The media doesn't like us to use the word 'ass'. What's wrong with the word ass?

[Laura Banks]

Do you hate cencorship in America? Do you especially hate it when they pick on us, a couple of cute comics who wrote a fun self acceptance book? If so, then help us rise up in arms against the media dogma in America that is keeping us from radio and TV interviews because we have the word ass in the title of our book. How outrageous is that? We just got rejected from an apperance on Good Morning America over it. Hell, I'm surprised we got into Fitness and Essence Magazine in November. (plug) But really, are you kidding? You can't say the word ass on television? They show ass all over soap operas - people crawling in and out of beds exposing everything but their groinage area. Niiiiice. Anyway, Janette and I are pissed and we're not going to take it sitting down - on our duffs anymore. Help us lament the hypocrites of this country, folks who look down at people who use cuss words in public, but use them all the time behind closed doors and write them on bathroom stalls in cheap, seedy bars everywhere! Shit, we hate being told what we can and can't say. If a cuss word bothers you, you have a big, fat problem Good Morning America people!

[Mary]

Well, if they dont want you to use the word ass, there are a few other words to choose from.... Be donky donk butt tush bottom da trunk keester
And I have a few different words for the folks at GMA @$$ Wipe @$$ Hole @$$ Clowns... well, you get the picture.

[Laura Banks]

Mary said:

Well, if they dont want you to use the word ass, there are a few other words to choose from.... Be donky donk butt tush bottom da trunk keester
And I have a few different words for the folks at GMA @$$ Wipe @$$ Hole @$$ Clowns... well, you get the picture.

[Laura Banks]

Mary, you get the big picture.

[Pam]

The hypocrisy in the media is so overwhelming it is becoming a parody of itself. There seems to be no problem when reporting on things like the election, or a candidates platform or a missing child case....they just report whatever they want, and then if they have to retract later, then oh well....remember Dan Rather? And that goes for both sides of the aisle and network and cable news as well. When Clinton was being impeached we heard lots of things on the networks.....lots of things a lot more graphic than ass! George Carlin was right on the money all those years ago. If they object to the word ass....why don;t they have you cross it out with a sharpie and put derriere, donkey, or beasts of burden instead. That would be funny. And, how funny would it be to do the whole interview while you avoided saying it. THAT would be very funny. AND why can't they do a lead in that states it may have language that is offensive...they do that all the time in the news before stories. That way, if someone has a child in the room they can skeedaddle them out of there, or if they run the tendancy to delicate constitutions, they can prepare themselves for the onslaught of profanity to follow. ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS! Pamme

[Laura Banks]

Pam said:

The hypocrisy in the media is so overwhelming it is becoming a parody of itself. There seems to be no problem when reporting on things like the election, or a candidates platform or a missing child case....they just report whatever they want, and then if they have to retract later, then oh well....remember Dan Rather? And that goes for both sides of the aisle and network and cable news as well. When Clinton was being impeached we heard lots of things on the networks.....lots of things a lot more graphic than ass! George Carlin was right on the money all those years ago. If they object to the word ass....why don;t they have you cross it out with a sharpie and put derriere, donkey, or beasts of burden instead. That would be funny. And, how funny would it be to do the whole interview while you avoided saying it. THAT would be very funny. AND why can't they do a lead in that states it may have language that is offensive...they do that all the time in the news before stories. That way, if someone has a child in the room they can skeedaddle them out of there, or if they run the tendancy to delicate constitutions, they can prepare themselves for the onslaught of profanity to follow. ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS! Pamme

[Laura Banks]

Laura Banks said:

Pam said:

The hypocrisy in the media is so overwhelming it is becoming a parody of itself. There seems to be no problem when reporting on things like the election, or a candidates platform or a missing child case....they just report whatever they want, and then if they have to retract later, then oh well....remember Dan Rather? And that goes for both sides of the aisle and network and cable news as well. When Clinton was being impeached we heard lots of things on the networks.....lots of things a lot more graphic than ass! George Carlin was right on the money all those years ago. If they object to the word ass....why don;t they have you cross it out with a sharpie and put derriere, donkey, or beasts of burden instead. That would be funny. And, how funny would it be to do the whole interview while you avoided saying it. THAT would be very funny. AND why can't they do a lead in that states it may have language that is offensive...they do that all the time in the news before stories. That way, if someone has a child in the room they can skeedaddle them out of there, or if they run the tendancy to delicate constitutions, they can prepare themselves for the onslaught of profanity to follow. ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS! Pamme

[Kristin]

as Pam said, there is A LOT of hypocrisy when it comes to the media. shows like CSI are able to show carnage as well as sex. so, why is it a word as small as ass that gets the cut? it's on the lower end of the swear word spectrum, and, really, over time has lost it's strength. in seventh grade we had a scrabble tournament, we were allowed to use ass as well as bitch when we played. also, it is used in the movie Shrek, a children's movie. sure, it's used in reference to a donkey, but what kid is going to know the difference? censorship has become ridiculous, it's a new age and new standards need to be set.

[Kelly Jean]

What I find strange, and I'm not sure I'm accessing the correcting wording here, is that when an 'ass' is hot and sexy and plastered all over than it's fine. But when it is real women, real asses that are embrace-worthy, it falls into this hinky zone.

A bit like the way over the top violence has become desensitized so that it has no more impact than a comic book strip. We have T&A shoved in our faces all the time, and then the Dove Ads go up in Times Square and everyone flips out. The air brushed woman are so over the top that it isn't real and at the same time it is also this impossible ideal that millions of women torture themselves over.

And then the use of the word 'Ass' prevents GMA from spreading the books positive message to women all over the country. WTF?

[Ken Turetzky]

I completely agree.

In fact, I've written your theme song:

My Fat Ass Itches.

[Jan]

Pam said:

The hypocrisy in the media is so overwhelming it is becoming a parody of itself. There seems to be no problem when reporting on things like the election, or a candidates platform or a missing child case....they just report whatever they want, and then if they have to retract later, then oh well....remember Dan Rather? ..........Pamme

The sad part about Dan Rather was....what he reported on ended up being accurate afterall, but did we hear about that? Only if you really glued yourself to the TV or read everything possible online. It was something that was kept off the mainstream media. Controlled much like this dumb word.

That's ridiculous that the term "ass" is keeping you off a show. That's just stupid. You can say damn, and piss but can't say ass?

[Kelly Hudson]

lmbfao!!! Now that's funny!

Ken Turetzky said:

I completely agree.

In fact, I've written your theme song:

My Fat Ass Itches.

[Kelly Hudson]

You know what? This just pisses me off! GMA can bite my big fat ass. You know what else pisses me off? I logged into my account over at Blogtalk a few days after Janette & Laura were on my show, only to see that BTR had entered my account and edited the title of the show to "Embracing My Big Fat Butt". Well, I immediately changed it back. Then I fired off an email telling them to keep their big fat hands off My Big Fat Ass and reminded them of their censorship policy which essentially says that they don't censor. I told them if their sponsors had a problem with the word ass, then there's an easy solution - don't put their commercial on my show. BTR may own the technology that allows me to broadcast my show, but it's MY show and I will NOT be censored.

But here's what really gets me. Another show guest said the F word. BTR didn't bat an eye. Apparently the problem lies in the title, which everyone can see whether they want to or not, and the content, which listeners have to actively choose to hear. Hypocrisy at its best??

Censorship in this country has gotten way out hand. I'm all for warnings - parents need to know what's coming so they can decide if their children should see or hear it. But when it comes to someone else deciding what we will and will not be allowed to listen to, and take the decisions out of a parent's hands, or the hands of any adult, I have to protest. Especially when it comes to a word like ass. Such an innocuous little word. A wonderful little word that makes language fun and colorful.

I'm wondering what percentage of people have noticed the change in the media in the last eight years. It's not just ass that's being censored. It's also truth and knowledge that's being censored. And what's with this new "that's not fair" whining going on in the media? Suddenly we're not supposed to ask the hard questions because they're "not fair"? We're not supposed to hold our leaders accountable because it's "not fair"? It's not fair to ask about the health and longevity status of a man who might be the next leader of the free world, nor are we to expect that Sarah Palin be treated the same way as any other candidate because it's "not fair"?

I'll tell you what's not fair....hijacking the political system to put idiots in office who couldn't pass a citizenship test with a grade of D while refusing promotion for a book that does more for women's self esteem and self empowerment than anything else has since we got the right the vote in 1920 and birth control was legalized in 1965! That's only a few small steps away from book banning, people!

Let's start a campaign! Let's all send emails to GMA! Let's find out who their sponsors are and then write letters to them too! Let's ask the corporate sponsors if they support something akin to book banning in the guise of protecting the public! Let's ask them if they support censorship that goes too far!

Bottom line - ass is either censored or it's not. It's uttered in dialog in countless TV shows - we hear it everywhere. But when it comes to the art of music and literature it gets censored? Embracing Your Big Fat Ass isn't the first to encounter this. Remember Garth Brook's 'Friends in Low Places'? He had to rewrite the song because the original version has ass in it. I'm sure there are countless other examples.

With everything going on in the world, it might seem like a small thing to 'go Rambo' about, but think about it. When we sit still for the small things, the big things follow. Anyone who doesn't think that's true, needs to reflect on the fact that it's now legal in this country to be arrested without probable cause, taken out of the country, held in a secret prison and denied the right to an attorney or a phone call for nothing more than being a member of a spiritual or religious group that denounces government sanctioned torture. And anyone who doesn't know that's true, isn't doing enough reading.