Article: Pop Tart from women24

Obscenity is a funny old thing. As US Supreme Court Justice, Potter Stewart said in 1964 of hard pornography, "I know it when I see it." But then it all depends on who is doing the seeing.

Take North Yorkshire for example, where shopkeeper Amanda Bere fielded so many complaints about her obscene window display that she eventually moved the offending mannequin, nicknamed Emily, out of sight to
the back of the store.

The problem with the mannequin didn't come down to any of the usual complaints about such things – that it was headless, say, in the tradition of the decapitated plastic sisterhood, or that it had alarmingly perky nipples or even that it was wearing racy lingerie – but that it was pregnant.

You'd think people would be less squeamish when pregnancy is the natural result of, well, sex.
Or that a dummy with a bun in the oven is only appropriate as window dressing for a store specialising in maternity wear. But judging by the outrage Emily attracted, it seems our society is queasily ambivalent about sexy pregnancy and hot mammas-to-be.

Not that we're any more comfortable with virgins.

Closer to home, King Goodwill Zwelithini has asked maidens to cover-up their buttocks (boobs are still allowed) for the sake of the credibility of the annual Zulu Royal Reed Dance in September.

He said he understood that maidens show off their bodies as an indication that they've had their virginity tested, but suggested that they wear umuntsha or sarongs to ensure that people don't "end up seeing certain body parts that we're not supposed to see."

There has been dodginess around the Reed Dance before, as during last year's ceremony where at least two foreign tourists were arrested and later released with a stern warning for taking unauthorised photographs.

It's a genuine problem that among the tourists who flock to witness UMkhosi WoMhanga every year, there is certainly a contingent of perves and possibly even amateur pornographers. It could be the influence of the virgin-Britney school of sexy.

And it's great that the Zwelithini wants to protect the maidens from exploitation of the virgin-Britney school of sexy, but perhaps he should extend that to protecting them from the dubiousness of virginity testing as well. The practice isn't exactly scientific or foolproof and it puts all the pressure and responsibility on young women when sex is a two-way game.

Even adults in their peak physical prime don't get let off the hook.

You’d think we might be okay at least with consenting presumably sexually active adults showing off their physiques, particularly if those physiques belong to ripped and toned and muscled athletes at the top of their game. But there's been plenty of controversy about the batch of Olympians who posed nude for Powerade or Playboy or Peta.

Whether they're stripping off for cash or a good cause or just to capture the moment of peak perfection, there are those who believe that the athletes showing off their, well, equipment is nothing less than obscene. Perhaps they're forgetting that the original Olympians didn't mess around with posing in the buff – they competed that way too.

And hey, if the games still featured naked contestants, it would at least strip away the real obscenity in televised sports – the total overdose of branding.

Where's the line? Weigh in on reed dancers, pregnant mannequins and naked Olympians in the comments section.