COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : The Standards for Showing Nudity on the Big Screen

Dan O’Neill’s Counterpunch, “Male Nudity on Film: What, Not Even a Peek?” (Jan. 31), suggests a double standard of nudity that doesn’t actually exist. With both men and women, mainstream, R-rated films show pubic hair but not the flesh beneath the pubic hair. Were a major film to attempt to show gynecological detail, it would be rated NC-17.

O’Neill was done a disservice by having his article published directly beneath an opinion piece on “Schindler’s List.” I can safely assume that I was not the only reader who involuntarily remembered that “Schindler’s List” has full male nudity and was rated R.

DAVID P. HAYES

Los Angeles

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Thank you, Dan, for your astute observation on the lack of male nudity in film. Can we all finally admit that female nudity in film is not “art” per se but merely a gratuitous ingredient and, if not, then that it is the fantasy of the male director? I say male because they account for most directors.

This goes for Western art as well--what about Manet’s famous painting “Dejeuner sur l’herbe”: two fully dressed men picnicking with one naked woman. Need I guess the ratio of female nudes against male nudes in Western art?

I do not have hang-ups about nudity nor male fantasy, but I do have hang-ups about representation in art-media of male fantasy 99% of the time. And I have hang-ups about objectification of women and their constant portrayal as victims of violence, rape and murder. It is not healthy.

A woman’s (not necessarily feminist) point of view in art-media 50% of the time is absolutely necessary. I think focusing on individuals and individuality is far more interesting.

KATHERINE CHILTON

Glendale

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Do we really need to hear O’Neill’s desire to have a “peek” or a “glimpse” of a penis in American movies? Is this appropriate for The Times--or any publication?

O’Neill rationalizes that since nude women are so prevalent, there should equally be naked men. But more nudity in films is not artistic progress, it’s just further degradation of our society.

R. FREEMAN

Costa Mesa

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Sex is great fun to do, but not always interesting to watch. I’ve gotten so tired of the obligatory movie sack scene that I now take it as my cue to get popcorn. I’m not prudish, just bored.

When will critics like O’Neill spend their energies demanding more genuine artistic risk taking, better-written scripts, even genuinely original “original music”? But noooo--O’Neill goes so far as to equate frontally nude men with “the truth.”

CHUCK ESTES, Composer

Fullerton