Why is violence okay in media but sex isn’t?

Because the country was founded by puritans and our National Anthem is about War.

I’ve forever wondered the same thing.

The bizarre thing is the aversion to sexuality isn't even consistent. You can see a popular music video with someone bumping and grinding in a trashy simulated sex dance and no one blinks. But even a glimpse of actual nudity is considered shocking.

It's the opposite in Europe. Their films will show penises and sometimes unsimulated sex, but show PG-13 American action violence and they freak out.

And that's why we have some weird sexually insecure and dangerous people out there. Sex is hidden, verboten, but it's always open season on violence.

I was going to post, but I see that everything I wanted to write has already been said above.

It's an American aberration. I realized the magnitude of the stupidity when Greenaway's arthouse movie The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover got an X rating for nudity, and shortly thereafter the Schwarzenegger flick True Lies got a PG-13 in spite of an astronomical body count (I stopped counting at 190 onscreen killings).

Torture porn like in the Saw and Hostel movies is no problem, but even plain-vanilla straight sex is censored in the US. It's insane.

R4 I far prefer the European way. More sex, less violence

America was founded by Puritans who were kicked out of Europe for being religious whack-jobs.

R8 and they brought their violent ways to these peaceful shores?

As R1 said, the Puritanical view of sex is set in America's DNA. I am sure the Puritans were sexual freaks behind closed doors. Sexual repression always leads to kinks and perversions. Publicly you show one thing and you can enjoy whatever privately. That is why public displays of any kind of sex is shocking because it's just not done.

On the other hand America has always gotten off on its ability to defend itself. The gun has forged the nation's character - the lone ranger out on the front defending himself against nature and man, creating a new life, a new name for himself. The country has always made its biggest advancements through war. So violence as celebrated, because we are a violent nation. Violence is in our DNA as well.

The secret is to mix the sex in with the violence.

What R10 said. The right to bear arms is sacred. Each time there's a shooting-spree atrocity pious noises about gun control are made. Then nothing is done, and so we await the next atrocity.

Also guns are more reliable than cocks. No gun needs viagra. Huge consolation there for frightened cowardly inadequate males of all designations.

R9 I always wonder about that idea of "peaceful shores." I am certain the natives here practiced all kinds of genocide on different warring nations - sweeping into an area and killing off every man woman and child to steal the land. I would imagine that is why you have war head gear. It's not something they created just because white men appeared on the shores.

And here is an unpopular opinion. Great civilizations - Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Incas, Myans, Aztecs, Chinese dynasties - rose and fell the same time the native nations were here on the North American continent. What does it say about your civilization when, after thousands of years of it being yours, a handful of weirdos can just come in and take it from you. They might have been decent at wiping each other out, but it seems like they would have come up with means to defend themselves better than Iron Age weapons in the Renaissance era after all that time.

Mayans and Aztecs were North American civilizations.

Buhcuz violence is AmeriKKKan and sex is the debble.

'less I'm duh won doin da fuckin'

Sex IS violence.

I have always considered members of the MPA to be certifiably insane.

R11 Yes. I find it bizarre how much hysteria a run of the mill dick or boob shot provokes. But at the same time Game of Thrones and Law and Order SVU, with their rather distasteful depictions or discussions of forced sex are hugely popular. Maybe Americans can only handle sex when it's shown as something ugly or violent.

I find it irritating how The US is still so puritanical. Nudity is such a big deal, the idea of teens having sex is seen as catastrophic, music, movies and TV shows are so sexualized but portray sex as shocking and edgy despite just being a part of life, everything is perceived as sexual harassment now and politicians and celebrities having extramarital affairs is seen as a sign of evil.

When I took art classes. I realized how much our society sexualizes nudity. Once you see nude people all the time. It isn't sexy anymore unless that person is actually attractive to you. I've noticed a lot of stuff from The UK, France, Spain and Italy would get rated NC-17 for nudity and sex despite having tame storylines.

I remember when the UK teen show Skins was adapted to The US TV. And conservative American watchdog groups went ballistic and called it "child pornography". Because the US producers were mimicking the UK version and opted to cast real life teenagers instead of 25-year-olds. And Skins was known for it's honest portrayal of sexuality and all the consequences. The US adaptation got cancelled because it couldn't survive the controversy. Even the Canadian teen show Degrassi: The Next Generation would get episodes censored or banned when it aired in The US