American woman critiques art in a Spanish Café

Spring of 2001 — I was in a little place in Seville when three Americans came in — a young woman and her parents, by the look of them.

Above the only available table hung a large, rather artless drawing of a semi-nude woman, a sheet playing over most of her.

"Gross," the American girl said, standing in front of it.

I remembered America. Americans presume that public appreciation of a woman's body is disrespectful. In Spain, it's normal.