pruriently interesting

So we just finished studying obscenity and the first amendment. Good thing, too, because it looks like Richard Gere has been doing a little brushing up on obscenity on his own, over in India.

I admit I get a cheap thrill out of seeing allegedly cosmopolitan celebrities skewered for intercultural insensitivities, but that isn't the real reason I'm writing. No, the real reason is the irony in the fact that the arrest warrant, the protests, and the burning of effigies were all sparked in part by the fact that Gere's actions were allegedly an "outrage against her [some Bollywood actress's] modesty."

This from the country where, when my wife and I visited, we couldn't walk down the street without men shouting at her, bending over, and humping each other. Quite literally. And it's not even as though she was dressed skankily or in a way that would be offensive to (or "appeal to prurient interests" within) the culture. True, I was wearing nothing but a leopard skin speedo, but I'm pretty sure their cat calls weren't directed at me.

According to one source, Indian men act that way towards white women because they think white women in real life are like women in Hollywood movies who will give you the ol' one two at the drop of a hat. Either way, what constitutes an outrage against Shilpa Shetty's modesty and an outrage against my wife's modesty are apparently two different things.