Working on a new definition of sensuality, it’s clear that civilization has struggled with monitoring our senses at least since the arrival of monotheism. The power of touch — which we know to be healing in a life and death context for babies — corrupts us as adults, say the haters of flesh.

Lord Byron summed up our human condition, writing:

What an antithetical mind! — tenderness, roughness — delicacy, coarseness — sentiment, sensuality — soaring and groveling — dirt and deity all mixed up in that one compound of inspired clay.

These beautifully sensual images by photographer Robin Derrick,were published in a short-lived, erotic magazine called Deliciae Vitae. These elegant, tasteful images of female sensuality are perfect for today’s conversation.

The troubling story I wrote a few days ago about Conservative columnist Dan Gainor’s obsession with looking for pubic hair peaking through lace panties on Maxim magazine, reminds me that large majorities of men remain obsessed with female body parts.

The Egyptian feminists have ‘had it’, because even under their burqas, women remain harassed, as men run up to touch their totally veiled backsides. A woman can be stoned to death for showing an ankle in public, but many men in these same societies believe they have an inherent right to lift her skirt for a glimpse of the forbidden flesh.