Germaine Greer's latest book is a tribute to the charms of the teenage male as portrayed in art through the ages.
She says it's about time women stopped "censoring their responses'' towards this age group and learned to appreciate them visually.
"Look but don't touch'' is her clear message. This should allay the concerns of those who, in the present climate of heightened anxiety over paedophilia and child porn, have attacked the book.
Her definition of a ''boy'' is rather broad, which is borne out by some of the illustrations. She says: "An adult male who remains slim and lovely and keeps the hair on his head, rather than growing it on his face and body, may play a boy's role for as long as it is congenial.''
In recent years, Miss Greer says, panic about paedophilia "completed the criminalisation'' of this awareness, and part of her book's purpose "is to advance women's reclamation of their capacity for, and right to, visual pleasure.''
The Boy by Germaine Greer is published by Thames & Hudson, priced £29.95 (hardback)
Anthony Looch
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