[ExI] how did we get here?

[Emlyn]

2009/7/20 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
> OK so we didn't get robot maids or flying cars, but that isn't all.
>
> It has been a loooong long time since I have been at any public pool, but I
> must confess I was shocked and disappointed today.  Envision swimwear from
> the 1930s:
>
> http://www.glamoursplash.com/2009/01/swimwear-through-ages-early-1930s.html
>
> Repeat for 1950s:
>
> http://www.fashion-era.com/1950s/1950s_7_swimsuits.htm
>
> 1970s and 80s:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini
>
> You get the trend there, so I guess I expected at some point we would skip
> the pretense of actually wearing clothing, and be cool with it at public
> pools and beaches.  Some SF writers have picked up on this, and had
> characters with a nonchalant attitude towards mixed nudity, such as in OS
> Card's Enders Game.
>
> I went to a neighbhorhood party today at the local community pool, with my
> son and some of his colarvae.  I was shocked that almost all the ladies, all
> with the exception of two preflabescent teens, had some manner of obscuring
> blouse over top their all too non-revealing swimwear.  Far too much was left
> to my overtaxed imagination.  There was lack of skin everywhere, more cloth
> than I have seen at a pool in decades.  Buns were actually covered.  And
> this is California!  Not only have we as a society failed to advance to the
> logical conclusion, we appear to have gone wildly retro, back to the 1930s,
> if not further.
>
> I felt I was in a den of iquity.
>
> How did this happen?  I was busy living my middle years, working my
> career, taking care of my family, things seemed to be moving along just
> fine.  Then we hit a rough patch, I wake up one day to find that America has
> become liberal, modest and bankrupt.
>
> {8-[
>
> spike

Little or no skin showing is a trend here in Oz too; no, not a trend,
a bonefide social change I think. What has driven this? The fear of
melanoma.

Slip Slop Slap campaign from 1983:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjsRtPvoaM

My generation has had these messages coming at us since we were teenagers.

Our kids, it's another level again; for example, at school they've
never been allowed to play outdoors without a hat on (a big wide
brimmed thing).
This is the type of hat:
http://www.psw.com.au/images/products/514_Large.gif

I've seen my teenage daughter apply a little sunscreen before heading
out in the evening.

Massive changes in behaviour there, over a couple of generations. If
you go to the beach here and see a lot of skin, chances are you're
looking at a boomer.

I think the behaviour regarding skin cancer is largely irrational.
People act as if getting sunburn once basically means you'll get
melanoma, which is rubbish. But, it plays well on TV, and sells things
(sunscreen, clothing). Do you think we'll change our behaviour when
melanoma is trivially treatable?

Meanwhile, we appear to have vitamin D deficiency cropping up in
surprisingly large numbers:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6088756/Vitamin-D-deficiency-in-Australia.html

-- 
Emlyn

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