I didn’t watch the Oscars this year because of a dinner engagement with family, but I have seen more than a few tweets and comments running rampant about Seth MacFarlane’s little song “We Saw Your Boobs,” especially from actress Jane Fonda.

And then, when I saw the video of this on youtube I wanted to kick something when I saw the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles singing the song with MacFarlane at the end. Not so cool. Especially since gay men are often the brunt of these same tasteless jokes in Hollywood…and the same double standards as well.  

From what I’ve gathered so far, more than a few women were insulted by the song. And rightly so. But the only one I’ve read so far that has actually compared the debacle to male full frontal scenes in films was Jane Fonda. (There might be more, but this was the only one I saw.)

I’ve posted about the double standards with regard to nudity in films more than once in the past year. I think we tend to objectify everyone these days to a certain extent, both men and women, but women always seem to get it worse than men. And there’s far less respect for women. As an erotic romance author I clearly see no issues with nudity in films, plays, paintings, or books as long as it’s pertinent to the storyline and it moves the storyline forward. But lines should be drawn.

In any event, Fonda said this:

What I really didn’t like was the song and dance number about seeing actresses boobs. I agree with someone who said, if they want to stoop to that, why not list all the penises we’ve seen? Better yet, remember that this is a telecast seen around the world watched by families with their children and to many this is neither appropriate or funny. I also didn’t like the remark made about Quvenzhane and Clooney, or the stuff out of Ted’s mouth and all the comments about what women do to get thin for their dresses. Waaaay too much stuff about women and bodies, as though that’s what defines us.

It’s nice to see a woman with celebrity status speaking up about it, and it’s nice to see others supporting her. We tend to be too politically correct in some cases these days, and at the same time we disregard the most important issues at hand. And Frankly, I’m sick of it, too. As a gay man I can somewhat identify with what women have to deal with as far as body issues go…and stereotypes that are supposed to define us. I’ve been starving all my life to be thin and sometimes I wonder why. I also wonder why the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles agreed to do that song with MacFarlane. It’s an honor to be on the Oscars, but at what price glory?

You can read more of the article here. This is Fonda’s web site. She gets into a lot of the more positive aspects of Oscar night. But I thought it was interesting how she mentioned the lack of male penises.