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Why do Americans and foreigners alike describe the USA as prudish? Why do I see nothing prudish about the USA society? USA feels like one of the loosest countries although Americans claim to be very reserved.

13.06.2025 02:02

Why do Americans and foreigners alike describe the USA as prudish? Why do I see nothing prudish about the USA society? USA feels like one of the loosest countries although Americans claim to be very reserved.

couples in the same bed, even if married. (Laurel and Hardy came before the code)

sexual perversion, including homosexuality (naturally), and sexual relationships between the white and black races.

lustful kissing is to be shown with care

Trump’s budget puts Huntsville-made spacecraft on the chopping block - AL.com

any profanity to the Christian religion, e.g. hell, damn, God (unless used in a holy sense), or ridicule of the clergy.

Remember the Hays Code?

disrespect of authority figures. Crooked judges are OK if they are also clearly portrayed as evil people

S&P Dow Jones Makes No Changes to S&P 500 in Quarterly Rebalance - Bloomberg

nudity, or even suggestions of it (e.g. a silhouette)

Some ridiculous highlights of the code in effect banned or discouraged:

the display of bellybuttons

Why did Mark Lane harass Helen Markham during an illegally recorded telephone conversation to misidentify Lee Harvey Oswald who she witnessed as the shooter of Tippit?

Meanwhile, the rest of the world still sniggers at American prudishness.

toilets being shown

For 34 years, movie and TV studios censored themselves to appease the Puritanical whims of Will Hays.

Where did Noah build the Ark? Was it in a desert or near water?

The ridiculous 2004 Superbowl ‘Nipplegate’ was a more recent reminder of how US attitudes have not really advanced much since the Hays code.