It's certainly been done before in the UK so it isn't an impossibility. For the cinema release of Pretty Baby an airbrushing was done to mask Brooke Shields's 'naughty bits' (though they later passed it uncut anyway), and Ai No Corrida used a zoom shot during the scene where the little boy's willy is yanked by the woman.
I think the cut in NYR is extremely well done. Often the edit is so well made that the scene actually comes out better. The strangling in Maniac goes on forever and the cut version is actually an improvement.
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