Judging the smut symposium
Chris Wells takes a vexatious vacation through what the world's English-language press is saying about Poland
The image of Warsaw as a stolid, grey, depressing ex-communist capital city took another well-deserved battering this week in the world's press. From newspapers as diverse as Japan Today to The Times of India, news spread that Warsaw was, for the fifth year running, hosting the World Sex Championships.
This was to consist of an "Eroticon" festival, featuring erotic fashion shows, go-go dancing competitions, body-painting, as well as the unmissable chance to meet your favorite porn star. The festival was to climax (no pun intended) in a contest to find the world female sex champion, the objective of which-as this is a family publication-I will leave to your imagination.
The jokes came thick and fast in these articles, beginning with the fact that the organizers would not reveal either the time or the location of the event. However, given that one article contained a fair description of the exhibition hall, most Varsovians who really wanted to find it were probably able to do so.
Nevertheless, as a result of Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczyński's strenuous efforts to ban the event, it got more publicity than it could have dreamed possible. Kaczyński's office contacted the public prosecutor and accused the event organizers of procuring women, a crime that carries a jail term of up to three years. The organizers, porn peddlers called Pink Press that claim to sell 60 percent of all adult magazines in Poland, hit back by saying that they would sue Kaczyński for defamation of character.
As the bizarre became thoroughly ridiculous, a spokesman for the organizers said that the men who took part would get the chance to compete for the title of "Polish Stallion," and the festival would also feature a plastic surgeon who could provide extensions to that part of the body most men think with (and I'm not talking about the brain).
While the articles did highlight the obvious contradiction that the porn industry is somehow flourishing in a country that is well over 90 percent Catholic, it is very difficult to take a great deal of this seriously. Kaczyński is being touted as a future president, and must therefore consider the sensitivities of the majority of the electorate, while the event organizers were very keen to distance themselves as far as possible from prostitution. Kaczyński has battled the massage parlors and escort agencies with little success over the last few years; just park your car in the city center for a few hours and you'll return to fliers jammed under the windscreen-wipers full of offers that are only too easy to refuse. As for the Pink Press, it is trading in porn like any other commodity, and will doubtless continue to do so for as long as there is a market.
However, the one effect this farce will have is to show the rest of the world that Warsaw may not be quite as dull as they might suspect. There's more to this town than meets the eye; and it's good to see Warsaw keeping its end up.
The image of Warsaw as a stolid, grey, depressing ex-communist capital city took another well-deserved battering this week in the world's press. From newspapers as diverse as Japan Today to The Times of India, news spread that Warsaw was, for the fifth year running, hosting the World Sex Championships.
This was to consist of an "Eroticon" festival, featuring erotic fashion shows, go-go dancing competitions, body-painting, as well as the unmissable chance to meet your favorite porn star. The festival was to climax (no pun intended) in a contest to find the world female sex champion, the objective of which-as this is a family publication-I will leave to your imagination.
The jokes came thick and fast in these articles, beginning with the fact that the organizers would not reveal either the time or the location of the event. However, given that one article contained a fair description of the exhibition hall, most Varsovians who really wanted to find it were probably able to do so.
Nevertheless, as a result of Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczyński's strenuous efforts to ban the event, it got more publicity than it could have dreamed possible. Kaczyński's office contacted the public prosecutor and accused the event organizers of procuring women, a crime that carries a jail term of up to three years. The organizers, porn peddlers called Pink Press that claim to sell 60 percent of all adult magazines in Poland, hit back by saying that they would sue Kaczyński for defamation of character.
As the bizarre became thoroughly ridiculous, a spokesman for the organizers said that the men who took part would get the chance to compete for the title of "Polish Stallion," and the festival would also feature a plastic surgeon who could provide extensions to that part of the body most men think with (and I'm not talking about the brain).
While the articles did highlight the obvious contradiction that the porn industry is somehow flourishing in a country that is well over 90 percent Catholic, it is very difficult to take a great deal of this seriously. Kaczyński is being touted as a future president, and must therefore consider the sensitivities of the majority of the electorate, while the event organizers were very keen to distance themselves as far as possible from prostitution. Kaczyński has battled the massage parlors and escort agencies with little success over the last few years; just park your car in the city center for a few hours and you'll return to fliers jammed under the windscreen-wipers full of offers that are only too easy to refuse. As for the Pink Press, it is trading in porn like any other commodity, and will doubtless continue to do so for as long as there is a market.
However, the one effect this farce will have is to show the rest of the world that Warsaw may not be quite as dull as they might suspect. There's more to this town than meets the eye; and it's good to see Warsaw keeping its end up.
