Bali Videos: Bare Boobs & Cockfighting

Feb 27th, 2009, in Society, by

Videos of Balinese life in early 20th century: fields, ceremonies, cockfighting, and bare breasted women.

Four documentary type videos of Bali in the early 20th century:


44 Comments on “Bali Videos: Bare Boobs & Cockfighting”

  1. diego says:

    I was wondering why cockfighting is very popular in bali? Could it be their way of channeling their homosexual desires?

  2. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    Very, nice, Patung. I want to know who the asshole is who made them cover up. Can you imagine the boost to tourism if they went back ?

  3. Berlian Biru says:

    All very well I suppose but I prefer the gritty authentic social realism of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in “Road to Bali”.

    By the way the one marked “1932” starts off by saying that Bali had only recently been liberated from Japanese occupation so I think you might have the date wrong.

  4. David says:

    BB, yes, the video is titled ‘Bali in 1932’, beats me why it’s got that title, evidently wrong, unless the footage is pre-war and the narration isn’t.

  5. ET says:

    Achmad Sudarsono

    Very, nice, Patung. I want to know who the asshole is who made them cover up.

    It’ the Indonesian government after kemerdekaan. They considered that bare-breasted women would ridiculize the new born republic. The Dutch had tried it before but to no avail, so they ordered Balinese women only to cover up in front of Dutch soldiers. Similar things have happened in Papua with the men wearing a koteka but there the Indonesian government was less successful.

    Here are a few more ‘disgusting’ – at least in the eyes of muslim bigots – pictures that were published in the National Geographic Magazine of March, 1928 Vol. LIII, N°3. I believe these were the first polychromes to appear in this world famous magazine.
    No further comment. Let beauty speak for itself.

    Balinese Girl

    Bali Children

    Bali Villagers

    Bali Girls

  6. David says:

    Thanks for the pics ET, I actually tried to find pics like that to accompany the post but didn’t meet those ones….

    Can you imagine the boost to tourism if they went back ?

    Unfortunately there ain’t no goin back is there, that world is gone, – progress, the march of history, television, aeroplanes, glad though that someone took pictures and videos to remember it….

  7. diego says:

    Oh geez… ET thanks. I’ll insert those “picturesque pictures” in my upcoming book on voice over ip (boring dreaded topic).

  8. Berlian Biru says:

    Isn’t it funny how times and attitudes change?

    Whilst we’re happy to deride Islamists for being so uptight about matters of the flesh and condemn them for trying to enforce their own sexual morality on others it is worth pointing out that if an American magazine today published pictures of half naked and bare breasted pubescent girls like the ones shown above from 1928, there would be moral outrage and the editors would end up doing serious hard time in the sex offenders wing of a federal penitentiary.

    Times and morality have changed and not just in the Muslim world.

  9. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    Berlian,

    Don’t think there’d be a problem with the images above. Clearly not a pornographic or warped sexual intent….

  10. Dion Barus says:

    Art and nudity should be separated, indeed. It depends how we look at those pictures.

  11. Kinch says:

    Say what you like DB… all I know is i’m at least 60 years too late! 🙁

  12. ET says:

    @ Dion Barus

    Art and nudity should be separated, indeed. It depends how we look at those pictures.

    Maybe I didn’t fully understand your meaning but I agree that these pictures are only recorded documents of people going about their daily lives in a specific – tropical – environment and happen to have some artistic value. Whether they are to be considered as art is purely circumstantial and depending on the attitude of the viewer. Nudity is nudity, no more no less, and doesn’t need the approval of any alleged artistry.

    People still have too many hangups about nudity – even in an erotic context – to the extent that it seems only permissible if artistic values can be attached to it.

  13. Berlian Biru says:

    “Don’t think there’d be a problem with the images above. Clearly not a pornographic or warped sexual intent….”

    Oh I agree Achmad but here’s a suggestion; go to one of those southern European beaches in the Mediterranean during the summer and take innocent candid pictures of the topless or nudist beach-goers that you see there, concentrating, as the photographer above did, on young underage females and then post them on an American (or for that matter British or even Australian) website with your name and address.

    Then wait to see what interesting results occur.

    It ain’t just the Muzzies who have a hair up their arse about nudity.

  14. Lairedion says:

    No BB, not only the Muzzies…

    We can thank the hypocrite and hysterical God-freaks of any direction with their twisted beliefs for tabooing every single issue vaguely or strongly related to nudity. Unfortunately this crusade has also influenced cultures which have a historical relaxed and natural attitude towards nudity.

  15. Aluang Anak Bayang says:

    These are not photos from a lost era, at least not in Kalimantan. In the 70s and 80s, it is common to see semi-claded Dayaks in the wet market. Now you still see them but in remote area and only if you are locals. If they see someone unfamiliar eg. a bule, they will hide.

  16. David says:

    BB, there was a recent case in Australia about an art photographer’s pictures of nude pubescent girls and boys, some people wanted him prosecuted, but because I guess it was ‘art’ he wasn’t, I think…

    Blanchett backs Australian artist over nude adolescent photos

    Nude girl art row flares in Australia

  17. Andy says:

    Funny thing is in Jakarta you can see a fully naked woman walk through a bus station or down a busy street and not get any attention whatsoever but a bule fully clothed minding his / her own business gets an array of catcalls and snide remarks for simply being ..mm well bule. A nation badly in need of growing up.

  18. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    Seksi Mr. Berlian Yth,

    I like to take nude photographs of…

    myself.

    And hand them out to the Italian ladies!

    Vrrrr…..Va Va Voom !

  19. Burung Koel says:

    @AAB

    Are you Borat in disguise? 🙂

  20. ET says:

    Lairedion

    We can thank the hypocrite and hysterical God-freaks of any direction with their twisted beliefs for tabooing every single issue vaguely or strongly related to nudity.

    Well, at least as far as the desert cults that originated in the Middle East are concerned. But if one visits some temples in India like Khajuraho and Konarak a totally different vision emerges in which nudity and sexuality are not considered something to be ashamed of. Also closer to home we have remnants from the past like Permandian Belahan (East-Java), Arca Prajnyaparamitha also known as Kendedes and the bathing place from Candi Penataran (East-Java) to name a few, which don’t leave much to the imagination. Even Indonesia’s national pride Borobudur has on its lower level sceneries of the flesh and its related carnal pleasures, but fortunately for the prudish hypocrites these parts remain unexcavated.

    Although it is quite understandable that running naked in the desert sun has its drawbacks, the desert dwellers and their religious adherents are politely but strongly requested to refrain from imposing their views and habits onto the rest of the world.

  21. sputjajm says:

    I suppose things would have been similar during the good old days of mojopohit era.

  22. Berlian Biru says:

    Patung if like me you grew up in the seventies and eighties listening to crap heavy metal LP’s or just browsing them in the record store then you might recall an album by the band Scorpions called “Virgin Killer” from 1976, I vaguely remember the cover but as Scorpion were not a band I was into (I never liked German rock bands, they just tried to hard) I never gave it much thought.

    Good thing I never bought it as I might now be facing child pornography charges if the peelers ever decided to go through my dusty old record collection. The album cover in question has led to Wikipedia being censored in the UK.

    Ancient German rockers in high tech 21st Century censorship scandal

  23. janma says:

    diego asked

    was wondering why cockfighting is very popular in bali? Could it be their way of channeling their homosexual desires

    no, it’s just gambling….. same as everywhere else in the world.

  24. diego says:

    diego asked: was wondering why cockfighting is very popular in bali? Could it be their way of channeling their homosexual desires

    Janma answered: no, it’s just gambling….. same as everywhere else in the world.

    @Janma:

    So…, then, how do they channel their homosexual desire?

  25. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    Seksi Ibu Janma Yth.,

    Is there any way we could get the Balinese women to go back to the old ways !?

    It would truly be…

    Seksi.

  26. schmerly says:

    diego..

    So…, then, how do they channel their homosexual desire?

    Ask Assmad he’s an expert on that.

  27. ET says:

    As to cockfighting janma said

    no, it’s just gambling….. same as everywhere else in the world.

    Not entirely. It also has a religious undercurrent, called tabuh rah (spilling blood) to appease the buta kala (evil spirits) who dwell near the ground and are attracted by blood and dead meat. This religious connection is also the reason why tajen or cockfighting is legally allowed at certain occasions during temple ceremonies.
    But of course the popularity of cockfighting nowadays has everything to with gambling and showing off machoism.

  28. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    Schmerly,

    Schmerlying again ?

    Ha ha. Yes, really smart. A poofter gag.

  29. ET says:

    Berlian Biru

    Good thing I never bought it as I might now be facing child pornography charges if the peelers ever decided to go through my dusty old record collection. The album cover in question has led to Wikipedia being censored in the UK.

    There were similar cases like this in the UK. Remember the record sleeve of Blind Faith, the group in which Eric Clapton started his carreer, that was banned because it showed a pre-teen girl holding a toy-airplane that could have been – with much imagination – mistaken for a penis.
    This sleeve is now a much sought after collector’s item.

  30. schmerly says:

    @Assmad.. I knew you’d understand.

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