So, The Super Bowl Halftime Show

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I didn't care for the show, even less for the crotch shots. I did like Springsteen and Michael Jackson in past shows, Michael didn't need to grab his crotch. Didn't Travolta grab his crotch in Grease?

What is the significance of crotch grabbing and showing off the crotch anyway? Is there something to it that I'm supposed to be able to appreciate or understand? I can appreciate and understand half naked men and women dancing around, I get that, but what's with crotch shots?

If I sound a bit like Mike Royko you understand.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You expect anything other than showing off of skimpily-clothed female bodies in the halftime show?? There will be singing and dancing and the like also, but just like the cheerleaders it's basically providing cover for showing off the female body.

Jeezy creezy, Loren, do I have to highlight it in red?

I said "I think what little disapproval exists is more a reaction to the close-up crotch shots than the costumes or dancing".

The costumes aren't the problem. The dancing isn't the problem. The problem is the cootchie cam.

There was a particularly good look at JLo's crotch when she's wearing the silver outfit that clearly shows her need for a Brazilian wax job, or at least a generous application of Nair, to avoid the risk of showing her pubic hair on TV (they can poke through leotards, you know). It was camera angles like that which IMO caused the faint objections that briefly made the rounds on social media.

You missed "showing off". Cootchie cam. That doesn't change my argument one bit.

 

[Arctish]

You expect anything other than showing off of skimpily-clothed female bodies in the halftime show?? There will be singing and dancing and the like also, but just like the cheerleaders it's basically providing cover for showing off the female body.

Jeezy creezy, Loren, do I have to highlight it in red?

I said "I think what little disapproval exists is more a reaction to the close-up crotch shots than the costumes or dancing".

The costumes aren't the problem. The dancing isn't the problem. The problem is the cootchie cam.

There was a particularly good look at JLo's crotch when she's wearing the silver outfit that clearly shows her need for a Brazilian wax job, or at least a generous application of Nair, to avoid the risk of showing her pubic hair on TV (they can poke through leotards, you know). It was camera angles like that which IMO caused the faint objections that briefly made the rounds on social media.

You missed "showing off". Cootchie cam. That doesn't change my argument one bit.

If your argument is we should expect the performers at the Super Bowl to show off their crotches, I disagree. Crotch shots like we saw last week aren't the norm. That's why they were notable. People were surprised, some of them unpleasantly so, and they expressed their surprise and displeasure on social media.

Sure, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Beyoncé wore tight fitting clothes for their gigs. They dressed and danced in a manner considered 'sexy' by American standards. That we can expect. But I don't recall any crotch shots, much less a series of them, throughout their performances. And I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if the guys in Maroon 5 or Coldplay or Travis Scott, Big Boi, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Lenny Kravitz, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers had spread their legs and done a 'sexy' dance while a camera at stage level gave us a clear view of them "showing off" their groins.

 

[Toni]

You missed "showing off". Cootchie cam. That doesn't change my argument one bit.

If your argument is we should expect the performers at the Super Bowl to show off their crotches, I disagree. Crotch shots like we saw last week aren't the norm. That's why they were notable. People were surprised, some of them unpleasantly so, and they expressed their surprise and displeasure on social media.

Sure, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Beyoncé wore tight fitting clothes for their gigs. They dressed and danced in a manner considered 'sexy' by American standards. That we can expect. But I don't recall any crotch shots, much less a series of them, throughout their performances. And I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if the guys in Maroon 5 or Coldplay or Travis Scott, Big Boi, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Lenny Kravitz, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers had spread their legs and done a 'sexy' dance while a camera at stage level gave us a clear view of them "showing off" their groins.

I have to say that I tend not to pay that much attention to or remember the half time show--or to the game, for that matter. Personally, I am unconvinced that anyone would have noticed if there had been cameras angled for crotch shots for any of those male performers. After all, didn't Michael Jackson famously start the whole grab your crotch thing as far as pop stars go? DECADES ago.

Is it a coincidence that the cameras just happened to be angled so when two latina performers were dancing? I dunno. Maybe this was intentional and a pre-arranged part of the show. Maybe it was an impulse gone wrong. In any case, I still remember NippleGate but nobody gave a damn about the male performer who accidentally pulled Janet Jackson's costume to reveal her nipple. Another woman and specifically, a woman of color, became the focus of an enormous controversy.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

When we say "enormous controversy"... we mean a few dozen people spammed the FCC to make it look like hundreds of thousands to millions were angry.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Is it a coincidence that the cameras just happened to be angled so when two latina performers were dancing? I dunno. Maybe this was intentional and a pre-arranged part of the show. Maybe it was an impulse gone wrong. In any case, I still remember NippleGate but nobody gave a damn about the male performer who accidentally pulled Janet Jackson's costume to reveal her nipple. Another woman and specifically, a woman of color, became the focus of an enormous controversy.

I don't think Latina has anything to do with it--they're just two top performers known for showing off their bodies. The cameras might have been a bit more focused on crotches this time but what do you think the point of a high kick is other than to show off one's crotch?

When we say "enormous controversy"... we mean a few dozen people spammed the FCC to make it look like hundreds of thousands to millions were angry.

Exactly.

 

[Toni]

Is it a coincidence that the cameras just happened to be angled so when two latina performers were dancing? I dunno. Maybe this was intentional and a pre-arranged part of the show. Maybe it was an impulse gone wrong. In any case, I still remember NippleGate but nobody gave a damn about the male performer who accidentally pulled Janet Jackson's costume to reveal her nipple. Another woman and specifically, a woman of color, became the focus of an enormous controversy.

I don't think Latina has anything to do with it--they're just two top performers known for showing off their bodies. The cameras might have been a bit more focused on crotches this time but what do you think the point of a high kick is other than to show off one's crotch?

A high kick is less an effort to show off a crotch than football players’ huddles are to show off players’ buttocks.

High kicks are part of a dance routine designed for aesthetics of the dance and the lines of the dancers’ bodies and to demonstrate the grace, balance, strength, poise and athleticism of the dancers.

 

[Arctish]

Is it a coincidence that the cameras just happened to be angled so when two latina performers were dancing? I dunno. Maybe this was intentional and a pre-arranged part of the show. Maybe it was an impulse gone wrong. In any case, I still remember NippleGate but nobody gave a damn about the male performer who accidentally pulled Janet Jackson's costume to reveal her nipple. Another woman and specifically, a woman of color, became the focus of an enormous controversy.

I don't think Latina has anything to do with it--they're just two top performers known for showing off their bodies. The cameras might have been a bit more focused on crotches this time but what do you think the point of a high kick is other than to show off one's crotch?

A high kick is less an effort to show off a crotch than football players’ huddles are to show off players’ buttocks.

High kicks are part of a dance routine designed for aesthetics of the dance and the lines of the dancers’ bodies and to demonstrate the grace, balance, strength, poise and athleticism of the dancers.

I saw the Radio City Rockettes performing at Radio City Music Hall in NYC when I was a teenager. It did not occur to me the point of their high kick routine was to show off their crotches. Now, looking back on it I think

Show

it wasn't. The high kick is showy and that's why it's in the show, not so guys can peer at women's crotches although I'm sure some of them do.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

A high kick is less an effort to show off a crotch than football players’ huddles are to show off players’ buttocks.

High kicks are part of a dance routine designed for aesthetics of the dance and the lines of the dancers’ bodies and to demonstrate the grace, balance, strength, poise and athleticism of the dancers.

I saw the Radio City Rockettes performing at Radio City Music Hall in NYC when I was a teenager. It did not occur to me the point of their high kick routine was to show off their crotches. Now, looking back on it I think

Show

it wasn't. The high kick is showy and that's why it's in the show, not so guys can peer at women's crotches although I'm sure some of them do.

When they're doing those high kicks note that the garments underneath are minimally covering and obviously meant for display. I've never seen a high kick from a dancer with more than the minimum coverage of the genital area.

 

[Arctish]

A high kick is less an effort to show off a crotch than football players’ huddles are to show off players’ buttocks.

High kicks are part of a dance routine designed for aesthetics of the dance and the lines of the dancers’ bodies and to demonstrate the grace, balance, strength, poise and athleticism of the dancers.

I saw the Radio City Rockettes performing at Radio City Music Hall in NYC when I was a teenager. It did not occur to me the point of their high kick routine was to show off their crotches. Now, looking back on it I think

Show

it wasn't. The high kick is showy and that's why it's in the show, not so guys can peer at women's crotches although I'm sure some of them do.

When they're doing those high kicks note that the garments underneath are minimally covering and obviously meant for display. I've never seen a high kick from a dancer with more than the minimum coverage of the genital area.

"Obviously meant for display" of the genital area?

You must really enjoy ballet, and not necessarily the dancing part. .

Look, if you want to keep going on about the costumes and the dancing, go right ahead. IMO the issue was the camera at stage level that repeatedly centered on JLo's and Shakira's crotches. The singers could have stood stock still and that camera would have still given the TV audience that up-skirt peeper view. JLo's spraddle legged dance moves wouldn't have been nearly as *ahem* in your face without that camera angle, and that's what people were talking about.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

When they're doing those high kicks note that the garments underneath are minimally covering and obviously meant for display. I've never seen a high kick from a dancer with more than the minimum coverage of the genital area.

"Obviously meant for display" of the genital area?

You must really enjoy ballet, and not necessarily the dancing part. .

Look, if you want to keep going on about the costumes and the dancing, go right ahead. IMO the issue was the camera at stage level that repeatedly centered on JLo's and Shakira's crotches. The singers could have stood stock still and that camera would have still given the TV audience that up-skirt peeper view. JLo's spraddle legged dance moves wouldn't have been nearly as *ahem* in your face without that camera angle, and that's what people were talking about.

Noe that in ballet the legs are covered. In cheerleading and stage dancing the legs are bare.

 

[ZiprHead]

When they're doing those high kicks note that the garments underneath are minimally covering and obviously meant for display. I've never seen a high kick from a dancer with more than the minimum coverage of the genital area.

"Obviously meant for display" of the genital area?

You must really enjoy ballet, and not necessarily the dancing part. .

Look, if you want to keep going on about the costumes and the dancing, go right ahead. IMO the issue was the camera at stage level that repeatedly centered on JLo's and Shakira's crotches. The singers could have stood stock still and that camera would have still given the TV audience that up-skirt peeper view. JLo's spraddle legged dance moves wouldn't have been nearly as *ahem* in your face without that camera angle, and that's what people were talking about.

Noe that in ballet the legs are covered. In cheerleading and stage dancing the legs are bare.

J-Lo's legs were covered.

 

[Worldtraveller]

When they're doing those high kicks note that the garments underneath are minimally covering and obviously meant for display. I've never seen a high kick from a dancer with more than the minimum coverage of the genital area.

"Obviously meant for display" of the genital area?

You must really enjoy ballet, and not necessarily the dancing part. .

Look, if you want to keep going on about the costumes and the dancing, go right ahead. IMO the issue was the camera at stage level that repeatedly centered on JLo's and Shakira's crotches. The singers could have stood stock still and that camera would have still given the TV audience that up-skirt peeper view. JLo's spraddle legged dance moves wouldn't have been nearly as *ahem* in your face without that camera angle, and that's what people were talking about.

Noe that in ballet the legs are covered. In cheerleading and stage dancing the legs are bare.

Your ignorance (and sexism) is showing (again).

In the NFL and almost all stage dancing, the dancers' legs are covered. They are just covered in flesh colored tights.

 

[Toni]

When they're doing those high kicks note that the garments underneath are minimally covering and obviously meant for display. I've never seen a high kick from a dancer with more than the minimum coverage of the genital area.

"Obviously meant for display" of the genital area?

You must really enjoy ballet, and not necessarily the dancing part. .

Look, if you want to keep going on about the costumes and the dancing, go right ahead. IMO the issue was the camera at stage level that repeatedly centered on JLo's and Shakira's crotches. The singers could have stood stock still and that camera would have still given the TV audience that up-skirt peeper view. JLo's spraddle legged dance moves wouldn't have been nearly as *ahem* in your face without that camera angle, and that's what people were talking about.

Noe that in ballet the legs are covered. In cheerleading and stage dancing the legs are bare.

That reallly depends on the performance and whether you consider legs in tights to be ‘covered.’ Most dance perfoances that I’ve seen, legs are encased in tights or some other costume. Cheerleaders as well wear special garments to provide more cover than underwear. Depending on climate this may include tights or it may depend on season/venue. A friend coached dance team for a high school. The dancers are not bare legged although it might appear so from the audience, depending on the costume/tights.

Why has no one brought up those slutty gymnasts? I mean the girls. Obviously it’s fine for the guys to wear skin tight garments that display the outline of their junk, just as it is for male dancers.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Noe that in ballet the legs are covered. In cheerleading and stage dancing the legs are bare.

That reallly depends on the performance and whether you consider legs in tights to be ‘covered.’ Most dance perfoances that I’ve seen, legs are encased in tights or some other costume. Cheerleaders as well wear special garments to provide more cover than underwear. Depending on climate this may include tights or it may depend on season/venue. A friend coached dance team for a high school. The dancers are not bare legged although it might appear so from the audience, depending on the costume/tights.

Why has no one brought up those slutty gymnasts? I mean the girls. Obviously it’s fine for the guys to wear skin tight garments that display the outline of their junk, just as it is for male dancers.

I enjoy watching gymnasts and all manner of athletes. If the cameras started focusing on their crotches I'd enjoy the performances less, and probably stop watching.

Cheerleaders are satisfying to watch but do the cameras focus on crotch shots? Do they spread for a camera ready to get that perfect shot of the crotch? Not in my experience.