No need for me to add words to this image.

79fc/1235148823-picture_12.jpg

The image says everything.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

34 replies on “The Zero Shame Game”

  1. There may be no need, yet you actually did add “Zero shame” and “The image says everything.” Both of which modify the experience of the lone image.

    Even in professed silence you say too much.

  2. I once had a pregnant friend of mine model for me and I painted the death star on her belly. It was awesome.

    But once again Charles makes no sense in his posts. At least he is consistent.

  3. I’m with #2 et al. Charles – WTF?
    My sister in law entered her painted bump in a contest (I should add it was my husband – her brother – who did the painting). Everybody had fun, no harm done (the paint washed off in the shower). Not sure why there should be any shame about belly painting (or about showing a pregnant belly in general). No, she didn’t win (though she did get an honorable mention) but we got some awesome pictures.

  4. Hooray for pregnant ladies and hooray for their lack of shame. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the dolphin/flower motif, but I appretiate the spirit of the decoration.

    I guess I don’t understand your disgust. Where does it come from? For someone who theorizes endlessly about architecture’s role in nature, you are quick to shun the first house you ever lived in.

  5. Would someone at the Stranger put a picture of Charles, drunk at a bar, hitting on women while he is married? He’s notorious for having had no shame in that regard.

  6. Of course there’s a need for you to add words Charles. Because, without them, “Zero Shame” makes no sense. Should this woman be ashamed of her pregnant belly? Be ashamed that she is showing it off? That she had it painted? That she has the worst taste in pregnant-belly-art possible?

    Pretty much everyone will probably see this just as a quirky way to do something funny (and, as the article says, relaxing) while pregnant. So, we can only infer that you think women should be ashamed of their pregnant bellies and should not ever show them off.

  7. @) 3 and others who need me to spell it out: zero shame because she is hiding bad art behind the goodness of a pregnancy.

    that is my sole meaning.

  8. Did Amanda Knox get knocked up in that Italian pokey?

    Dear commenters: no, you are wrong, this is absolutely disgusting, and not because it’s a pregnant belly. That child is going to be raised in an aesthetic desert of a household. There is never a good excuse for magic dolphin art.

  9. I think it’s pretty and fun, and that there’s no shame to it on any level. And I think I’m going to go purchase a piece of dolphin-covered art, just to know that people like Charles disapprove of me.

  10. @ 24: and this:

    @) 3 and others who need me to spell it out: zero shame because she is hiding bad art behind the goodness of a pregnancy.

    that is my sole meaning.

    mudede

  11. As a pregnant woman, I’m actually perplexed and a little disturbed by belly painting. It seems like a way to distance yourself from your pregnancy, your body, and your pregnant body. It seems like a way of marking off the “bump” as something separate, alien, and inhuman. Sure, there’s going to be somebody with a separate identity coming out of there pretty soon… but for now, it’s my belly. It’s not a canvas, outside of me; it’s part of *me*, the artist.

    (…and I’m always perplexed and disturbed by magic dolphins, but that’s another issue.)

  12. Muh dik–

    Why don’t you comment on Savage’s posts, which are often about sex? Oh yeah, he’s white. Go fuck yourself.

  13. Go hang out at 23rd and Jackson tonight, whitey. Ooops, sorry, you are in Minneapolis. Go suck Prince’s dick then.

  14. “An ugly low class person, ha ha!” wow, tres intelligent, Charles.
    Sartre and Engels and Hegel and Chomsky would all approve.

    No seriously, tu as d’cervelles d’hotdog, tu sais?

  15. I don’t understand the constant need to celebrate pregnancy. For me it wasn’t a *magical* experience, it was 9 months of nausea and sciatica. Woo-hoo! Also, I hate the term “bump”.

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