Grumpy has a look at the Daily Mail in the morning’s whilst eating his muesli, largely to cheer himself up for the coming day with their amusing reporting.

The news is interleaved with articles on female ‘celebs’ of the E list variety, who ‘flaunt’, ‘put on display’ and ‘showcase’ their ‘ample assets’ (normally which their clothing ‘struggles to contain’), ‘peachy posteriors’, ‘taught abs’, ‘underboobs’ (what?) or ‘baby bumps’. Grumpy finds it faintly amusing that when the pictures include a ‘topless’ shot, it is anything but; every possible trace of a nipple in all the acres of flesh – clearly intended to titillate – is carefully obscured. It made Grumpy wonder why the nipple had made the transition from a Sun Page 3 staple to gross pornogrpahy,

Anyway, Grumpy was surprised to read that a woman named Megan Thee Stallion has just been named by Time Magazine as one the top 100 most influential people in the world. She is a rapper and writer; lyrics range over to taking “some five star dick” to her latest masterpiece which is a celebration the apparently extreme lubrication of her vagina (“get a bucket and mop, that’s some wet ass pussy” she implores the “nigga” indulging in intimacy with her). Why a hint of nipple is considered somehow more offensive than a blow by blow (pun intended) description of the mechanics of this woman’s coital activities is opaque. Grumpy finds it illustrating and indicative of the times that she gets ranked in this way amongst all the astounding influencers on planet Earth.

There is also an interesting comparison between the US and the UK in attitudes to song content here. As described elsewhere in this blog, a memorial stone to the alleged dog of Dam Buster commander Guy Gibson, called (as a matter of historical record) “Nigger” was changed because it was deemed offensive. Yet in the US this word dominates award winning ‘songs’ by females to describe the male protagonists in their sexploits. Note that any 12 year old can buy a CD or download this material.

In comparison,it would appear that the mere glimpse of a bit of areola – or heaven forbid, a nipple – needs to be blacked out if shown in other than back-street magazines. Meanwhile in Europe, bare breasts were de rigueur even in family newspapers a few decades ago and sunbathing topless is today not seen as a pornographic activity.

This curious juxtaposition of attitudes to matters sexual is shown throughout both countries however. In the UK, the aforementioned Daily Mail rejoices in photographing drunken women at horse racing showing their knickers for pure titillation of male observers, whilst MP Stella Creasy’s Upskirting Bill would potentially earn the photographer 2 years in jail for taking the snap.

It’s a mystery.