Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse . This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and often without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority. Self-censorship is often practiced by film producers , film directors , publishers , news anchors , journalists , musicians , and other kinds of authors including individuals who use social media .
150-580: The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code , after Will H. Hays , president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. Under Hays's leadership,
300-450: A status symbol , as a sign of beauty, wealth or social position. To maintain youthful-looking bosoms women could employ wet nurses to breastfeed their children. Breast-baring female fashions have been traced to 15th-century courtesan Agnès Sorel , mistress to Charles VII of France , whose gowns in the French court sometimes exposed one or both of her breasts. ( Jean Fouquet 's portrayal of
450-401: A "no shirt, no service" rule to prevent barechested men from coming inside. While going barechested at outdoor activities may be acceptable, it is taboo in workplaces, churches and other formal settings. In most societies, male barechestedness is much more common than female toplessness, even among children. Exposure of the male pectoral muscles is often considered to be far less taboo than of
600-426: A "topless beach" or "topless bar". It can also be used to describe a garment that is specifically designed to reveal the breasts, such as the "topless swimsuit" (also known as the monokini ) designed by Rudi Gernreich in the 1960s. The word "topless" may carry sexual or exhibitionist connotations. Because of this, advocates of women's legal right to uncover their breasts wherever men may go bare-chested have adopted
750-532: A 2019 German survey on self-censorship conducted by the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), 59% of respondents said they can express their views among friends, but only 18% believe the same is possible in public. Only 17% of respondents express themselves freely on the Internet. Religious affiliation is a topic in which many occupational fields and areas may be
900-563: A Jesuit, wrote: "Silent smut had been bad. Vocal smut cried to the censors for vengeance." Thomas Doherty, Professor of American studies at Brandeis University , has defined the code as "no mere list of Thou-Shalt-Nots, but a homily that sought to yoke Catholic doctrine to Hollywood formula. The guilty are punished, the virtuous rewarded, the authority of church and state is legitimate, and the bonds of matrimony are sacred." What resulted has been described as "a Jewish owned business selling Catholic theology to Protestant America". Joseph I. Breen ,
1050-461: A campaign by the group, Copenhagen 's Culture and Leisure Committee voted to allow topless bathing in its swimming pools. After the committee had voted, it was revealed that no laws had existed against topless bathing, effectively making the vote unnecessary. However, some public baths had (and have) restricted it themselves. Public breastfeeding is supported by the vast majority of both sexes in Denmark,
1200-451: A cinematically inspired thought crime". The code sought not only to determine what could be portrayed on screen, but also to promote traditional values. Sexual relations outside marriage, which were forbidden to be portrayed as attractive or beautiful, were to be presented in a way that would not arouse passion or make them seem permissible. Any sexual act considered perverted, including any suggestion of same-sex relationships, sex or romance,
1350-412: A committee to discuss film censorship. Irving G. Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Sol Wurtzel of Fox Film Corporation , and E. H. Allen of Paramount Pictures responded by collaborating on a list they called the "Don'ts and Be Carefuls", based on items that were challenged by local censor boards. This list consisted of eleven subjects best avoided and twenty-six to be handled very carefully. The list
1500-430: A contrived opinion. In a nutshell, preference falsification is the broader concept. Whereas all self-censorship falsifies a preference through the signals it sends, preference falsification need not take the form of self-censorship. Journalists often censor themselves due to threats against them or their interests from another party, editorial instructions from their supervisor[s], perceived conflicts of interest with
1650-523: A discussion on a controversial subject. We are among the participants. If we keep quiet, that is self-censorship. Insofar as our silence conveys agreement with a position that we actually dislike, our self-censorship amounts also to preference falsification. If instead of keeping quiet, we speak up during the discussion in favor of position A, when we actually favor B, that is preference falsification but not self-censorship. In pretending to like A, we have gone beyond self-censorship. We have deliberately projected
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#17328761910801800-434: A feature in contemporary haute couture fashion shows. A wide-ranging review of 190 different societies during 1951 found that few insisted that women conceal their breasts. In Europe, topless swimming and sunbathing on public beaches has become socially acceptable. In 1994–95, Australian researchers asked 118 college-age students to rate the behavior of women who go topless on an 8-point scale, ranging from "Women should have
1950-451: A film that ridiculed law enforcement and often used racial epithets. However, the Legion's condemnation of the film did not attract a unified response from religious authorities, some of which considered that other films, including The Ten Commandments (released that same year), had a similar amount and intensity of sensuous content. During the 1950s, studios found ways of both complying with
2100-406: A long history. People often communicate to affirm their identity and sense of belonging. People may express their opinions or withhold their opinions due to the fear of exclusion or unpopularity. Shared social norms and beliefs create a sense of belonging, but they can also create a suppression of expression in order to comply or belong. People may adjust their beliefs or opinions to go along with
2250-559: A lot of conversation. Tissiflashmob 2020 was bigger than the previous one, now organized at the same time in eight different cities. In France, the feminist collective Les TumulTueuses organized a topfree protest in Paris in May 2009. It is legal to sunbathe topless in France, although local regulations may ban the practice with directives about clothing. In 2020, after a police incident, topless sunbathing
2400-402: A major element from Daphne du Maurier 's 1938 novel where the narrator discovers that her husband (the aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter) killed his first wife (the titular Rebecca) and she makes light of it, since it followed Rebecca having strongly provoked and taunted him. As having a major character get away with murder and living happily ever after would have been a flagrant violation of
2550-481: A media organization's economic sponsors, advertisers or shareholders, etc.). Self-censorship of journalists is most pervasive in societies where governments have official media censorship policies and where journalists will be jailed, fined, or simply lose their job if they do not follow the censorship rules. Organizations such as Media Matters for America , Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , Democracy Now! and
2700-484: A municipality or private company, the house regulations apply. These house regulations commonly specify that women, but not men, must cover their chests, and are increasingly seen as discriminatory. Courts have protected the right to nudity at home and on one's own property, even if visible to others. Nudity on one's own property can only be restricted in very exceptional circumstances, usually limited to cases involving "moral or sexual harassment". In Greece, toplessness
2850-608: A number of debates related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Self-censorship practices have been studied in the context of the Pakistani media in 2000s. Self-censorship existed in Russia for a long time. After a brief relaxation following the fall of communism in the 1990s, self-censorship once again became a quite frequent practice in Russia after 2000s government take-overs and consolidation of media, further deepened after
3000-562: A parent or adult guardian), and "X" meaning persons under 16 would not be admitted. By the end of 1968, Geoffrey Shurlock stepped down from his post, and the PCA effectively dissolved, being replaced by the Code and Rating Administration (CARA), headed by Eugene Dougherty. The CARA would replace "Code" with "Classification" in 1978. In 1969, the Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow) , directed by Vilgot Sjöman ,
3150-494: A prominent Catholic layman who had worked in public relations, was appointed head of the PCA. Under Breen's leadership, which lasted until his retirement in 1954, enforcement of the Production Code became notoriously rigid. Even cartoon sex symbol Betty Boop had to change her characteristic flapper personality and dress, adopting an old-fashioned, near-matronly appearance. However, by 1934, the prohibition against miscegenation
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#17328761910803300-520: A right to be topless at public swimming pools. Nudity in nature is a legal gray area, as it is not specifically forbidden, but can be treated as a public nuisance in the event of a complaint. Security services and law enforcement agencies may ask women to cover their breasts, usually under § 118 of the Ordnungswidrigkeitengesetz , which forbids vaguely defined "nuisances to public order". For parks and swimming areas owned or operated by
3450-670: A seal of approval. The film eventually got a general release in 1946. The David O. Selznick production Duel in the Sun was also released in 1946 without the approval of the Hays Office, featuring several on-screen deaths, adultery and displays of lust. The financial success of both films became deciding factors in the weakening of the Code in the late 1940s, when the formerly taboo subjects of rape and miscegenation were allowed in Johnny Belinda (1948) and Pinky (1949), respectively. In 1951,
3600-783: A significant increase in recent years in Europe. Journalists and whistleblowers have experienced physical and psychological intimidation and threats. Self-censorship is one of the major consequences of such circumstances. A study published in 2017 by the Council of Europe found that in the period 2014–2016 that 40% of journalists involved in the survey experienced some kind of unwarranted interference, in particular psychological violence, including slandering and smear campaigning, cyberbullying. Other forms of unwarranted interference include intimidation by interest groups, threats with force, intimidation by political groups, targeted surveillance, intimidation by
3750-720: A son, i.e., a male heir. Travelers like the American Harry A. Franck remarked that they "displayed to the public gaze exactly that portion of the torso which the women of most nations take pains to conceal". In the South Pacific, toplessness was common prior to contact with Western missionaries, but is less common today. On the French territory of Moorea , toplessness is common. In the Marshall Islands , women were traditionally topless before contact with Western missionaries and still do not sexually objectify female breasts as
3900-527: A source of self-censorship. One particular area is psychology. From the origins of psychology, the field has frequently viewed religion with distrust. Psychologists and therapists often refrain from claiming to be part of any religion believing in the possibility that any expressions of any devout faith may be viewed as markers for mental illness or distress. A 2013 survey from the American Psychological Association (APA) found that "relative to
4050-422: A specific audience of views including, women, children, lower-class, and those of "susceptible" minds, called for depictions of the "correct standards of life", and lastly forbade a picture to show any sort of ridicule towards a law or "creating sympathy for its violation". The second part was a set of "particular applications", which was an exacting list of items that could not be depicted. Some restrictions, such as
4200-585: A subsidiary could do. Thus, exempt from the rules imposed by the code, subsidiary distributors were utilized, and even created by major studios such as Columbia, in order to defy and weaken the code. United Artists followed suit and bought art film distributor Lopert Films in 1958, and within a decade all the major studios were distributing foreign art films. Author Peter Lev writes: Explicit sexuality became expected in foreign films, to such an extent that "foreign film", "art film", "adult film" and "sex film" were for several years almost synonyms. Beginning in
4350-575: A wraparound cloth". In Laos , Frenchman Henri Mouhot took a picture in 1858 of Laotian women that depicted virgins with clothed breasts and married women with their entire breasts exposed in public, because the baring of breasts for breastfeeding was considered to be nonsexual. In the Indonesian archipelago , toplessness was the norm among the Dayak , Javanese , and the Balinese people of Indonesia before
4500-472: Is OK, too". Previously, Instagram had removed images of nursing mothers. Instagram removed images of Rihanna and had her account cancelled in 2014 when she posted selfies with nipples. This was incentive for the Twitter campaign #FreeTheNipple . In 2016, an Instagram page invited users to post images of nipples from both sexes; @genderless_nipples, which displays close ups of both the nipples of men and women for
4650-414: Is bare to the waist balancing this nudity by tucking up her lower garments till her legs are left bare to her thighs. Their faces are to the center of the room and their feet describe the periphery of a circle." In most Western societies , it is a cultural norm for girls after puberty , if not earlier, to have their breasts covered especially while in a public place, as an act of modesty . At least, it
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4800-534: Is common in much of Western society . Marshall Island women typically swim in their muumuus which today are made of a fine polyester that dries quickly. Wearing of bikinis and one-piece, breast-covering swimsuits in the Marshall Islands is mainly seen at Western, restricted-access beaches and swimming pools like those at private resorts or on United States government facilities on the Kwajalein Atoll within
4950-500: Is entirely legal and accepted in almost all places, except for a few private cafés and restaurants that have restricted it. In Finland, toplessness is not illegal, yet topless women have been removed from beaches. Sandra Marins and Säde Vallarén criticized this and organized Finland's first event demanding topless equality, called Tissiflashmob (Breast flash mob). On Finland's Independence day, 6 December 2019, both Marins and Vallarén showed their breasts on live TV and it sparked
5100-571: Is evident in the selection and omission of news stories, and the framing of acceptable discussion, in line with the interests of the corporations owning those media. The journalists have actively sought censorship advice from military authorities in order to prevent the inadvertent revelation of military secrets. In 2009, The New York Times succeeded in suppressing news of a reporter's abduction by militants in Afghanistan for seven months until his escape from captivity in order to "reduce danger to
5250-485: Is found in the world of academia in a number of contexts. Self-censorship in scientific publications that have been criticized as politically motivated include scientists under the Third Reich withholding findings that disagreed with the commonly held beliefs in differences between races , or the refusal of these scientists under Hitler to support General Relativity (which got the reputation as " Jewish science "). In
5400-494: Is legal. In Iceland, toplessness is legal in public. Female toplessness has been officially legalized (in a nonsexual context) in all public beaches and swimming pools throughout the country (unless otherwise specified by region , province or municipality by-laws) on 20 March 2000, when the Supreme Court of Cassation (through sentence No. 3557) determined that the exposure of the nude female breast, after several decades,
5550-567: Is not culturally acceptable for women to expose their nipples and areolas in public. Though many women do not regard their breasts as sexual, most would not go against the social norm, let alone challenge various laws that cover toplessness. Until recent times, women who went topless in a public place may have been cited for indecent exposure , lewdness or similar laws. Women and the law in most Western countries generally do not regard breasts as indecent. Some women campaign for what they call "topfreedom", seeking to change these laws. The strictness of
5700-632: Is not even a joke any more; it's just a memory"; two years later Variety followed suit. On June 13, 1934, an amendment to the Code was adopted, which established the Production Code Administration (PCA) and required all films released on or after July 1, 1934, to obtain a certificate of approval before being released. The PCA had two offices: one in Hollywood and the other in New York City. The first film to receive an MPPDA seal of approval
5850-545: Is usually considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as lewd or indecent behavior. A case in Erie, Pennsylvania, concerning the exposure of breasts and nipple proceeded to the US Supreme Court, City of Erie v. Pap's A. M. . The Erie ordinance was regulating the nipple in public as an act that is committed when a person "knowingly or intentionally, ... appears in a state of nudity commits Public Indecency." Later in
6000-560: Is very specific and is not likely to be misinterpreted, stating: "[The] display of 'any portion of the cleavage of the human female breast exhibited by a dress, blouse, skirt, leotard, bathing suit, or other wearing apparel [is permitted] provided the areola is not exposed, in whole or in part. ' " Instagram has a "no nipples" policy with exceptions: material that is not allowed includes "some photos of female nipples, but photos of post- mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures
6150-666: The American Civil Liberties Union have raised concerns about news broadcasting stations, particularly Fox News , censoring their own content to be less controversial when reporting on certain types of issues such as the War on Terror . In their book Manufacturing Consent (1988), Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman argue that corporate ownership of news media very strongly encourages systematic self-censorship owing to market forces. In this argument, even with supposedly liberal media, bias and (often unconscious) self-censorship
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6300-490: The Holocaust film The Pawnbroker , directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Rod Steiger , was initially rejected because of two scenes in which actresses Linda Geiser and Thelma Oliver fully expose their breasts, and also because of a sex scene between Oliver and Jaime Sánchez that was described as "unacceptably sex suggestive and lustful". Despite the rejection, the film's producers arranged for Allied Artists to release
6450-513: The Moulin Rouge ). The word "topless" usually refers to a woman whose breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed to public view. It can describe a woman who appears, poses, or performs with her breasts exposed, such as a "topless model" or "topless dancer", or to an activity undertaken while not wearing a top, such as "topless sunbathing". It may indicate a designated location where one might expect to find women not wearing tops, such as
6600-456: The Papunya community from using a public park in the city of Alice Springs to practice a traditional Aboriginal dance that included topless women. In the 16th century, women's jeogori (an upper garment) was long, wide, and covered the waist. The length of women's jeogori gradually shortened: it was approximately 65 cm in the 16th century, 55 cm in the 17th century, 45 cm in
6750-522: The Republican National Committee , to rehabilitate Hollywood's image. The move mimicked the decision that Major League Baseball had made in hiring judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as League Commissioner the previous year to quell questions about the integrity of baseball in the wake of the 1919 World Series gambling scandal ; The New York Times even called Hays the "screen Landis". Hays
6900-719: The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site . During the Vietnam War , American GIs encountered the Montagnards, native inhabitants of the Central Highlands, whose women Infantry Lieutenant A.T. Lawrence described "completely uninhibited in their bare-breasted nakedness". In traditional Japanese society, topless nudity ( hadanugi ) and complete nudity ( maru hadaka ) were widely accepted culturally and morally for both men and women, with
7050-503: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees freedom of speech from all forms of censorship. Article 19 explicitly states that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." The practice of self-censorship, like that of censorship itself, has
7200-592: The Virgin Mary with her left breast uncovered is believed to have taken Sorel as a model.) Aristocratic women sought to immortalise their breasts in paint, as in the case of Simonetta Vespucci , whose portrait with exposed breasts was painted by Piero di Cosimo in c. 1480. During the 16th century, women's fashions displaying their breasts were common in society, from Queens to common prostitutes, and emulated by all classes. Similar fashions became popular in England during
7350-448: The introduction of Islam and contact with Western cultures. In Javanese and Balinese societies, women had gone topless to work or rest comfortably. Among the Dayak, only big-breasted women or married women with sagging breasts covered their breasts because their breasts interfered with their work. In most Middle Eastern countries, toplessness has not been socially accepted since at least
7500-609: The plots of films they were planning on producing. In 1915, the Supreme Court had decided unanimously in Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio that free speech did not extend to motion pictures. While there had been token attempts to clean up the films before (such as when the studios formed the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry (NAMPI) in 1916), little had come of
7650-458: The 17th century when they were worn by Queen Mary II and by Henrietta Maria , wife of Charles I of England , for whom architect Inigo Jones designed a masque costume that fully revealed both of her breasts. In a survey of 190 different societies, researches found that very few associated exposed breasts with sexuality, but that there was an insistence that women conceal their breasts. Different standards apply to art, with one example being
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#17328761910807800-464: The 18th century, and 28 cm in the 19th century, with some as short as 14.5 cm. A heoritti (허리띠) or jorinmal (졸잇말) was worn to cover the breasts. The trend of wearing a short jeogori with a heoritti was started by the gisaeng and soon spread to women of the upper class. Among women of the common and lowborn classes, a practice emerged in which they revealed their breasts after childbirth to proudly indicate that they had given birth to
7950-440: The 2000s, certain scientists have withheld their findings related to climate changes caused by pollution and to endangered species . In the early days of atomic physics , it was realized that discoveries regarding nuclear fission and the chain reaction might be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes – on the one hand, such discoveries could have important applications for medicine and energy production , however on
8100-1144: The 2014–2015 laws on "undesirable organisations" and the invasion of Ukraine , which began on February 24, 2022. Self-censorship has increased in Turkey as press freedoms declined under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in the late 2000s. Affected areas include among others the discussion of the Armenian genocide . According to AmeriSpeak survey, 40% of Americans did not feel free to speak their mind in 2019. About 60% of college students reported that they did not feel comfortable expressing their views of campus at times. According to an article published by political scientists James L. Gibson and Joseph L. Sutherland, rates of self-censorship in America in 2020 had increased to 46%, up from 13% in 1954. Alternatively, according to an article by John. K Wilson, this may be an indicator of acceptable discourse becoming wider, not narrower. Toplessness Toplessness refers to
8250-490: The Association's new head. The chaos of the interim period had rendered enforcement impossible and Valenti, an opponent of the Production Code, began working on a rating system under which film restrictions would lessen, an idea that had been considered as early as 1960 in response to the success of the non-approved Some Like It Hot and Anatomy of a Murder . In 1966, Warner Bros. released Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ,
8400-497: The Code were rewritten to accept subjects such as miscegenation, adultery, and prostitution. For example, a proposed remake of Anna Christie , a pre-Code film dealing with prostitution, was canceled by MGM twice, in 1940 and in 1946, as the character Anna was not allowed to be portrayed as a prostitute. By 1962, such subject matter was acceptable, and the original film was given a seal of approval. Two 1956 films, The Bad Seed and Baby Doll , generated great controversy involving
8550-517: The Code, Hitchcock's version had Rebecca die in an accident with Maxim de Winter being only guilty for hiding the facts of her death. The 2020 remake , not bound by the Code, restored du Maurier's original plot element. The PCA also engaged in political censorship. When Warner Bros. wanted to make a film about Nazi concentration camps , the production office forbade it, citing the prohibition on depicting "in an unfavorable light" another country's "institutions [and] prominent people", with threats to take
8700-564: The Code, although their content was mostly toned down by the end of 1934 as the result of public outrage over the coverage of the killings of John Dillinger in July, and of "Baby Face" Nelson and three girls in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the latter two occurring during the same week in November, not deviating much from the Code until World War II. However, the most famous defiance of the code
8850-610: The Code, such as Vittorio De Sica 's Bicycle Thieves (1948), released in the United States in 1949. In 1950, film distributor Joseph Burstyn released The Ways of Love , which included The Miracle , a short film originally part of L'Amore (1948), an anthology film directed by Roberto Rossellini . This segment was considered to mock the Nativity, so the New York State Board of Regents (in charge of film censorship in
9000-501: The Code. "Those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association, irrespective of the manner in which they are treated": "Special care [must be] be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized": In 1929, Catholic layman Martin Quigley , editor of
9150-465: The MPAA approval was "the first of a series of injuries to the Production Code that would prove fatal within three years". In 1963, MPAA president Eric Johnston , who had previously "liberalized" the Code, died. The next three years were marked by a power struggle between two factions, which led to an erratic application of the Code. Finally, the "liberal" faction prevailed by 1966, installing Jack Valenti as
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#17328761910809300-447: The MPAA revised the code to make it more rigid, spelling out more words and subjects that were prohibited. That same year however, MGM head Louis B. Mayer , one of Breen's foremost allies, was ousted after a series of disputes with the studio's production head, Dore Schary , whose preference for gritty "social realism" films was often at odds with the Hays Office. In 1954, Breen retired, largely because of ill health, and Geoffrey Shurlock
9450-468: The MPPDA agreed it would abide by the Code. The production code was intended to put a limitation on films which were distributed to a large audience, making it more difficult to appeal to all individuals in the audiences. The code was divided into two parts. The first was a set of "general principles" which prohibited a picture from "lowering the moral standards of those who see it", so as not to wrongly influence
9600-537: The MPPDA, later the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began rigidly enforcing it in 1934. The Production Code spelled out acceptable and unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States. From 1934 to 1954, the code was closely associated with Joseph Breen ,
9750-434: The PCA. The first dealt with the deaths of children, including that of the "wicked child" protagonist Rhoda at the end, which had been the result of changing the ending from the original novel to abide with the Code's "crime must pay" rule. On the other hand, the second film was vociferously attacked by religious and moral leaders, partly because of its provocative publicity, while the MPAA attracted great criticism for approving
9900-506: The Production Code was replaced by the MPAA film rating system . In the 1920s, Hollywood was rocked by a number of notorious scandals, such as the murder of William Desmond Taylor and the alleged rape of Virginia Rappe by popular movie star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle , which brought widespread condemnation from religious, civic and political organizations. Many felt that the film industry had always been morally questionable, and political pressure
10050-458: The Renaissance, many artists were strongly influenced by classical Greek styles and culture, and images of nude and semi-nude subjects in many forms proliferated in art, sculpture and architecture of the period. In aristocratic and upper-class circles the display of breasts also invoked associations with classical Greek nude sculptures and art and a classic breast shape was at times regarded as
10200-511: The US it's a permissible law." The legality around the exposure of nipples is inconsistently regulated throughout the US. Some states do not allow the visualization of any part of the breast. Other jurisdictions prohibit any female chest anatomy by banning anatomical structures that lie below the top of the areola or nipple. Such is the case in West Virginia and Massachusetts. West Virginia's regulation
10350-484: The Uriya. In traditional Thai society, women dressed similarly to men, wearing only a loose lower garment while normally being bare-breasted. Before the introduction of Western dress codes , Thai women were depicted both fully clothed and topless in public. Until the early 20th century, women from northern Thailand wore a long tube-skirt ( Pha-Sin ), tied high above their waist and below their breasts, which were uncovered. In
10500-445: The administrator appointed by Hays to enforce the code in Hollywood. The film industry followed the guidelines set by the code well into the late 1950s, but it began to weaken, owing to the combined impact of television, influence from foreign films, controversial directors (such as Otto Preminger ) pushing boundaries, and intervention from the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court . In 1968, after several years of minimal enforcement,
10650-452: The alternative term "topfree", which is not perceived to have these connotations. Barechestedness is the state of a man or boy wearing no clothes above the waist, exposing the upper torso. Bare male chests are generally considered acceptable in or around the house; at beaches, swimming pools and sunbathing areas; when exercising outside in hot weather; and in certain outdoor construction work settings. However, some stores and restaurants have
10800-409: The app stores for non-compliance. Due to these high numbers of government interference, the companies and networks that publish on the internet are now employing people and utilizing sophisticated programs to find videos and pictures that are offensive to remove before the government can get them in trouble. Self-censorship by Western companies trying to appease Chinese authorities has also affected
10950-450: The appeals process ultimately put the responsibility for making the final decision in the hands of the studios. One factor in ignoring the code was the fact that some found such censorship prudish, owing to the libertine social attitudes of the 1920s and early 1930s. This was a period in which the Victorian era was sometimes ridiculed as being naïve and backward. When the Code was announced,
11100-410: The audience feels sure that evil is wrong, and good is right". On February 19, 1930, Variety published the entire content of the Code, and predicted that state film censorship boards would soon become obsolete; however, the men obliged to enforce the code—Jason Joy (head of the committee until 1932) and his successor, James Wingate—were generally unenthusiastic and/or ineffective. The Blue Angel ,
11250-538: The ban on homosexuality or on the use of specific curse words, were never directly mentioned, but were assumed to be understood without clear demarcation. The Code also contained an addendum commonly referred to as the Advertising Code, which regulated advertising copy and imagery. Homosexuals were de facto included under the proscription of sex perversion, and the depiction of miscegenation (by 1934, defined only as sexual relationships between black and white races)
11400-541: The beginning of Islam (7th century), because of Islamic standards for female modesty . However, toplessness was the norm in some pre-Islamic cultures in Arabia , Egypt, Assyria and Mesopotamia . Tunisia and Egypt are an exception among Arabic states, allowing foreign tourists to swim topless on private beaches. Among Himba women of northern Namibia and Hamar of southern Ethiopia , besides other traditional groups in Africa,
11550-504: The beginning that the Code would be difficult to enforce. The Great Depression of the 1930s led many studios to seek income by any way possible. Since films containing racy and violent content resulted in high ticket sales, it seemed reasonable to continue producing such films. Soon, the flouting of the code became an open secret. In 1931, The Hollywood Reporter mocked the code and quoted an anonymous screenwriter saying that "the Hays moral code
11700-635: The boundaries of the new code would be current community standards and good taste. Any film containing content deemed suitable for older audiences would feature the SMA label in its advertising. With the creation of this new label, the MPAA unofficially began classifying films. The MPAA film rating system went into effect on November 1, 1968, with the four rating symbols: "G" meaning suggested for general exhibition (persons of all ages admitted), "M" meaning suggested for mature audiences, "R" meaning suggested as restricted (persons under 16 not admitted unless accompanied by
11850-420: The code, while at the same time circumventing it. In 1956, Columbia acquired an art-house distributor, Kingsley Productions , that specialized in importing foreign art films, in order to distribute and capitalize on the notoriety of the film And God Created Woman (1956). Columbia's agreement with the MPAA forbade it from distributing a film without a seal of approval, but the agreement did not specify what
12000-508: The concepts are not identical. Self-censorship is a passive act. It amounts to the suppression of potentially objectionable beliefs, opinions, and preferences. Thus, it amounts to self-silencing; it is an act of passivity. Preference falsification is the misrepresentation of one’s preferences under perceived social pressures . It is often performative, as it can involve the active manipulation of one’s preferences to impress an audience or avoid its wrath. For an illustration, consider
12150-470: The director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art was interviewed regarding his decision to whitewash an antiwar mural showing dollar-draped military coffins, he speculated that the mural would have offended the community in which it was placed. He then added that "there were zero complaints, because I took care of it right away". Self-censorship is a form of preference falsification , though
12300-561: The dome of the United States Capitol featuring an 1865 fresco depicting goddesses with their breasts exposed. Although some social attitudes to increased body exposure began to soften during the late 1960s, contemporary Western societies still generally view toplessness unfavorably. During a short period in 1964, "topless" dress designs appeared at fashion shows, but those who wore the dresses in public found themselves arrested on indecency charges. However, toplessness has come to be
12450-607: The efforts. New York became the first state to take advantage of the Supreme Court's decision by instituting a censorship board in 1921. Virginia followed suit the following year, with eight individual states having a board by the advent of sound film, but many of these were ineffectual. By the 1920s, the New York stage, a frequent source of subsequent screen material, had topless shows, performances filled with curse words , adult subject matter, and sexually suggestive dialog. Early in
12600-483: The ending with Rick's noble renunciation, one of Casablanca ' s most famous scenes. Some of Hollywood's creative class managed to find positives in the Code's limitations however. Director Edward Dmytryk later said that the Code "had a very good effect because it made us think. If we wanted to get something across that was censorable... we had to do it deviously. We had to be clever. And it usually turned out to be much better than if we had done it straight." Outside
12750-668: The etiquette varies depending on the social context. For example, at specific cultural events the norm may be relaxed, such as at Fantasy Fest , at Mardi Gras in New Orleans and at the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro . The same may also apply at designated topless beaches. In many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, exposed breasts were acceptable while a woman's bared legs, ankles or shoulders were considered risqué. During
12900-443: The exception of the samurai aristocracy. It was not uncommon to see women, young and old, with torso exposed. Francis Hall, 1861, described such an encounter: "The screens of the house are wide open to the street for the summer fervors are great and a half dozen women, married as their black teeth denote, are lying face downwards and leaning upon their elbows on the mats. Each one has thrown off her upper garments from her shoulders and
13050-823: The expectations of the market. For example, the editor of a periodical may consciously or unconsciously avoid topics that will anger advertisers, customers, or the owners in order to protect their livelihood either directly (i.e., fear of losing their job) or indirectly (e.g., a belief that a book will be more profitable if it does not contain offensive material). This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as soft censorship . In authoritarian countries, creators of artworks may remove material that their government might find controversial for fear of sanction by their governments. Taste and decency are other areas in which questions are often raised regarding self-censorship. Art or journalism involving images or footage of murder , terrorism , war and massacres may cause complaints as to
13200-439: The extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on social and cultural context. Women's swimsuits and bikinis commonly reveal the tops and sides of the breasts. Displaying cleavage is considered permissible in many settings, and is even a sign of elegance and sophistication on many formal social occasions, but it may be prohibited by dress codes in settings such as workplaces and schools, where sexualized displays of
13350-821: The female breast may be considered inappropriate. In a number of cultures, including Europe and other Westernized countries outside the United States, there are fewer social restrictions against sunbathing or swimming topless. Despite being illegal or socially proscribed in many places in the United States, topless beaches have majority legislative support in some areas. In Canada, a poll in 1992 found that 38% favored general female public toplessness. Following that survey, several legal rulings in Canadian courts from 1996 to 2000 made public toplessness legal, but very few women go topless in public. Some cultures have even begun to expand social prohibitions on female toplessness to prepubescent and even infant girls. This trend toward covering
13500-441: The female breasts, despite some considering them equally erogenous. Male barechestedness is often ascribed to practical reasons such as heat, or the ability to move the body without being restricted by an upper body garment. In several sports, such as swimming and boxing, it is encouraged or even obligatory for males to be barechested. Barechestedness may also be used as a display of power, or to draw attention to oneself, especially if
13650-724: The female nipple from infancy onward is particularly noticeable in the United States, Eastern Asia and the Middle East, but is much less common in Europe. Political attitudes and laws vary greatly around the world in regards to female toplessness. In support of Icelandic student Adda Smaradottir 's FreeTheNipple act in public cyberspace, young women uploaded their topless photos to Facebook and protested against its Community Standards of considering women's breasts as sexual materials. Those photos and related news articles were blocked initially, but Facebook considered those photos did not violate Community Standards. Bathing and sunbathing in
13800-484: The film without the Production Code seal, with the New York censors licensing the film without the cuts demanded by Code administrators. The producers appealed the rejection to the MPAA. On a 6–3 vote, the MPAA granted the film an exception, conditional on "reduction in the length of the scenes which the Production Code Administration found unapprovable". The requested reductions of nudity were minimal, and
13950-418: The first film the office reviewed, which was passed by Joy with no revisions, was considered indecent by a California censor. Although there were several instances where Joy negotiated cuts from films and there were definite—albeit loose—constraints, a significant amount of lurid material made it to the screen. Joy had to review 500 films a year with a small staff and little power. He was more willing to work with
14100-501: The first film to feature the "Suggested for Mature Audiences" (SMA) label. As the PCA board was divided about censoring the film's explicit language, Valenti negotiated a compromise: the word "screw" was removed, but other language remained, including the phrase "hump the hostess". The film received Production Code approval despite the previously prohibited language. That same year, the British-produced, American-financed film Blowup
14250-473: The front and exposed the breasts. The breasts were further emphasized by a narrow waist, similar to the shape that corsets gave women during the late 1800s. In certain parts of northern India, some women did not wear an upper garment except during winter before the Muslim conquest of India . Women and men typically wore an antriya on the lower body and were nude from the waist up, aside from pieces of jewelry. This
14400-467: The general population, psychologists were more than twice likely to claim no religion, three times more likely to describe religion as unimportant in their lives, and five times more likely to deny belief in God." Regarding a religious movement it is more common among fundamentalist believers like Wahhabism , Islamism , Calvinism , and Hasidic Judaism . Self-censorship can also occur in order to conform to
14550-477: The grounds of gender equality . Art and visual media throughout history, from painting and sculpture to film and photography , have frequently featured toplessness. Such representations are often defended on the grounds of artistic merit ; toplessness may also be defended on educational, medical, or political grounds. Toplessness also features prominently in erotica , pornography , and at adult venues ranging from strip clubs to upmarket cabarets (such as
14700-677: The late 1950s, increasingly explicit films began to appear, such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), often dealing with adult subjects and sexual matters that had not been seen in Hollywood films since enforcement of the production code began in 1934. The MPAA reluctantly granted the seal of approval for these films, although not until certain changes were made. Owing to its themes, Billy Wilder 's Some Like It Hot (1959)
14850-466: The late 19th century the influence of missionaries and modernization under King Chulalongkorn encouraged local women to cover their breasts with blouses. Between 1939 and 1942, the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram issued a series of cultural standards ; Mandate 10, issued on 8 September 1941, instructed Thai people not to appear in public places "without being appropriately dressed". Inappropriate dress included "wearing no shirt or wearing
15000-509: The liberal periodical The Nation attacked it, stating that if crime were never to be presented in a sympathetic light, then taken literally that would mean that "law" and "justice" would become one and the same; therefore, events such as the Boston Tea Party could not be portrayed. If clergy must always be presented in a positive way, then hypocrisy could not be dealt with either. The Outlook agreed and, unlike Variety , predicted from
15150-477: The mainstream studio system, the code was sometimes flouted by Poverty Row studios, while exploitation film presenters operating on the territorial (state-rights) distribution system openly violated it through the use of loopholes, masquerading the films as morality tales or muckraking exposés . One example of this is Child Bride (1938), which featured a nude scene involving a twelve-year-old child actress ( Shirley Mills ). Newsreels were mostly exempt from
15300-438: The majority attitude. There are different factors that contribute to self-censorship, such as gender, age, education, political interests, and media exposure. For some, the reason for their change in beliefs and opinions is rooted in fear of isolation and exclusion. For these people, the expression of their own beliefs is less important than the fear of negative reactions of others to the expression of those beliefs. According to
15450-686: The matter to the federal government if the studio went ahead. This policy prevented a number of anti-Nazi films being produced. In 1938, the FBI unearthed and prosecuted a Nazi spy ring, subsequently allowing Warner to produce Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), with The Three Stooges ' short subject You Nazty Spy! (1940) being the first Hollywood film of any sort to openly spoof the Third Reich's leadership, followed soon after by The Great Dictator . Breen's power to change scripts and scenes angered many writers, directors and Hollywood moguls . Breen influenced
15600-454: The media and citizens have to go to even greater extents to censor much of the material that they would post online. Many companies have been shut down by government because of the content that they have published. Nearly 10,000 social media accounts in October 2018 were shut down that published entertainment and celebrity news. As well as 370 different streaming apps that were pulled off of
15750-579: The nude (including topless) is legal on Danish beaches. Nudity and toplessness in other public outdoor places is generally also legal, unless it involves "offensive conduct" or is likely to cause public outrage. The public outrage law is rarely used in practice, but in 1972 audience members were convicted of being nude in the Royal Danish Theatre . In December 2007, a group of women and men calling themselves Topless Front swam topless in public swim baths to promote topless equality. In March 2008, after
15900-527: The other hand, they might also lead to the production of unprecedented weapons of mass destruction . Leo Szilard argues that if dangerous discoveries were kept secret, the development and use of such weapons might be avoided. Similarly, findings in the field of medicine and biotechnology could facilitate production of biological weapons of mass destruction. In 2003 members of the Journal Editors and Authors Group, 32 leading journal editors, perceived
16050-458: The outcome was viewed in the media as a victory for the film's producers. The Pawnbroker was the first film featuring bare breasts to receive Production Code approval. The exception to the code was granted as a "special and unique case" and was described by The New York Times at the time as "an unprecedented move that will not, however, set a precedent". In Pictures at a Revolution , a 2008 study of films during that era, Mark Harris wrote that
16200-582: The police, etc. In terms of geography, cases of physical assault were more common in the South Caucasus, followed by Turkey, but were present in other regions as well. In the early 2010s, self-censorship was studied in the context of professional practice of many Indonesian newspaper journalists. Self-censorship was found in Israeli media during the Second Lebanon War . It has also been found to affect
16350-500: The potential harm of publication outweighs the potential societal benefits... the paper should be modified, or not be published... Self-censorship has been found to affect journalists in a number of less-democratic African states, such as Ethiopia , Uganda and Zambia . Widespread practice of self-censorship has been described as significantly detrimental to the development of independent journalism in Central Asia . In China,
16500-539: The pre-Code era and the transition period beginning in July 1934 were pulled from release exchanges (with some of them never seeing public release again), which led studios to remake some of its early 1930s-era films in later years: 1941 saw the release of remakes of The Maltese Falcon and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , both having had very different pre-Code versions released ten years prior. The Hays Code also required changes regarding adaptations of other media. For instance, Alfred Hitchcock 's Rebecca could not retain
16650-572: The prejudices against homosexuals , all in clear violation of the Hollywood Production Code. Furthermore, the postwar years saw a gradual, if moderate, liberalization of American culture. A boycott by the National Legion of Decency no longer guaranteed a film's commercial failure (to the point several films were no longer condemned by the Legion by the 1950s), and several aspects of the Code had slowly lost their taboo. In 1956, areas of
16800-481: The production of Casablanca (1942), objecting to any explicit reference to Rick and Ilsa having slept together in Paris, and to the film mentioning that Captain Renault extorted sexual favors from his supplicants; ultimately, both remained strongly implied in the finished version. Adherence to the Code also ruled out any possibility of the film ending with Rick and Ilsa consummating their adulterous love, making inevitable
16950-451: The prominent trade paper Motion Picture Herald , and Jesuit priest Father Daniel A. Lord , created a code of standards and submitted it to the studios. Lord was particularly concerned with the effects of sound film on children, whom he considered especially susceptible to their allure. In February 1930, several studio heads, including Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , met with Lord and Quigley. After some revisions, they agreed to
17100-567: The purpose of spotlighting what may be inconsistency. Some contributors have circumvented the policy. Facebook has also been struggling to define its nipple policy. Filmmaker Lina Esco made a film entitled Free the Nipple , which is about "laws against female toplessness or restrictions on images of female, but not male, nipples", which Esco states is an example of sexism in society. Attitudes towards toplessness have varied considerably across cultures and over time. The lack of clothing above
17250-454: The purpose to which they are put. Curators and editors will frequently censor these images to avoid charges of prurience , shock tactics or invasion of privacy . Concepts like political correctness and spiral of silence have been found to contribute to the existence of self-censorship. Products intended for children and youthful audiences, such as young adult literature , can be affected by self-censorship in this context. When
17400-582: The quality of content available to the citizens in other countries. It increasingly affects video games, including those by Western developers who want to sell their products to Chinese gamers as well. Self-censorship has been found to affect Colombian journalism. Examples of self-censorship have been found in a number of European countries in different contexts. European Union officials have been accused of self-censorship on topics deemed sensitive by China , in order to avoid diplomatic rifts between China and EU. Threats to media freedom have shown
17550-670: The reporter and other hostages". Journalists have sometimes self-censored publications of news stories out of concern for the safety of people involved. Jean Pelletier, the Washington D.C. correspondent for the Montreal La Presse newspaper, uncovered a covert attempt by the Canadian government to smuggle US diplomats out of Iran during the Iranian hostage crisis before the " Canadian Caper " had reached its conclusion. In order to preserve
17700-458: The safety of those involved, he refused to allow the paper to publish the story until the hostages had left Iran, despite the considerable news value to the paper and writer. Self-censorship by journalists has been described as a form of a survival strategy, allowing journalists to report on some issues rather than going too far and risking a more complete crackdown by the authorities, resulting in even less independent reporting. Self-censorship
17850-706: The same right to go topless as men" to "Topless women are exhibitionists". They found that 88% of Australian university students of either gender considered it acceptable for women to go topless on public beaches, although they felt that women exposing their breasts in other contexts, such as public parks, was inappropriate. They did not find a correlation between exposed breasts and sexuality in social situations. A more recent study of 116 college-age women in Australia found that those who had gone topless were more accepting of toplessness generally, more sexual, and had higher self-esteem and higher body image. In contemporary society,
18000-540: The severity of horror elements in PG-rated titles such as Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , the "PG-13" rating was created as a middle tier between PG and R. In 1990, the X rating was replaced by "NC-17" (under 17 not admitted) because of the former's stigma, being associated with pornography ; as the X rating was not trademarked by the MPAA (which expected producers would prefer to self-rate such product), it
18150-446: The social norm is for women to be bare-breasted. Female toplessness can also constitute an important aspect of indigenous cultural celebrations. For example, in the annual Reed Dance festival mature girls between the ages of 16 and 20 dance topless before the Zulu king. Traditional topless practices can lead to cross-cultural and legal conflict. In 2004, Australian police banned members of
18300-474: The sound system conversion process, it became apparent that what was acceptable in New York might not be so in Kansas . Filmmakers were facing the possibility that many states and cities would adopt their own codes of censorship, necessitating a multiplicity of versions of films made for national distribution. Self-censorship was deemed a preferable outcome. In 1927, Hays suggested to studio executives that they form
18450-729: The state in which a woman's breasts , including her areolas and nipples , are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is known as barechestedness . Social norms around toplessness vary by context and location. Many indigenous societies consider breast exposure to be normal and uncontroversial. At specific beaches and resort destinations, notably in Europe and Australia, girls and women may sunbathe topless either by statute or by custom. However, in most countries, norms of female modesty require girls and women to cover their breasts in public, and many jurisdictions prosecute public toplessness as indecent exposure . The topfreedom movement opposes such laws on
18600-410: The state) revoked the film's license. The ensuing lawsuit, Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (dubbed the "Miracle Decision"), was resolved by the Supreme Court in 1952, which unanimously overruled its 1915 decision ( Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio ), and held that motion pictures were entitled to First Amendment protection, and thus the short could not be banned. This reduced
18750-418: The statute, nudity is further described as an uncovered female nipple. But nipple exposure of a man was not regulated. An opinion column credited to Cecil Adams noted: "Ponder the significance of that. A man walks around bare-chested and the worst that happens is he won't get served in restaurants. But a woman who goes topless is legally in the same boat as if she'd had sex in public. That may seem crazy, but in
18900-495: The stipulations of the Code. One of the main motivating factors in adopting the Code was to avoid direct government intervention. It was the responsibility of the SRC (Studio Relations Committee, precursor to the PCA) headed by Colonel Jason S. Joy, a former American Red Cross Executive Secretary) to supervise film production and advise the studios when changes or cuts were required. On March 31,
19050-468: The studios, and his creative writing skills led to his hiring at Fox. On the other hand, Wingate struggled to keep up with the flood of scripts coming in, to the point where Warner Bros. ' head of production Darryl Zanuck wrote him a letter imploring him to pick up the pace. In 1930, the Hays office did not have the authority to order studios to remove material from a film, and instead worked by reasoning and sometimes pleading with them. Complicating matters,
19200-603: The threat from biological warfare as sufficiently high to warrant a system of self-censorship on the public dissemination of certain aspects of their community's research. The statement agreed on declared: We recognize that the prospect of bioterrorism has raised legitimate concerns about the potential abuse of published information... We are committed to dealing responsibly and effectively with safety and security issues that may be raised by papers submitted for publication, and to increasing our capacity to identify such issues as they arise...[O]n occasions an editor may conclude that
19350-606: The threat of government regulation, which had formerly been cited as justification for the Production Code, and the PCA's powers over the Hollywood industry were greatly reduced. Two Swedish films, One Summer of Happiness (1951), and Ingmar Bergman 's Summer with Monika (1953) were released in 1955 as exploitation movies, their success leading to a wave of sexually-provocative European product reaching American theaters. Some British films, such as Victim (1961), A Taste of Honey (1961), and The Leather Boys (1964), challenged traditional gender roles , and openly confronted
19500-476: The upper body muscles are well-developed. The cultural tendency to hide the female nipple under clothing has existed in Western culture since the 1800s. As female nipples are often perceived an intimate part , covering them might have originated under Victorian morality as with riding side saddle. Exposing the entire breast and nipple is a form of protest for some and a crime for others. The exposure of nipples
19650-581: The waist for both females and males was the norm in traditional cultures of North America, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands until the arrival of Christian missionaries, and it continues to be the norm in many indigenous cultures today. The practice was also the norm in various Asian cultures before Muslim expansion in the 13th and 14th centuries. During the Middle Minoan Era (2000–1600 BCE), women wore close-fitting blouses that were cut low in
19800-455: Was The World Moves On (1934). For over 30 years, virtually all motion pictures produced in the United States adhered to the code. The Production Code was not created or enforced by federal, state, or city government; the Hollywood studios adopted the code in large part in the hopes of avoiding government censorship, preferring self-regulation to government regulation. Father Daniel A. Lord ,
19950-459: Was appointed as his successor. Hollywood continued to work within the confines of the Production Code throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, but during this time, the film industry was faced with very serious competitive threats. The first threat came from television , a new technology that did not require Americans to leave their houses to see motion pictures. Hollywood needed to offer the public something it could not get on television, which itself
20100-593: Was approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Hays created the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) to oversee its implementation; however, there was still no way to enforce tenets. The controversy surrounding film standards came to a head in 1929. In a resolution passed on June 29, 1927, the MPPDA codified lists of "don'ts" and "be carefuls" into what they colloquially called their "Magna Charta". Many of these would later become key points in
20250-465: Was clear that those individuals portrayed as villains were the exceptions to the rule. The entire document was written with Catholic undertones, and stated that art must be handled carefully because it could be "morally evil in its effects", and its "deep moral significance" was unquestionable. It was initially decided to keep the Catholic influence on the Code secret. A recurring theme was "that throughout,
20400-513: Was defended by the French interior minister. There are few legal restriction on public nudity in Germany. A number of court cases have established a de facto right to nudity in the vicinity of beaches, which is broadly tolerated. Swimming pools, whether private or public, can establish their own dress regulations. In 2022, a woman in Berlin was told to cover up her chest at a public swimming pool, and
20550-405: Was defined only as sexual relationships between black and white races. The first major instance of censorship under the Production Code involved the 1934 film Tarzan and His Mate , in which brief nude scenes involving a body double for actress Maureen O'Sullivan were edited out of the master negative of the film. By the time the Code became fully functional by January 1935, several films from
20700-399: Was denied Production Code approval for its various instances of nudity, foreplay and intercourse. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it anyway, under a specially-created pseudonym, Premier Productions. This was the first instance of an MPAA member company directly producing a film without an approval certificate. Also, the original, lengthy code was replaced by a list of eleven points outlining that
20850-405: Was forbidden. It also stated that the notion of an "adults-only policy" would be a dubious, ineffective strategy that would be difficult to enforce; however, it did allow that "maturer minds may easily understand and accept without harm subject matter in plots which does younger people positive harm". If children were supervised and the events implied elliptically, the code allowed "the possibility of
21000-488: Was forced to leave when she refused to do so. This led to a successful legal complaint on the basis of gender discrimination, as the men at the pool were not similarly obligated to cover their chests. In March 2023, the city's pool authorities updated their regulations to permit all guests to be topless, regardless of gender. Several other German cities, such as Dresden , Göttingen , and Hannover , have also issued rules explicitly recognizing that persons of all genders have
21150-480: Was increasing, with legislators in 37 states introducing almost one hundred film censorship bills in 1921. In 1922, as they were faced with the prospect of having to comply with hundreds and potentially thousands of inconsistent, easily changed decency laws in order to show their films, the studios chose self-regulation as the preferable option, enlisting Presbyterian elder Will H. Hays , Postmaster General under former President Warren G. Harding and former head of
21300-415: Was initially banned in the U.S. for its frank depiction of sexuality; however, this was overturned by the Supreme Court. In 1970, because of confusion over the meaning of "mature audiences", the M rating was changed to "GP" meaning "for general exhibition, but parental guidance is suggested", then in 1972 to the current "PG", for "parental guidance suggested". In 1984, in response to public complaints regarding
21450-445: Was not granted a certificate of approval, but still became a box office smash, and as a result, it further weakened the authority of the Code. At the forefront of contesting the Code was director Otto Preminger , whose films violated the Code repeatedly in the 1950s. His 1953 film The Moon Is Blue , about a young woman who tries to play two suitors off against each other by claiming that she plans to keep her virginity until marriage,
21600-577: Was paid the lavish sum of $ 100,000 a year ($ 1.82 million in 2023), and served for 25 years as president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), where he "defended the industry from attacks, recited soothing nostrums, and negotiated treaties to cease hostilities". In 1924, Hays introduced a set of recommendations dubbed "the Formula", which the studios were advised to heed, and asked filmmakers to describe to his office
21750-526: Was released without a certificate of approval by United Artists , the first production distributed by a member of the MPAA to do so. He later made The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), which portrayed the prohibited subject of drug abuse, and Anatomy of a Murder (1959), which dealt with murder and rape. Like Some Like It Hot , Preminger's films were direct assaults on the authority of the Production Code, and their success hastened its abandonment. In 1964,
21900-469: Was ruled out. All criminal action had to be punished, and neither the crime nor the criminal could elicit sympathy from the audience, or the audience must at least be aware that such behavior is wrong, usually through "compensating moral value". Authority figures had to be treated with respect, and the clergy could not be portrayed as comic characters or villains. Under some circumstances, politicians, police officers, and judges could be villains, as long as it
22050-505: Was soon appropriated by adult bookstores and theaters, which marketed their products as being rated X, XX and XXX. As the American Humane Association depended on the Hays Office for the right to monitor the sets used for production, the closure of the Hays Office in 1966 also corresponded with an increase in animal cruelty on sets. The association did not regain its access until 1980. Self-censorship Article 19 of
22200-426: Was the case of The Outlaw , a western produced by Howard Hughes , which was denied a certificate of approval after it was completed in 1941 since the film's advertising focused particular attention on Jane Russell 's breasts. When the film's initial 1943 release was shuttered by the MPPDA after a week, Hughes eventually persuaded Breen that this did not violate the code and the film could be shown, although without
22350-680: Was the standard form of dress unless women opted to wear a sari , in which case they covered their upper bodies with a robe. Toplessness was the norm for women among several communities of South India and Sri Lanka until the 19th or early 20th century. Such communities included the Tamils along the Coromandel Coast , Tiyan and other peoples on the Malabar Coast , Kadar of Cochin Island, Toda , Cheruman ( Pulayar ), Kuruba , Koraga , Nicobarese , and
22500-567: Was under an even more restrictive censorship code. In addition to the threat of television, the industry was enduring a period of economic difficulties that were compounded by the result of United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948), in which the Supreme Court outlawed vertical integration as it had been found to violate anti-trust laws, and studios were not only forced to give up ownership of theaters, but they were also unable to control what exhibitors offered. This led to increasing competition from foreign films which were not bound by
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