Dan, so you think that the covers of the likes of People magazine are not benign?

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=people+magazine&hl=en&tbo=d&rls=com.microsoft:en-au:IE-Address&rlz=1I7MXGB_enAU510&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=jrK-UK-UN4TTigLtzoHwDg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1280&bih=559#hl=en&tbo=d&rls=com.microsoft:en-au%3AIE-Address&rlz=1I7MXGB_enAU510&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=people+magazine&oq=people+magazine&gs_l=img.12..0l10.142211.143119.4.145517.5.5.0.0.0.0.295.577.3j1j1.5.0...0.0...1c.1.7-cZ2szf-Ek&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=cce07018d982c4ed&bpcl=39468505&biw=1280&bih=559

Penthouse is perhaps a little less benign, but hardly of concern in the way it might be publicly displayed:

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=people+magazine&hl=en&tbo=d&rls=com.microsoft:en-au:IE-Address&rlz=1I7MXGB_enAU510&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=jrK-UK-UN4TTigLtzoHwDg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1280&bih=559#hl=en&tbo=d&rls=com.microsoft:en-au%3AIE-Address&rlz=1I7MXGB_enAU510&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=penthouse+magazine&oq=penthouse+magazine&gs_l=img.12...8306.11660.2.13433.14.14.0.0.0.0.340.1781.7j2j3j1.13.0...0.0...1c.1.of5oQfOND6E&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=cce07018d982c4ed&bpcl=39468505&biw=1280&bih=559

Perhaps these magazines have these sorts of covers and are prominently displayed in various types of outlets because that is what works for both the seller and the buyer, and is not of undue concern to the vast majority of people.

I find the very notion that something like this should be hidden away or put back in an inconspicuous position very prudish. I mean, what on earth is wrong with a magazine having a sexy young woman in a bikini in a sexy pose on the cover, or the same sort of thing with men?

Fact is that we do have this, all over the country, in places that women and children frequent, and it is not normally of any significant concern to anyone.

It is always good to discover new things.

This article tells me that Sexpo really isn't about sex.

As far as I can tell, Sexpo isn't about sex, in precisely the same way that the Australian International Motor Show isn't about cars, the Sydney International Boat Show isn't about boats, the Sydney Home Show isn't about home renovation and design, the Sydney International Food Festival isn't about food etc...

What the article doesn't tell us is how Sexpo isn't about sex, yet manages to skirt around the labelling requirements in the Competition and Consumer Act...

What's wrong with 'girly' mags? Even if you're not interested in girls I don't see why you'd be offended. Why does nobody get offended by all the buff shirtless blokes on men's 'health' magazines?

Cheers,

Tony

Tony,
Why do you end every post with the word ‘cheers’, even after you set out to offend people (name calling, such as ‘erotophobic wowsers’)? You don’t see the incongruity?

Ludwig,
I don’t know what qualifies you to speak on behalf of “the vast majority of people”. Why do I find magazines portraying sexually provocative images in milk bars offensive?

As you say, sexually provocative poses may work great for the buyer who’s looking to buy a girly magazine. It doesn’t work so great for a guy who comes to the shop to buy some petrol or an ice-cream. Women I know who might sun bake would probably cover up and slip something over their bikini when they walk down the street or enter a milk bar to buy an ice-cream. They do this out of decency and not wanting to offend. I don’t expect to be confronted by a bikini clad women selling herself when I go to a petrol station to buy an ice-cream. Likewise, I don’t expect to be confronted with glaring pictures of them doing the same.

Poor delicate Dan S de Merengue. May you be confronted in life by nothing worse than pictures of scantily clad and naked women. Be of stout heart.

"I don’t expect to be confronted by a bikini clad women selling herself when I go to a petrol station to buy an ice-cream." Of course not Dan… You'd only be expecting to buy her stories and pay for her articles.

Besides, you know if your eye causes you to sin to gouge it out and throw it away since it's better to enter eternal life with only one eye then to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell, where your ice cream will melt.

As for Pericles', "It is always good to discover new things." The answer is in the title…

"Sexpo: it really isn't about sex"

Therefore, it really is about the po!