Porn Shoulders

  1. A term no longer in use. Used jokingly for a woman's or girl's bare shoulders — a sarcastic nod to modesty teaching strict enough that a sleeveless top was treated as scandalous.

Modesty standards have long drawn the line at sleeves — cap sleeves are the practical minimum for Sunday dress, and the temple garment is itself cut with sleeves — and the joke stretched that line to absurdity. It circulated as youth-culture humor in the 1980s.

“Careful — you're showing off your porn shoulders.”

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