Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Fighting teh Porn around us

A little while ago, I was shopping for birthdays cards at a Carlton store. I noticed a display of 2008 calendars near the entrance, and among them, many featured -Brazilian-style-bikini-clad-almost-naked bombshells, happily cavorting in the sand, or striking pouty poses.

Besides the obvious "why would Carlton be selling porn?" question, I was shocked by the fact that those calendars were in plain sight, and close to the ground, where small children can freely see them, pick them up and flip through their pictures.

As I paid my purchase, I told the cashier that it was, in my opinion, unacceptable that pornographic calendars be displayed in such way as to be easily accessible for children. She looked at me as if I was crazy. I then went on to explain that in most stores where pornographic magazines are sold, they are usually harder to see, and hidden at the back of the displays.

The cashier was still looking at me with a glazed, "does-not-compute" look in her eyes.

Her (female) colleague then intervened: "Those are not pornographic. It's just naked women."

I decided not to push the discussion any further and left the store.

***

A few days ago, I found myself at a calendar stand in the middle of a mall, trying to find something cute or funny enough to ornate my wall for a whole year.

I noticed - again - pornographic calendars on the lower shelf of the display, at the ground level, in plain sight. I looked around. The cashier, this time, was a young man.

There was no chance in hell, I decided, that he'd be more sensitive to my arguments. After all, he had made the business decision to order, display and sell such products...

So I opted to fight the sneaky fight. I picked up a few "Studs and Spurs" calendars and placed them in front of calendars that pictured naked women.

***

OK. Fighting porn that objectifies women (i.e. very popular porn) with porn that objectifies men (i.e. less popular porn) is arguably not the best way to eliminate it. But at the very least, it may help, for a few hours or even a day, decrease the sale of pornographic material.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've got a problem with women's bodies.

Oni Baba said...

I've got a problem with objectifying women's bodies for money.

Anonymous said...

been done since the beginning of time
try understanding your fellow humans better instead of changing them.

Anonymous said...

Love it. I've done that a few times myself. :D

"Anonymous": my philosophy is that if people like you can impact the world with crap like that, people like me can impact the world by doing something about it.

Pornstudent: I for one don't have a problem with women's bodies (or men's :D). I have a problem with boobs and other private parts being out in the open for children and the general public to see.

Anonymous said...

did you know that studs and spurs is a gay calendar? so it's okay for men's half-naked bodies to be exposed for money... but not female. Hm...

Anonymous said...

Es ist schade, dass ich mich jetzt nicht aussprechen kann - es gibt keine freie Zeit. Aber ich werde befreit werden - unbedingt werde ich schreiben dass ich denke. levitra ohne rezept viagra ohne rezept erfahrungen [url=http//t7-isis.org]levitra preis[/url]