Clive Simpkins
FREE enterprise is posing problems as South African=20 sexuality creeps out of the closet.=20
The vague limbo of the present censorship regulations=20 has led to a plethora of skin magazines and videos=20 flooding the marketplace. In many instances this has=20 led to grave concern by parents whose children are=20 unwittingly exposed to adult titillation.
Gauteng’s Radio 702 hosted a shrill, emotional and=20 decidedly bigoted “born again” pastor from the East=20 Rand on the subject of pornography. Talk show host (and=20 my absolute favourite stirrer) John Qwelane had him=20 virtually foaming at the mouth by challenging his right=20 to play self-appointed censor-in-chief to the planet.
I am stunned that, when children are sleeping on the=20 sidewalks in Hillbrow and there are numerous tots=20 without adequate nutrition, a man of the cloth can=20 dedicate his efforts and energies to stamping out=20 girlie magazine sales in supermarkets.
This reminds me of a story about a holy man who was=20 scandalised each time he saw a client going to a nearby=20 widow-turned-hooker’s house. Each time a client left,=20 the holy man added another rock to the already=20 considerable pile, marking the enormity of her sins.
The hooker died and, shortly afterward, so did the holy=20 man. He was stunned when, arriving before God, he saw=20 the hooker, happily ensconced in heaven. “How is this=20 possible?” he demanded. God replied, “You see, she=20 resorted to prostitution to stay alive, but her mind=20 was ever on me. Your mind was supposed to be ever on=20 me, but instead it was on her behaviour and that of her=20 clients. For you, admission refused.”
I agree that placement of “adult” magazines or “toys”,=20 as they’re euphemistically called, should be more=20 discreet in supermarkets, cafes and bookshops. However,=20 these mags are going to find their way into school=20 satchels and briefcases with ever-increasing frequency=20
We only need to go back to the 087 phone lines to=20 realise what repressed sexuality there is among South=20 Africans. As with a new sweet shop, there will be=20 experimentation and curiosity, but it’s unlikely we’re=20 going to develop or breed a generation of perverts=20 simply because we can now view naked bodies in=20 compromising positions.
Perhaps the solution is to deal with porn in the same=20 way we’re dealing with Aids. We have billboards going=20 up showing condoms and we haven’t even felt a tremor,=20 let alone the Calvinist-quake that was predicted.
If we remove the mystery and talk more openly and make=20 it OK to discuss sex, pornography won’t have such an=20
When cigarette advertising was totally banned in a few=20 countries around the world, a reliable, authenticated=20 study showed that smoking among kids soared. Perhaps we=20 can learn from that and not make the same mistake in=20 marketing porn.