Just watched an excellent documentary (parts one and two of 6) from 1999 on the history of pornography in civilisation. the first two ahem... files for acquiring are available (Gooooogle!). The first episode discusses at length how the discovery of images and objects regarding sexuality were, when discovered in Pompeii, virtually everywhere in this typical Roman city. Our Victorian friends thus decided that it should all be removed and locked away from women, children and the working classes to prevent distraction from society (notice how white middle class males of academia are granted the get out of jail free card?). I share the following quote:
"Despite the lurid images that are available in modern culture, we are much closer to the Victorians than we care to be. We don't like to think of ourselves as the new Victorians because everybody needs to cut themselves free of their immediate past to construct themselves; but there are more inheritances in our present culture from Victorian regulations than there are from Roman culture."
If it quacks like a duck...
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