Mildly Infuriating

German-American here. I had a stint with organized religion and American purity culture. The church and "purity culture" messed me up pretty good, most notably in the 5 years after my deconversion. Americans love judging people for sex, then cheerfully do all the same things secretly themselves without an ounce of self-awareness. I still can't decide if I have an irrationally strong fear of STDs brought about by American sex-ed, or of it's a rational response to the fact that everyone is going around fucking without protection, many without a basic anotomical understanding of their own body. I wish we could get people to take safety seriously because we're all connected in a giant fucking web.

What stood out the most to you about Americans sexual hang-ups?

I'm from Poland and didn't think about it until I found that in the first part of The Witcher games, the game that is directed to adults, they had to develop a special versions for the USA. The version included full violence with decapitations and gore, but showing a woman's nipple was too far so they had to censor it.

No you're right, and part of the problem in the US is our absolutely batshit, contradictory social conditioning around sex, nudity and the body.

We are utterly archaic in social attitudes here. We had a full-on national crisis when everyone saw a nipple at the super-bowl one time. Yet we sexualize anything remotely female and young to a sickening degree.

This kind of weird paradoxical attitude designed to make you feel shame and desire together has completely ruined any chance of healthy attitudes around sex for millions of young boys who grew up in this media landscape, and had no idea how to deal with it and fell down the incel pipeline, and millions of young girls who only see a world of predation and those angry incels and want nothing to do with dating or boys, driving the wedge further and further.

This utterly baffling societal attitude has empowered people like Epstein and his affiliates since way back, and made it a lot easier for people to commit sex crimes, particularly against children. 🙈 🙉 🙊

I’m very body positive and pro nudity for an American who grew up Catholic, but moving to Germany unleashed similar hangups for me.

Fun story: the first time I used the communal shower at the pool naked (like everyone else here), a child pointed at my nipple piercing and loudly asked “mommy, what’s that on her nipple,” so everyone turned to stare at my tits. I was doubly overwhelmed, because it was the first time I’d heard the vernacular term for a nipple in German: “Brustwarze,” which literally translates to “breast wart,” which is fucking horrendous.

If it weren’t for the fact that I remember that every time I encounter the word “Brustwarze,” I think I’d have blocked it out.