London: A City of Grown Ups

In the light of the fact that police in Australia are currently 'monitoring' an exhibition about the Vagina in case somebody dies of shock, it was very refreshing that in grown up, adult London I could see a very lovely exhibition today in the British Museum: Shunga: sex and humour in Japanese art, 1600-1900. This beautiful work, some of it very graphic in its portrayal of sex, was being enjoyed by all ages of visitor. Children under 16 needed to be accompanied by an adult, and there were notices up for parents with children under 14 that the show featured sexually explicit imagery. But nobody was denied access to the art; nobody was screaming in moral outrage; no policeman was there with handcuffs; nobody passed out. It was simply human beings looking at other naked human beings. Why is that such a damned problem in backward, puritanical, moralistic Australia?

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