Anyone remember the late Mary Whitehouse? She was an intrepid moral crusader against 'filth' on TV during the 70s/80s (and immortalised in Spitting Image). I was reminded of her today after reading a piece by Julie Bindel in the Guardian. I know I know, what was I expecting? She's written a piece on Nyotaimori - which is essentially eating Sushi off a naked woman's body. As a gay man who hates fish, I can't begin to tell you what's wrong with this mental image but anyway...the venues for these events are apparently secret (according to Bindel) so as to prevent 'a group of angry feminists' turning up with placards, as had happened at one event in Seattle. Needless to say, Bindel therefore completes the various stages to find her way into this secret world and is suitably disgusted at the end of it. She concludes 'not for the first time that evening, I wished I was outside in the freezing cold, shouting and waving a placard'. Now then, I'm not one of those people who wants to censor Bindel or nail her to a cross but as I say, I am reminded of Mary Whitehouse. She always seemed to be saying "last night I watched a programme on Channel 4 and it was the dirtiest thing I ever saw". That she did this every week led to the realisation that she must have been hunting out the 'dirtiest' programmes on TV so as to be suitably outraged. Bindel similarly seems to be on the lookout for outrage. Next week, Julie Bindel engages in a lesbian group orgy and tells us "I didn't enjoy it, they are disgusting traitors to their sex". Well, maybe.You can read the Bindel piece here and take a look at Spitting Image's take on Whitehouse below.
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