Anatomically correct dolls - harmful or harmless?

[TattiesMum]

No I'd no problem at all with him seeing a nude woman, after all he sees me nude most days.

Actually we went to an art gallery a couple of months ago where there was an exhibition by this guy that makes the most amazing life-like sculptures of people. I forget his name but he has this giant naked man sat on a chair with every hair in place, and of course genitals included. There is also a naked couple spooning (like asleep not having sex). It's small and incredibly intricate and very vulnerable. Byron was with us.

A simple picture of someone nude is not pornography. A posed picture perhaps with props and suggestive gestures is pornography because it is constructed to elicit a sexual response.

You're right our views are entirely polar. I confess myself slightly astonished to find a modern woman with such Victorian attitudes towards the human body.

Ron Mueck? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE his work!! Sooooo beautiful His 'Angel' sculpture is just haunting - when I saw it at the Saatchi I just couldn't tear myself away and it's most definitely NOT sexual in any way shape or form - it's just seeing beauty in the everyday and commonplace

And I have to agree with PB - I'm astonished to find that such prudery still exists .... my kids have seen me walking around naked since the day I gave birth to them - it's not sexual, it's just my body

 

[coccyx]

I would add, I hope my children are not offended by a nude body and as they get older I would like them to understand that sexual intercourse is not a 'dirty' thing. Making love is not on same scale as pornography

 

[PeanutBean]

Totally agree coccyx. To equate sex and porn in the first place is kind of scary!

 

[smokey]

If nudity isn't sexual why don't you all show your children pornographic pictures?? Why the hell not?

Im assuming you will never be allowing your children to see such "obvious porn" as the vitruvian man or the David statue then?

Best stear clear of those filthy, depraved, porn pushing art gallerys and museums.

 

[smokey]

We have our holiday booked for next year to go to disneyland paris and will be taking a day out to go to the Louvre museum as I havnt been since my honeymoon and I am so excited about showing him such beautiful works of art (although I was sadly unimpressed by the mona lisa) and I most certainly wont be stearing him away from the statues and artwork there just because it containes nudity.
I would never dream of depriving and censoring him of some of the most beautifull and amazing art that the world has to offer.
Porn and nudity are not the same thing, if it was then what sort of ideas does that give about their own bodies?

 

[smokey]

Also to add to that somthing my husband just pointed out (sorry ill shut up eventualy) what about such things as the discovery channle? is a documentry on african tribes where the woman are wa;lking around with no tops on porn? I think not.

 

[PeanutBean]

Exactly! It's a shame she left, I'd rather be able to open her mind to the variety and beauty of nudity in its many guises.

 

[smokey]

I think debating is an aquired taste and never as simple as a right and wrong side. so is probably easier to leave when your not agreed with.

 

[PeanutBean]

I don't understand what you mean. I'm always right.

 

[smokey]

I don't understand what you mean. I'm always right.

Comparing ken and action mans packages makes you automaticaly wrong by default on so many levles

I was innocent, I never looked

 

[TattiesMum]

I think debating is an aquired taste and never as simple as a right and wrong side. so is probably easier to leave when your not agreed with.

But debating is no fun when everyone agrees with you ... the challenge is in putting your case in such a way as to make others think about their own position - and the fun is in that challenge

The whole point is not only to challenge the views of others but also to clarify your own beliefs with other people's well presented arguments that broaden your thinking - it's how people grow

Obviously I'm fully grown already

 

[PeanutBean]

One of the things I love about these debates is challenging my own opinions. I hold lots of them and sometimes I haven't really thought in that much detail why so when people question my opinions I'm forced to think more deeply. Luckily so far further analysis has confirmed them, it's hard to challenge one's own opinions and I'm not sure how well I would fare at it!

I mentioned this thread to my mum when she was here on wed and the first thing she said was how generous action man was!

 

[annawrigley]

The other day I was talking with MIL about how I didnt have a problem with if Brian wanted a doll and OH grumbled somthing about his son isnt playing with a doll so MIL turned round and said "why, you had a doll when you where little and I couldnt prize it out your hands you even stuffed it up your jumper insisting you where pregnant" I had to laugh as he sulked back out the room

 

[annawrigley]

My boy doll had a willy but no balls when i had my first erm.... encounter, i was horrified to find dangly thing as well as a willy. No sex education over here!

Also i remember being very annoyed at Barbies lack of genitals. Stupid patterned crotch

 

[PeanutBean]

 

[TattiesMum]

Just to show that you don't need genitals to encourage sexuality

https://www.flickr.com/photos/personalspokesman/24477147/

https://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f253/rockyroosy/IM000766.jpg

 

[PeanutBean]

 

[SKATERBUN]

One of the things I love about these debates is challenging my own opinions. I hold lots of them and sometimes I haven't really thought in that much detail why so when people question my opinions I'm forced to think more deeply. Luckily so far further analysis has confirmed them, it's hard to challenge one's own opinions and I'm not sure how well I would fare at it!

I mentioned this thread to my mum when she was here on wed and the first thing she said was how generous action man was!

never seen AMs package

what would everyone think if dolls such as Ken, Barbie etc (who are supposed to be adults) if they had pubic hair? would that be ok do you think

 

[Tegans Mama]

I think another slant on this is - Do YOU and your partner walk around naked (ok not walk around, get changed, bathe, pee etc) in front of your child?? We do - and always will for as long as she's comfortable with it, because they are all completely natural things to do. To be honest I'm more shocked at dolls WITHOUT genitals because they make children think there is nothing down there.

I don't think this view is "liberal" I think it's realistic. I grew up seeing my Mum and sister naked in completely NONE sexual ways and I think it's totally normal! Therefore if there are no clothes on my daughters baby doll, it would look like a normal baby would!

 

[TattiesMum]

I think another slant on this is - Do YOU and your partner walk around naked (ok not walk around, get changed, bathe, pee etc) in front of your child?? We do - and always will for as long as she's comfortable with it, because they are all completely natural things to do. To be honest I'm more shocked at dolls WITHOUT genitals because they make children think there is nothing down there.

I don't think this view is "liberal" I think it's realistic. I grew up seeing my Mum and sister naked in completely NONE sexual ways and I think it's totally normal! Therefore if there are no clothes on my daughters baby doll, it would look like a normal baby would!

I agree 100% .... I have always walked around naked upstairs and the bathroom door is rarely locked when I have a bath or a wee - even now it's too much hassle as the kids will pester me until I open the door if they want to speak to me or need to use the bathroom

My mother was the same ... my OH wanders around upstairs in boxer shorts (but only really because he's their stepdad - if he was their bio dad I doubt he'd bother). It's just normal for me - it's not remotely sexual, it's just bodies

Skaterbun - in addition to helping Ken and Action Man along with plasticine prosthetics we also used to draw on pubic hair