As promised ... in all it's uncensored glory!

As requested on other less nipple-friendly sites, here is the unedited version of this image.  Naturally, I think a stunning image stands on it's own merits, but since I'm a writer by nature, I also see an opportunity to spout some accompanying philosophy! :-) 

Mink, Marble, & Miz B - 052014 - Image courtesy of Shaheed Photographer

Let's talk about WHY it's necessary for me to edit images such as this one for most sites.  Why is it that in a culture as supposedly advanced as ours, the human body is considered so scandalous and so shameful?   

Having lived in Europe, where nudity is on display in the newspaper, public squares, countless museums, and many baths, pools & beaches ... having viewed the human body as a worthy subject of DaVinci and Botticelli ... having found no shame in my own nude form ... I am maddened by the American delusion that nipples are evil but violence is not.   We will allow all forms of bloody depravity in our movies and games, but heaven help us if we see a living naked body or show people sharing passionate love.   

“If a man is pictured chopping off a woman's breast, it only gets a R rating, but if, God forbid, a man is pictured kissing a woman's breast, it gets an X rating. Why is violence more acceptable than tenderness?”  ~Sally Struthers  Perhaps the answer lies simply in our largely Puritanical roots.  Perhaps not.  What say you, dear Readers?   Why does this image need to hide in the shadowsexposed?