America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Pop Singer Nicki Minaj was on Good Morning America yesterday. As she was singing her song “Where The Girls At?” one of Nicki’s “girls” showed up. As she bounced up and down, her left breast fell out of her shirt. So hypnotized was the fellow on ABC’s five second delay button that he forgot to press it.
Ever since former Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake tore the clothes off of former “Good Times” star Janet Jackson and exposed her nipple during Super Bowl halftime (haven’t those two come far?), a cottage industry has arisen of finding and posting online female stars who have inadvertently (unlike Jackson) had their nipples exposed.
America is a laboratory for arm-chair pop culture analysis because a nation of 300 million people is going to have widely differing responses to an exposed breast.
Having granted myself the title of “arm-chair pop culture analyst” I’m uniquely qualified to write about it.
Let’s start with the name. We see schizophrenia right up front. The more puritan among us refer to it as a “wardrobe malfunction.” To the more devilish it is a “nip slip.”
There is a bit of schizophrenia regarding nipples themselves. We see male nipples all the time while the exposed female nipple is either a sign of a harlot or a lucky gift of providence if you happen to see it.
Government shows schizophrenia on the issue as well. The lawmakers who pass indecency laws enforced by the FCC are the same folks tweeting and putting their own nipples on Craigslist.
The court system is no better. The $550,000 fine levied against CBS for Janet Jackson’s 2004 nip slip has been upheld and thrown out so many times that 7 years later it is still in the Court system. CBS even settled a $3.5 million lawsuit over the calamity that occurred in the US after the attack of Janet Jackson’s nipple. Call it “nip lit” (nipple litigation).
Even the so called “conservative” media that is Fox News seems a bit schizophrenic when it comes to breasts. One would think that Fox would be the last bastion of American puritanism in media. But have you ever gone halfway down their homepage to “Features and Faces?” There are enough gratuitous breast shots there to make Larry Flynt blush (ok maybe not Larry). That’s also where Fox places their “sex advice” columnist. Check out Fox’s important news slideshow about celebrity hand bras (I’m too schizophrenic on the issue to decide if the slideshow needs a “graphic” warning to protect puritan Ricochet readers).
Like many things in America I suspect this issue centers on younger kids. I watched the Super bowl halftime show in 2004. My kids were small and I remember pointing out the window and yelling “look” when I saw Janet Jackson’s breast to divert their attention. I was unhappy about it.
But today I have 4 teenagers, 3 of them boys. Does anyone think I’m going to be able to stop, no matter how hard I try, 3 teenaged boys from You-Tubing one of their generation’s pop stars having a nip slip yesterday? I suspect I’ll lose that battle. Don’t judge me. My parents couldn’t stop me from sneaking a peek at Playboy when I was a teen, and I’m sure I’m only mildly damaged by the experience.
I fancy myself as tending toward the puritan side of things when it comes to sex, morality and pop culture. I think TV commercials are way too sex-filled. I don’t even like excessive cursing in movies and comedy (too cheap).
But did I You Tube the Nicki Minaj nip slip? If I did, it was only because as a journalist writing this piece I might have to confirm the event. Thanks to the journalist privilege, I don’t have to tell you, either.
At least I haven’t been online and seen “satanic pornography” like you know who.
- Comment (13)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (0)
Comments :
May '11
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
There are lewd act and then there are nipples, often the two are not the same thing.
Sometimes a nipple is just a nipple, not an attack on the virtues of a generation.
Much to do about nothing.
May '11
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Two days after the halftime show in 2004, I was fortunate to meet John Fox, the Carolina Panthers coach who had lost that game. As I shook his hand, I said, "Coach, Sunday night must have been a frustrating experience." He started to hem and haw with the usual sports platitudes but I interrupted him and said, "No, I was talking about how bad it was that you had to miss the halftime show!" He replied, "You must have already heard the joke about that." I said no. He said, "What is the difference between John Fox and Justin Timberlake?" After a pause, "John Fox , would have gone for two."
May '10
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Two souls alas! dwell within my breast - Faust Part 1, Goethe.
What a lot of prudish nonsense, a visit to a nudist beach will persuade anyone to "flaunt it whilst you got it baby" (Max Bialystock - The Producers), coz it all goes south soon enough.
Meanwhile capitalism finds a niche market for Sticky Nips, an artificial nipple enhancement product. I kid you not.
See:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/stories/s3278554.htm
Edited on Aug 6, 2011 at 9:09amJun '10
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Bare female breasts are probably the human male's equivalent of a dog hearing the can-opener in the morning. It's Alpo time...maybe.
Mar '11
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
I'm all in favor of breasts.
I just wanted to get that out in the air before I say that our popular culture is a bit over sexualized. Nevertheless, I'm not prudish and mostly willing to tolerate it, but there are excesses.
For example, glossy magazines sexualizing 10 year olds is WAY over the line.
Dec '10
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Somewhere between the Niqab and a Penthouse spread is where prudence and decency fall.
Aug '11
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Sorry, couldn't get past the author's most auspicious surname.
Nor his misuse of schizophrenic.
If you see nipples where there are none, that is schizophrenic.
Edited on Aug 6, 2011 at 2:57pmDec '10
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
midnightgolfer: Sorry, couldn't get past the author's most auspicious surname.
Nor his misuse of schizophrenic.
If you see nipples where there are none, that is schizophrenic. · Aug 6 at 2:57pm
Edited on Aug 06 at 02:57 pm
There’s a simple test, the Charlie Chaplin Optic Illusion.
“Schizophrenia sufferers aren’t fooled by an optical illusion known as the “hollow mask” that the rest of us fall for.”
May '10
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Final word on this A recipe for Capezzoli di Venere (nipples of Venus dessert). Complete with Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN4z12rTAZc
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
midnightgolfer: Sorry, couldn't get past the author's most auspicious surname.
Nor his misuse of schizophrenic.
If you see nipples where there are none, that is schizophrenic. · Aug 6 at 2:57pm
Edited on Aug 06 at 02:57 pm
I admit to ignorance of what you mean about my surname.
Some common symptoms of schizophrenia are an inability to have normal emotional responses and to act normally in social situations.
I don't think I misused the term.
Nov '10
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Tommy De Seno
I admit to ignorance of what you mean about my surname.
De Seno = Of Breast (at least in Spanish, don't know about Italian)
Apr '11
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
That would be "Del Seno"
Re: America’s Schizophrenic Response To the “Nip Slip”
Jan-Michael Rives
Tommy De Seno
I admit to ignorance of what you mean about my surname.
De Seno = Of Breast (at least in Spanish, don't know about Italian) · Aug 7 at 9:40pm
Yes - when my kids Google our name, some unfortunate Spanish websites appear.