1 post tagged “prudishness”

Malta is a very prudish country; much more so than Britain and America. It has laws that American social conservatives can only dream of: no topless sunbathing, no pornography, no lap dancers, no prostitution, no abortion, no divorce, no gay marriage. Foul language is equally unacceptable. On an episode of Blackadder on television a few days ago they bleeped out the phrase 'sod off'! They had also gone to the trouble of covering over Baldrick's mouth movements with a little brown oval as he uttered these apparently profane words lest a Maltese person who spoke English and could lip read might be put into an incurable coma of shock.

So I was quite surprised by something I saw yesterday. There were a group of youths with a banner and matching t-shirts, shouting while walking down the main street in Valletta, the capital. I asked one of them what they were protesting over and she said that they weren't protesting, but celebrating: they had graduated as pharmacists the previous day. I don't know whether the monotone text on their t-shirts can be properly described as graphic and colourful, but anyway, I'll show you the pictures. On the front they said 'Pharmacists can do it...', and on the back...