Red the thoughts of a teenage fashion addict .

During a discussion in my English seminar at school we debated over censorship. From The Chronicles of Narnia and Of Mice and Men, many novels treasured by people all over the world get censored all the time. However, books aren't the only things censored in our society; all sorts of things are censored including music, television, movies, maps, and even education.

Notice the difference between the two ads?
Demi Moore's cleavage and knees are
covered with black ink under the Iranian
regulations.
It took me a while to finally realize that fashion has been censored in so many ways. There have been many advertisements that have been banned because they were vulgar or sexually implicit. And think of the people outside of the fashion industry that don't fully understand the "ugly" side of the industry. It's incredible how much we don't know because it's been hidden from our eyes.

Other countries seem to have it even worse. An interesting article on Iranian fashion by Chris Mohney surprised me. Many Western magazines are "heavily censored by the government who cover forbidden ladyparts with white stickers or black ink." Can you believe that these forbidden ladyparts include bare arms, knees, or cleavage?

A while back I wrote about one controversial advertisement created by Lucie Boshier. I sort of regret my comment on the whole advertisement:

"I find the cartoon a little offensive and I'm not sure if I would feel comfortable with kids looking at the this when they are walking through the streets. Maybe it's because I don't want to acknowledge the fact that the fashion industry isn't so glamorous and that there are many dangerous aspects of the industry."


Although it's still offensive to me, I now disagree with my reasoning that children should not see the ad. By hiding facts from society, I feel that everyone is losing rather than gaining. I think it's better in the long run for people to be able to express their thoughts and for the viewers to actually be able to see that without intervention.

So does that mean I'm totally against censorship? No, but I feel that there is a very fine line in determining whether something should be censored or not. I agree with the words of Charles Bukowski:

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real. Somewhere in their upbringing they were shielded against the total facts of our experience. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist.