Sexy Irish?

Saw this report in saturday's newspaper (hey, I'm a slow reader)

Irish seen as having gone from savage to sexy

Where once the Irish were percieved abroad as marauding savages, they now have a sex appeal of which even the italians would be proud.

So a conference in Dublin heard yesterday where academics from both literary and political fields gathered to discuss the thorny issue of "Irishness".

.......

"In the American media now, being Irish and being sexy go hand in hand," according to Dr. Ruth Barton of UCD's center for film studies. "Being Celtic is associated with a soft-centered sexuality where before it was linked with lawlessness and rebellion."

The article goes on to say tho that a lot of the "sexy" Irish are playing up the Oirish angle to enhance their appeal, like Colin Bleedin' Farrell's "bad boy dub" accent, and Pierce Brosnan's "BBC ireland" accent (my words not theirs). It also goes on about the creeping racism in ireland in the last few years, but it was the "sexier than the italians" thing that caught my eye. Granted the average irish crowd has become easier on the eye in the last few years than before, but beating the italians in the sex appeal stakes? I don't know what pubs and nightclubs the people coming to these conclusions have been going to, but I damn sure want to find out!

Website for the conference is here, for further research.