ReplyDeleteLucy, I've been reading this blog for a long time, and I know your attitude to porn is not healthy.
ReplyDeleteI know you home school, therefore you are afraid that your children, just like god's, may eat of the tree of knowledge ...
Anyway, what plans do we have to celebrate Kristallnacht?
Rex Mundial
Mother of two young lads down-town Wellington at the time of the B.O.B parade is quoted in The Press this morning saying one of her nippers piped-up “look mum there’s nudie ladies”. She just laughs it off and points out to the reporter it’s only adults who tell kids ‘naked humans’ are obscene and she doesn’t see any problem with it. I imagine you would suggest CYPS keeps an eye on her lads as ‘rapists of the future’. You guys want to get out more, live a little and stop ignoring 8,000 Wellingtonians had their day brightened by Mr Crowe. Remember you only get one life.
ReplyDelete"I know you home school, therefore you are afraid that your children, just like god's, may eat of the tree of knowledge ..."
ReplyDeleteYou prat. That'd be the Tree Of Socialist Indoctrination knowledge, eh?
Most people home school their kids because they want those kids to have knowledge, not propaganda.
Zen and Lucyna are extraordinarily polite and tolerant people--I'm not. You're a blinkered fool Rex, if you think opposition to pornography is "unhealthy".
I imagine you would suggest CYPS keeps an eye on her lads as ‘rapists of the future’.
ReplyDeleteWell you imagine wrong.
“look mum there’s nudie ladies”. She just laughs it off and points out to the reporter it’s only adults who tell kids ‘naked humans’ are obscene and she doesn’t see any problem with it.
ReplyDeletePaul, read my previous post on Boobs on Bikes - Fig leaves on their faces.
You will see that I do not consider nakedness itself obscene. What I consider obscene is the purpose for which a person strips off.
Rex, you are beginning to sound very much like S. Be careful, else your comments may too be deleted from this blog as soon as they appear.
Well, I don't know who S is, but i do know the story of the tower of babel and how your god hates people who think. Guess you're just like your god.
ReplyDeleteRex Mundial
Well you guess wrong.
ReplyDeletePlease stop with the petty insults. They add nothing, and it looks like you are incapable of addressing the argument.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRex, treat the blog authors with courtesy, don't pretend you are the victim who has been wronged when you are the initiator of insults, stay on topic and we will debate you.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, don't bother.
And to be clear, the author of the post uses the name "Lucyna", not "Lucy".
And to be even clearer, Lucyna wrote And just today, a 14 year old boy was arrested for the violation and murder of a 15 year old girl. What type of material was he exposed to? Did he watch sexually explicit TV programmes? How does a 14 year old boy become a rapist and a murderer unless early sexuality is actively encouraged in our society?
ReplyDeleteJust what tv programmes do catholic priests watch? how do catholic priets rape over 400 boys in a single diocese unless pederasty is actively encouraged in their society?
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/priests-abused-up-to-400-children-in-dublin-diocese-1528749.html
No doubt you'll delete it again, but at least you could consider something is rotten in the church.
Rex Mundial
SIX years ago, anger at the Catholic Church's handling of clerical sex abuse reached a zenith when a damning documentary, 'Cardinal Secrets', was screened.
ReplyDelete'Cardinal Secrets', which followed swiftly on the heels of 'Suing the Pope' -- an expose of sickening abuse in the Diocese of Ferns -- chronicled how priests in the Dublin diocese were granted a virtual licence to abuse children even after Church authorities received complaints from parents.
The scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world to its foundations broke in Dublin with an almighty vengeance.
The public, incensed by the scandal in Ferns, clamoured for the resignation of Archbishop Desmond Connell, whose tenure was devastated by revelations of paedophiles among his clergy.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/how-truth-got-lost-between-canon-and-civil-law-1278594.html
Rex, I am not excusing those Priests, but those figures are from 1940 onwards.
ReplyDeleteI am convinced this behaviour was never encouraged. My own theory is that pedophiles are attracted especially to all professions that allow them to come into contact with children. Such people moved into roles in the priesthood, as teachers, organisations such as the boy scouts and in child care agencies.
We see though that their numbers are relatively small in percentage terms of all priests, teachers, counselors, but their damage is great.
Something was rotten in the Catholic Church, and such stories like the one above show they are being cleaned out, with cooperation from the Church, whose greatest crime was not to understand how evil these people where, and to "give them another chance". That was naive, unjust and in grave error. I think the events the Church has been through over the last 20 years have seen them have to face up to this, compensate victims and change their attitudes to ensure it doesn't happen again.
I believe such types of people will continue to exist, and move into alternate professions such as teaching and counseling.
I've noticed an alarming rise in these types of cases and I've even seen some stories where authorities have hidden the evidence for fear of their reputations, making exactly the same mistake the church did prior to the 90s.
Personally, I hope these sick individuals are flushed out of all of these areas and punished severely.
Rex,
ReplyDeleteJust what tv programmes do catholic priests watch? how do catholic priets rape over 400 boys in a single diocese unless pederasty is actively encouraged in their society?
Your own link shows that Catholic society does not condone pederasty.
Furthermore, Catholics are not isolated from the world, we are part of the world and subject to many of the same pressures that non-Catholics are subject to. Therefore there is no immunity from any temptation, unless that immunity is actively sought by the person themselves.
Unfortunately, many gay men have been attracted to the Catholic priesthood over the last while - and this problem is being addressed. The latest from the Vatican is psych testing to ensure that candidates to the priesthood are not homosexual. As you may or may not be aware, most of the sex abuse scandals were sex abuse of teenaged boys, rather than much younger children.
So, what is your point in bringing all of this up, again?
Here's what's Rex is getting to by using a sledgehammer.
ReplyDeletePut it this way, would you let your local Catholic Priest babysit your 10 year son or Steve Crow?
I'd drop him off a 'Uncle' Steve.
And you?
Paul.
The reverse. All priests are not pedophiles Paul, not even a large percentage of them. Quite the reverse, many are living saints.
ReplyDeleteYou should take the time to get to know some of them. You may discover they are really nice people, not some stereo-typical cardboard cutout that you can flippantly accuse of pedophilia or pederasty.
By that logic you should check the statistics for abusive teachers, it might be worth applying the same logic and not sending your 10 year old son on that school camp trip.
Come on Zen mate, tell me in all honesty, would you send prefer sending your young son on a camping holiday with the local Catholic Priest or Steve Crow?
ReplyDeleteYou are getting off the topic with saints and teachers, business. One of these is imaginary for starters.
So tell me, who you would feel more comfortable sending ‘Little Johnnie’ away to spend a couple of nights in a ‘cosy little tent’ with?
Father Paddy or The King of Kiwi Porn?
You know and I know, if I spent a day on any Kiwi street corner asking this same question – it would be Crow that would be viewed the ‘safer’ option, such is the publics low perception of Catholic Clergy.
What's that saying again "those in glass houses"?
Look forward to an honest & open reply to my question.
I'd be packing my two sons bags and dropping them off at Steve's.
Cheers.
Paul
Paul, I answered your question, you have no need to accuse me of not being honest.
ReplyDeletePublic perception on Priests has been amplified by anti- religious elements in our society.
A hundred years ago it was the same with blacks. I have no need to stand on a street corner to count the bigots.
You asked me about my local priest. I answered. I know my local priest. You have the arrogance of your bigotry to suggest he is a pedophile, and the obvious bias that your opinion, having never met him is is better than my own judgment, knowing the man.
Jesus said "They know not what they do"
I forgive you Paul.
Get a grip there Zen, on what do you base your remarks I’m a bigot mate?
ReplyDeleteSimply because I believe my own sons would be safer being looked after by a married-man with kids of his own, like Steve Crow, rather a ‘garden variety’ Catholic Priest,
I’m a bigot?
Wow!
So that’s the criteria around these parts?
Here’s a novel idea Zen (and kin) which you may wish to pass on to The Holy See.
Perhaps if Catholic clergy weren’t involved in widespread sexual abuse of children around the globe (including my local Catholic church, I must add), their public perception would improve, & ‘bigots’ like me and the majority of other Kiwi’s ‘bigots’ wouldn’t consider a Porn King to be a safer environment for their children than ‘a man of the cloth’.
Gotta shoot, off to the races.
Paul.
PS: Meeting-up with a mate, who owns a horse which is running today at Addington along with his uncle (who just happens to be a Catholic Priest) Gambling is a vice we share along with the demon drink and his tips are never devinely inspired. If I every need forgiving mate I'd check him out first.
Paul, think about what you said.
ReplyDeleteSimply because I believe my own sons would be safer
No, it's not about that. It was that you asked me about my local priest, and then when I replied you effectively said "rubbish" and asked for an "open and honest" reply.
You weren't talking about "garden variety" priests. You were asking about my local priest. About some-one I know.
Don't try to worm out of it by changing the spin.
And I was calling you bigot because you continue to push the line the "garden variety priest", i.e. the common (not rare) priest is a pedophile.
It might be instructive to print this entire thread and hand it over to the Catholic Priest you are about to meet at the races.
And I forgive you.