Mini-penis he thought was his own

Ya Sam takoitov at hotmail.com
Mon Jul 16 02:52:42 CDT 2007


Not much literary news these days, but the "mini-penis scandal" (as they're 
calling it in Germany) is good for some laughs: it seems American publisher 
Boyds Mills Press was so scared of offending American parents (and library 
watchdog groups) that they asked Susanne Berner to change some ... graphic ? 
scenes in a children's book of hers that had done very well in Germany and 
that they wanted to publish in the US -- changes that presumably included 
lopping off the tiny penis of the little statuette in this picture (note 
that the woman gazing at the statuette appears to have a nose about fifty 
times the size of the organ in question).
       As the dpa report, German illustrator bans US adaptation of child 
book, notes:
The projecting male organ is a tiny but salient squiggle in the picture: the 
male statue itself is only 7.5 millimetres high on the page.
       (Yes, the man is only 7.5 mm -- less than a third of an inch -- in 
height, never mind the penis itself .....)
       But as they note:
Germans, who are accustomed to nudity on advertising billboards and sex 
scenes in prime-time television, often voice surprise that Americans and 
other nationalities frown on nudity or women sun-bathing topless.

Americans living in Germany have said they find some German taboos 
surprising the other way round, including a reluctance to depict gunfire on 
TV and public revulsion towards culling wild animals.
       None of that disgusting nudity for American audiences, thank you 
(even if it involves the cartoon (!) depiction of works of art -- i.e. 
second-hand drawn nudity (of the sort found in most every art museum)). And, 
of course, shoot-'em-ups, why that's what impressionable young minds should 
be exposed to !
        In The Independent Tony Paterson reports that Author's nude drawings 
too hot for US publisher, and that:
She said Boyds Mills Press had informed her that she could either agree to 
have the offending images removed or the book would be withdrawn. "This was 
a joke," the author said yesterday. "The man's penis is about half a 
millimetre in length and the naked woman is clearly part of a work of art 
and not a real person," she added.

The author said staff at Boyds Mills Press appeared to be acutely 
embarrassed about their objections but told her they feared being confronted 
by hundreds of offended parents, if they went ahead and published the book 
in its existing form.
       The sad thing is that the BMP folk are probably right -- they'd 
probably face boycotts and book-burnings. Better to be a laughing-stock 
abroad than lose actual business over a half-millimetre penis !
       At Der Spiegel Franziska Bossy and Elke Schmitter report that US 
Publisher Turns away from Cartoon Nudity -- showing the entire offensive 
panel (breasts ! a penis ! -- of sorts), with the caption: "American 
children have been saved from the above illustration".


http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm#zi8

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