The latest brouhaha on tap is over U.S. bookstore Barnes and Noble’s decision to treat as pornographic the cover photo of a topless man because he is effeminate and has curlers in his hair.

I understand the corporation’s desire to avoid problems, but bookstores, specifically, do have a certain obligation to support the freedoms of speech and expression.  To their (small) credit, they didn’t refuse to stock it, they just masked the cover.

Even though it may not seem so at first, the cover of this magazine is an important example of free speech, and the whole affair is a testament to freedom of thought and expression.

Clearly, the cover has many messages.

What Barnes and Noble realized is that sometimes you just can’t tell what gender someone is by looking, or by a passing glance.

That we have different standards for male and female nudity means that a cover like this one can ignite a controversy and shine a light on whether that distinction makes any sense.  It gets us to think about what we’re doing.  And that’s important.

Allowing that sort of provocativeness is what allows societies to develop, and has been a strength of free and open societies over the years.

The fact that B&N has reacted to the cover, and that there is discussion about it moves the thought process along.  The cover has done its job.

Men can be beautiful.  Gender is fluid.  What is sexual is in the mind of the beholder. ‘nuff said.