News flash: Sex sells! No, really. It's true. Just check out every cover of every Chinese magazine on the news-stand. You don't even need to read Chinese to know they're talking about illicit affairs, starlets caught in compromising cleavage situations or bimbos flashing flesh for fame.
These tabloids will show you pretty much everything - except the full monty. Thanks to obscenity laws you're not going to see genitals or boobs - at least not without fuzzy pixelated squares over them.
As a community, Hong Kong still has a tough time dealing with all things related to sex. It's a kind of schizophrenic attitude that's all tease and no touch. You can write about it using the most crude euphemisms, in the most tasteless tone and with scandalmonger salaciousness.
But a peep picture of a pop singer's back with nothing revealed? That's crossing the line. In other words, it's the idea more than the image that's indecent. Hmm, that's a very slippery slope.
Similar tabloids in England regularly feature topless women on Page 3 and other sections, but I doubt Hong Kong people are ready for that. After all, they still can't show an unedited movie on television no matter what hour it's broadcast. The painting scene in Titanic? Forget it. American Beauty unedited? Fat chance. The version of There's Something About Mary shown last week seemed much tamer than what I recall in the theatre. Surprisingly, Ben Stiller's 'hair gel' hanging from his ear passed the censors.
I can understand protecting children from harmful and dangerous material, but I don't quite get the arbitrary decisions of those in charge of public morality. My issue is their inconsistency. Of course, it's not an easy job. There are some prudish folks who think we're already an amoral society going to hell, while more liberal individuals argue that Hong Kong people's knickers are just bunched way too tight.
My view is that sex isn't necessarily sleaze.
