Far from being the fun police, this newspaper thought the display was smutty and inconsistent with community expectations.

Yet there will be many people – judging by the reaction on social media - who reckon the Auburn St retailer has succumbed to political correctness.

The shop had originally opted for a painted cartoon depiction of Santa, with his hand on a woman’s breast, and the caption ‘What a set’ inscribed nearby.

We first knew of the display when a woman alerted us of her disgust by email.

It went viral after we uploaded a photo of the shop window and an accompanying story on our Facebook and Goulburn Post sites.

Readers can still access the more than 80 comments on our Facebook page (or even contribute to the debate).

But what struck us most about this story (some even claim it isn’t a story) is the divergence of opinions.

There was a loud chorus of people, many of them female, who thought the decoration perfectly acceptable, even clever, albeit cheeky.

These opinions come despite the rising rates of domestic violence locally and the increasingly powerful messages aimed at stamping out the sexualisation of women in advertising and media.

There were 21 reports of sexual assault in Goulburn in the 12 months to June this year. It’s not a figure to boast about.

Images like the shop window display showing Santa with his big paw on a woman’s breast shouldn’t be normalised in a society, in a regional city, where we are still fighting for equal rights and representation of genders and sexualities.

We argue that change won’t come until someone persists with lending their voice no matter how big or small the issue.

This may have been just one small part of something very serious, but we did not see the funny side.

It’s not “prudish” to stand against the demoralisation of any minority - it’s simply what’s right.

One Facebook user, local man Steven Dunn, thought something similar: “I think this is what is wrong with our society today. With every generation our standard of acceptable behaviour drops.

Seriously, 20 years ago how many teenagers would you see swearing in public or in front of teachers? Little by little we let go of our morals and in turn pass these on to our kids. Majority of the people here find this kind of thing ok, which makes me quite sad.”

We hope Chiang Rai Charlie enjoys strong Christmas trading having been the unwitting guinea pig in a stirring social experiment.

- Window display Claus' a stir

- Has this Goulburn store gone too far?