Are the sexually explicit images bombarding society shaping identities and mores?
On television and billboards, and in shop windows, sex is a popular way to sell everything from the obvious – men’s clubs, brothels and treatments for erectile dysfunction – to an idealised, celebrity-based concept of success. The adult classifieds are thriving in local weekly papers, there are pole and lap-dancing classes in the suburbs, and demand for labiaplasty, to make female genitals conform to a perceived porn standard, is increasing. Our language has coarsened. Bloody is mild. Variations of the word f–k seem hardwired into every visiting comedian and forget ”yummy mummies” and cougars, even kids know what MILFs are (Mothers I’d Like to F–k). What is acceptable in modern popular culture is dynamic, but today those changes seem to be occurring at a rate rivalling that of the start of the 20th century. Discussion of sex and sexuality, once taboo, is now ubiquitous on radio, television and the internet. And while few want a return to the bad old days of repression and puritanis
