I don't think male nudity is as often shown as vulnerable. Embarassing and a gaffe, but I can't imagine Colin's scene playing anywhere near as well if written for a woman, because her nudity would be desirable to too many of the people around her.

Again with the reaching, but I handwave it to be why you more often see modesty prohibitions for women than men.

I don't want to imply that female nudity isn't powerful, just that often it isn't power the woman herself can use, unless she's one of those women.

t /generalisation (for now)

Ha! Male nudity that popped up on my blog list (worksafe).

Last season, we had Allyson gratuitously in her underwear and catfighting with Beverly for no better reason than chicks fighting is hawt.

This season, we've got nekkid Carter and shirtless Stark. I call it even.

I don't think male nudity is as often shown as vulnerable.

No, it isn't, it's shown as funny, but I think that's why it's embarrassing and funny. Look at it this way: two random men, neither particularly more powerful or attractive than the other, one is naked, the other clothed. Which one is dominant in that situation; which one has the more stable and powerful social position? The guy with his clothes on. Naked guy = socially subordinate position = vulnerable = mockery = funny. That's why it's especially funny when the guy who's nekkid is a guy who's usually in a more dominant social position (like the local Sheriff). The scene wouldn't have been as funny if, say, Fargo were naked. Fargo being caught naked would just be kinda pathetic. (The funny scene with Fargo was another role-reversal: Fargo as the dominant male, defeating one of the alpha males in the group.) If Donald Trump showed up in Times Square naked, it would be hilarious. The Naked Cowboy walking around Times Square in his skivvies? Amusing, tittillating, not exactly hilarious.

But Naked Cowboy is amusing because he's role-reversing deliberately: men are usually socially dominant, and he's deliberately lowering his social position. So he's amusing, without being mocked. If it were the Naked Cowgirl, it wouldn't be funny. Women are not socially dominant, so while we can lower our social position by appearing in public (half) naked, it isn't funny, because she's lowered her position right out of the range of social acceptability.

I really should be editing.

Hmm. I disagree with the lowering of status. Donald Trump would...well, I don't want to think about it. But when you have good looking muscled guys naked, I think their status is entirely dependent on what they do next. Stark could be naked and it not be funny--so could Carter. You're right about Fargo in that he can't choose, but I don't see that as a reversal, just a limitation earned by him being low status.

Allison couldn't be powerful naked. Now, scantily clad she can wield power, but I think it would be clearly a sexual power, whereas a naked man's power is more symbolic. It's not that we want to touch his penis, it's that we're scared and impressed by him having one larger than we could ever imagine.

I think.

Last season, we had Allyson gratuitously in her underwear and catfighting with Beverly for no better reason than chicks fighting is hawt.

Blink.

I'm clearly missing a thread I should be subscribed to.

Bwah.

(Okay, I kind of had a mental doubletake and then realized. . . umm, is there a buffista on the writing staff naming the characters?)

I don't know how on earth to COMM that, but I really really want to.

Bwah! I never noticed that before.

Good-looking muscled guys naked could be funny, or not, depending on context. But good-looking muscly guys are almost by definition at the top of the social heap.

pausing to ponder a heap of good-looking muscly guys

Lowering, say, Stark's, social status with the funny nudity still wouldn't lower him to, say, Fargo's social level. Nor would it lower him to a woman's social level, even if she were clothed - a naked man among women may feel a lot of things, but afraid isn't (normally) one of them.

You're right about Fargo in that he can't choose, but I don't see that as a reversal, just a limitation earned by him being low status.

I didn't say Fargo being naked would be a reversal; it wouldn't. Fargo being more powerful than Stark was a role-reversal.

Few women can manage to be powerful when naked or scantily-clad, unless it's sexual power, and that's very context-dependent. And a double-edged sword.

whereas a naked man's power is more symbolic. It's not that we want to touch his penis, it's that we're scared and impressed by him having one larger than we could ever imagine.

ahahaha! wipes tears Male nudity being powerful is also very context-dependent. Context in that case being sex or aggression.