French Corruption of American Morality

Ah, those French. Why are they always spreading sexual muck on American shores! No, I’m not speaking of seductive lingerie. I’m writing about art.

At 94, the famous French sculptor Louise Bourgeois was making waves in Seattle a few years back, with the unveiling of her naked father and son fountain. Imagine this - this decadent woman actually embroidered a handkerchief with the memorable reflection: “I have been to hell and back, and let me tell you, it was wonderful.”

Nakedly Irreverent 

In 2006 editors at the Raleigh News & Observer, one of the largest papers in North Carolina, saw fit to publish a rather bold disclaimer on its front page:

ADVISORY TO READERS

Today’s Life, etc. section includes a photo of a famous fresco by Michelangelo that includes nudity.

You may remember that 28 yr. veteran teacher Sydney McGee was relieved of her teaching responsibilities after taking fifth-grade students on a superintendant-approved tour of the Dallas Museum of Art, where they were exposed to nude art. I should fairly note that the district has always contended that this was not the actual reason for her dismissal.

Not in France

Leaving CDC Paris for London last week, I had a last look at X, the erotic exhibit “Hell at the Library, Eros in Secret”. The huge, multi-story X-mark lit up the side of the National Library, inviting all of Paris to partake in its erotic pleasures.

Regular travelers to France know that the country is vastly more liberated than America, in all matters sexual. Can you imagine public funds in this country being used to doll up a metro station, announcing the coming arrival of the exhibit!

Never. Just six years ago, we were covering Spirit of Justice’s right breast in the nation’s capital.

Harlots Everywhere

Many American women have never examined their own physical anatomy “down there”, but the women of Hell are on display in the French National Library, legs flung open, inviting us to watch an adoring suitor probing, stroking, licking their public parts.

Of course, what would you expect at the house of Mitterand, a man whose wife and mistress attended his national funeral together.

Indeed, women play a central role in the show, as romantic, deeply sensual creatures with male and female lovers who serviced their desire. This was my takeaway from the exhibits … that the women were every bit as sexually expressive, or wanton — depending on your perspective — as the men.

A Good Time Was Had By All

Private pleasure is theirs for the asking and the taking, and these robust, cultured, upper class women do claim sensual delights … orally, vaginally and perhaps even anally, in a panoply of body parts … some male, often female and on occasion mythical beast.

Hell got its name in the 1830s when the library isolated from its vast collection works that were deemed to be “contrary to good morals”. The original works, which survived police bonfires and theft by curators, include a rich collection from the libertine age of the 18th century.

The collection of 350 sexually explicit literary works, manuscripts, engravings, lithographs, photographs, film clips, book covers, even calling cards and cardboard pop-ups tell a very different story about erotica through the ages.

Erotic imaginations continued to fuel European minds, while witches, branded as lusty for a taste of Satan’s penis, burned at the stake.

Tales of naughty nuns, lustful women, and detailed illustrations of men pleasuring the private parts of noble women defy the lie that only modern civilization is morally corrupt. Human’s pursuit of the erotic is ageless.

We ask ourselves, is this W-rated exhibition erotic art or is it pornography? Curators of the exhibit address this question in the BBC media review, giving us a better understanding of the French philosophy surrounding the exhibit. 

Sexually Confused 

I admit to being momentarily aghast sitting outside the entrance to the exhibit, waiting for my friend. A parade of young French youngsters marched by me with their teachers, turning right into the doorway next door.

“C’est impossible!” I gasped, recalling Ms. McGee’s crime in Dallas. Unable to believe my own eyes, I got up and walked towards the exhibit, only to laugh out loud at my stupidity.

The kids had turned right into the Heroes exhibit next door. Whew!  Even I wouldn’t say Viva la France over such a bold act. The show is closed to children under 16.

This is my first Sex Talk on sexual matters around the world. Stay tuned. Business, culture, travel, media. If it’s about sex, I’m writing about it. We should have some jolly good fun together. Anne