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As the discussion of human sexuality becomes more accepted and less taboo, the differences between cultures (and sometimes the lack thereof) becomes more apparent. We contrasted some cultural attitudes about sex between England and its insolent little colony, the United States, and came up with some results that are simply fascinating. Well, we think so anyway… While it's no great revelation that we Americans thrive on a culture of titillation and denial, I think most Americans also would view people in Britain as more stuffy and uptight about most personal matters in general, sex being no exception. Is this assumption based on fact, or is it simply a part of the American superiority complex? Take this statistic: in a survey published in the UK's Observer, 40 percent of those polled said they used sex toys to keep things interesting in the bedroom. There doesn't even appear to be any comparable U.S. statistics, so taboo is the mention of sex aids like dildos and vibrators. In fact, the English are so comfortable with the subject of sex toys that, as we recently reported, their National Health Service is prescribing vibrators to women who say they suffer from sexual problems, or sexual dysfunction. Shit, taxpayers in the U.S. can barely get hold of friggin' condoms through the government, despite STD and AIDS epidemics. Attitudes about sex in Britain's media also suggest a more relaxed view of the subject. In a recent interview with the UK's Sunday Express magazine, actress Kim Cattrall spoke of the difference in attitudes about sex in England, where she was born, and the U.S., her adopted home.  Cattrall, who plays the unapologetically slutty Samantha on HBO's Sex and the City, complained that Americans are often puritanical in the way they view matters of sexuality. When it came to onscreen sex and nudity, "The British have been more up for it than the Americans were," she said. While American TV programs such as NYPD Blue have struggled to get glimpses of nudity over the air (and only in the context of a "serious" issue-minded show), Benny Hill was showing tits on ITV almost 30 years ago, fer chrissakes! And could you imagine bare breasts in USA Today? You can find them on Page Three of England's Sun every day of the week.Now let's talk about prostitution for a bit, shall we? As with previous issues of cultural stupidity (slavery, drug war, prohibition, death penalty, etc.), England is kicking America's ass on this issue. In Blighty, the world's oldest profession has been decriminalized for years. It's slightly ironic that in the "Land of the Free" puritanical values still carry such weight, while Mother England's famously repressive Victorian phase has long since come and gone. Even though citizens have been held rapt by recent scandalous charges within its shady royal family (with revelations of a naughty Di cavorting nude under her fur coat and buying softcore porn for her eldest son), on the whole its society is more on track with much of Europe's progressive attitudes about sex. On the edgier side of things, England's fetish community widely regards American fetishists as upstarts who've glommed the bulk of their culture off of them. According to one insider, many in London's BDSM community consider their U.S. counterparts as derivative poseurs who simply absorb the fashion without the finer points of the lifestyle. While this is certainly a subjective (and possibly bullshit) viewpoint, there's no denying the England's scene is more established and contains a depth and breadth that may be lacking in some American cities. So the moral of the story? As much as we Americans like to think of ourselves as cowboys riding high in the sexual saddle, it's more likely that we're rodeo clowns straddling a Shetland pony in comparison to our partners across the pond.
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