Letter: Esther Rantzen's porn paradox

Sir: Esther Rantzen, in supporting the censorship of Mapplethorpe's photograph Rosie (Letters, 18 September), unwittingly generates a paradox. She suggests that you ought not to criticise photographs unless you have seen them. Having seen Rosie, she believes the photograph to be exploitative and pornographic and that therefore it should not be on public view.

If Ms Rantzen is right that photographs should not be criticised until seen, she is seeking to ensure that I and others are in no position to criticise Rosie. Being critically impotent in this way, I and others should therefore offer no support for her criticism of the photograph and hence no support for the censorship.

PETER CAVE

London NW3