No new pictures yet. I miss American accents, California, drip coffee, free wireless, our dog, the Golden Gate Bridge, our bed, our perfect little life at home. But I love adventuring with him in this parallel universe. Every day I wake up and can't remember where I am. He doesn't change, he doesn't surprise me, and that is the best thing ever. I know him.
This country is so polite and so difficult and the people here just bear the difficulty as though there were nowhere easier. In return for living on a continent that constantly tries to kill them, their government gives them free health care, living wages, paved roads, a decent retirement, not having to worry about dying of a tooth infection or starving in old age. My country gives back nothing. Life in California is laughably easy in some ways, painfully cut-throat in others.
On ABC1 last night there was a segment about labia reduction surgery, and the possible link between it and government standards for porn magazines. Apparently there is an unwritten rule that there can be no protruding labia minora in softcore porn, because it is too much detail. All the female genitals in porn magazines must be "tidy" and show only the single crease of the labia majora. Therefore, women believe that that is "normal" and get surgery to achieve the look. While this in itself is interesting enough, I found it startling and refreshing that a prime time news segment would show women's genitals explicitly. Such a thing is forbidden on American television, and in fact an American television news program would rarely even mention porn. American mainstream media rarely addresses women's issues head on, or sexual issues in any but the most couched terms. I doubt labioplasty would ever be mentioned on American basic cable.
This country is so polite and so difficult and the people here just bear the difficulty as though there were nowhere easier. In return for living on a continent that constantly tries to kill them, their government gives them free health care, living wages, paved roads, a decent retirement, not having to worry about dying of a tooth infection or starving in old age. My country gives back nothing. Life in California is laughably easy in some ways, painfully cut-throat in others.
On ABC1 last night there was a segment about labia reduction surgery, and the possible link between it and government standards for porn magazines. Apparently there is an unwritten rule that there can be no protruding labia minora in softcore porn, because it is too much detail. All the female genitals in porn magazines must be "tidy" and show only the single crease of the labia majora. Therefore, women believe that that is "normal" and get surgery to achieve the look. While this in itself is interesting enough, I found it startling and refreshing that a prime time news segment would show women's genitals explicitly. Such a thing is forbidden on American television, and in fact an American television news program would rarely even mention porn. American mainstream media rarely addresses women's issues head on, or sexual issues in any but the most couched terms. I doubt labioplasty would ever be mentioned on American basic cable.
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I'm from Brisbane, living in California, and you hit the nail right on the head with the difference between US and Aus tv and censorship. It drives me bloody mad, I miss Aus tv. But not the spiders!
I hope you're enjoying my home country