by John Graham

Created on: October 24, 2008

Something that is sexy suggests more to the onlooker's imagination than is immediately revealed.

That is why an ankle revealed below full skirts in Victorian times or the bare nape of a neck in the 16th Century could mark the woman as sexy. A fully covered but swelling bust or the slight suggestion of cleavage has been sexy to men through the ages just as a full codpiece was sexy to women in the Middle Ages.

In the reverse, the teenager who bends over to reveal a naked butt above her jeans, which hang down around her hips, is not sexy. It is as if the answer to the question is more than one wants to know. It simply reveals the girl as a potential slut. Moreover, she doesn't seem to know that the custom originated in penitentiaries were a man would wear his trousers revealingly low slung to show that he was available' to other men. It invited sodomy.

Similarly, the aspiring actresses who reveal two thirds of their breasts, or even all of them, at gala performances are simply demonstrating their sexual attributes. They are not sexy by any means. On the other hand, the smile of Julia Roberts is sexy.

Of course, other things besides men and women can be sexy particularly when performance is involved. However, a hot rod bulging with visible signs of a turbo engine, dripping with chrome and multiple exhaust pipes, and surmounted by a humungous aerodynamic wing is much like that poor teenager with a bulging butt. It's all show and all you get. On the other hand, a BMW or a Mercedes sedan with a slightly wider stance on racing tires is sexy. It suggests far more to one's imagination than is apparent especially as you know that its performance with twice the horsepower of the hot rod is superb.

To my mind food is rarely sexy. Despite promising gustatory pleasure and sensual taste it is difficult to think of food as sexy even though I have heard the word used. There is one exception that I would make. In Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones' the hero and a woman eat a meal of roasted chicken. They cast glances at each other as they bite chunks of the meat from the bones and fat drips from their mouths as they slobber over the food. The scene is the sexiest vision yet portrayed on film. While only showing two people enjoying roast chicken you know immediately that they will enjoy each other equally well in bed as soon as the meal is over.

Some art is sexy. However, not through what is shown by what is not shown. Look at Jan Steen's painting of a woman offering oysters. She smiles very slightly as she looks directly into your eyes above the glistening fleshy newly shucked oyster. Now that is sexy even though she is fully dressed. There could be nothing more explicit about her invitation.

Sexy is all about subtle suggestion rather than suggestiveness.

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