File: The show - "Maitresse d'un homme marie" - has also already been cautioned by the state's media watchdog for being too racy.DAKAR, Senegal - Cheikh hoists his second wife Mareme onto his shoulder and carries her to their rose petal-covered bed, where he lays her down.
But in conservative Senegal, where even an on-screen kiss is rare, the self-described monitors of public morality are in uproar. "Maitresse d'un homme marie" follows five young women characters, all strong-minded, freewheeling city dwellers.- 'Cast judgement' -In between adverts blaring out the virtues of a brand of local rice, bubbly single mother Rose condemns the threat of censorship hanging over her favourite programme."Men who criticise the series are the same ones who have mistresses and what they do to them is far worse than what you see on the screen," she said.
The West African state is predominantly Muslim - mostly following the Sufi strain - where public displays of affection or sex outside marriage are frowned upon. Everything seemed to be going fine until the 34th episode - the scene of Cheikh and Mareme canoodling on the marital bed. But for Senegalese feminist activist Fatou Kine Diouf, this finger wagging has had less impact on viewers than the theme of sexual emancipation.