Swimsuit stamping

[Doug Johnson <palsdaj@VAX1.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>]

Hi folks,

The conversation about stamping the pages in the SI swimsuit edition put me
in mind of all the magazines we received when I worked in Saudi Arabia.
_Every_ page in _every_ magazine was looked at by the censors, and all the
bits considered risque by our Muslim hosts (any cleavage, bare legs, etc)
were blacked out or the pages were torn from the magazines - rather
disconcerting if the last of an article was on the back of a missing page.

On occasion there would be some funny things happen.  A censor would get
bored and draw fishnet stockings on women's legs. Once the "cleavage" of
the homely, male lead singer from Twisted Sister was blacked out.

I think maybe it takes living in a country without the freedoms we enjoy to
put our own problems and controversies into perspective. In Saudi, we saw
the human form edited, but we could only imagine what political, social,
and intellectual "naughty bits" were cropped from the press of that
totalitarian country.

Let's celebrate our freedoms - even when we don't always find them
comfortable. It sure beats the alternative!

Oh, in one media center I started working (in the US) there was an entire
collection of mint condition SI Swimsuit editions. The previous media
specialist, bless her heart, couldn't throw _anything_ out!

Doug



Doug Johnson, District Media Supervisor  | ...it is unacceptable for others
I.S.D. 77, Mankato Public Schools        | in your organization to misuse
Box 8713, Mankato MN 56002-8713          | resources that could be put to
Voice: 507-387-7698                      | better use by you.
Fax: 507-387-2496                        |      - David W. Lewis
E-mail: palsdaj@vax1.mankato.msus.edu
or:     djohns1@west.isd77.k12.mn.us
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/staffdir/staff2/Johnson_Doug.html