There’s a cheeky article on BBC Magazine that I thought you might find amusing.

It is the stuff of escapist fantasy. A tall, dark and handsome type sweeps a cream-and-roses Home Counties heroine off her feet. In its 100 years of publishing, the exotic alpha male has been a staple of the Mills and Boon romance. The tale of the passionate desert sheikh who sweeps secretary Janna Smith off her feet in Violet Winspear’s 1970 romance Tawny Sands is perhaps the quintessential Mills and Boon story.
…
The fascination still exists today with the best-selling title of the June 2008 Modern Romance series being Desert King, Pregnant Mistress by Susan Stephens. “Exotic locations gave great scope to authors to be a bit racier. It is usually an English person going into the tropics to experience this different culture,” Dr McAleer says.

I could be a bit politically correct here and say oh isn’t it terrible they’re exoticising men – I thought it was just the women they did that to. But to be honest I can’t help feel that sometimes the whole Orientalism stuff is blown out of proportion. People like forbidden fruit, especially when it comes to attraction and sex. Its hardly a revelation is it?
And it goes both ways. I remember years ago I was visiting Chennai (Madras) and was told that the hottest concert ticket in town was by a British star – Samantha Fox. Heh.

Guess who’s the latest piece of exotica to head to India? Erm, Jade Goody. Happy Friday!