Just because you, for some reason, hate the mere implication of sex and masturbation, doesn’t mean you can take it out on others. Normally I would be all for a general reduction in advertising, but this has nothing to do with that at all. This is about repression and, ultimately, oppression.
You see, sex and masturbation are those rare, awesome things in life that come for free (God willing), and it’s the most normal practice we’ve got going on out there. This sexual streak in humans has been boomin’ for years now. It’s gotten to the point that if you’re human, chances are you thought about/had sex or masturbated today… perhaps both (in which case, lucky you). It’s safe to say that everyone present on Earth today is here because of one person orgasming into another person’s body or perhaps by a roundabout way of achieving the same end.
In my opinion, by showing all of us what this debacle was all about, you came off as way more of a “sexual deviant” than anyone whom that ad may concern. You actually sought to erase an image of a sex toy from public view because you found it either disgusting or inappropriate – and you succeeded! It’s totally fair if it disgusted you and you felt it was inappropriate. Fried dough disgusts me, and nine times out of ten it’s totally inappropriate. But you don’t see me get offended by any image of a fucking Boston Cream. I won’t be calling the local shops to take down their billboard ads because I firmly believe that they contribute to heart disease and health care costs. To each their own.
I’m sick of hearing about how “offended” some people are by seeing some latex shaft, a porno ad or even by hearing a suggestive song lyric. Because if you’re actually offended into action by something so harmless that doesn’t even apply to you, YOU’RE BEING A HUGE ASSHOLE. —Storks Bring Babies and Guns Bring Freedom
This article appears in Jul 14-20, 2011.
Don’t worry, they’ll all die off soon.
http://29.media.tumblr.com/yHWA4oxH887koy3…
Well hell, they should just show porn on the buses and everywhere else. The people of Wal-mart should fuck in the aisles and the streets.
Perhaps it was less about the advertisement and more about age appropriateness. Young children do not need to be exposed to adult sexuality. Hell, I want to throw up every time the tv airs yeast infection or menstruation products while I’m watching AFV with adolescent relatives. Sometimes advertising goes over the top. Who-da-thunk-it?
I agree with you 100% OP except for the “masturbation being a rare thing” part.j/k
A healthy, honest depiction of sexuality by the media is overdue. We live in an uptight society in regards to sex and I believe this repression is not healthy. It ties in with the stigmatization of promiscuity, penis size and the emotional problems this can bring to susceptable people.
There are segments of society that are offended by frank depictions of sexuality and that has to be addressed but myself, as long as it’s not misogynist porn, bestiality or something equally negative, I would have no problem with a freer more adult sensibility to sex.
Let’s bang
so Troon.. where do we draw the line then?
there’s always some people who won’t consider bestiality… misogynist porn.. or anything else negatives.
This is what the UK is trying to go through with their extreme porn act.
They can’t fucking decide where the line is drawn… and can’t show you what isn’t allowed because it’s now illegal.
in the same breath, we can’t just allow everything…
so nudity is where the line was drawn.
it is pretty tough to have porn with no nudity… so it’s decently encompassing.
still… I don’t want to open the paper and see all that shit …
no more than the underwear ads or old spice / ambercrombie and fitch guys…
but what can ya do.
maybe I’m one of the people you are puzzled by.
sex is used to sell everything nowadays… but that doesn’t make it right.
Now to be fair, I haven’t seen the add, either edited or otherwise….
“Why don’t we do it in the road
Why don’t we do it in the road
Why don’t we do it in the road
Why don’t we do it in the road
No one will be watching us”
– The Beatles
The White Album-1968
I have no idea who/what specifically the OP is referring to, but I definitely think North American culture needs to be more frank and open about nudity and sexuality. This an excellent article on the subject: http://www.alternet.org/story/151554/can_a…
I know what they’re freaking out about. Or else it’s a huge coincidence. I showed up to work yesterday and there was an ad from a local sex shop (think of envy) in the paper advertising their Pride sale. I don’t even recall a sex toy being on the pic, but maybe it was. *Shrugs* Regardless, it had been scribbled on saying “THIS IS WRONG! – A Parent”, something my co-worker had done. I’m guessing that he had overheard a parent complaining. I suppose it didn’t take them much time to get the ad taken down…
I’m not offended by sex. *Shrugs* I’m sure a line is necessary, but I definitely think people need to stop being as uptight about it. North America in general is pretty much designed to make us hate our sexuality.
Sex is used to sell things these days because we’re sexual beings and the ads can make a visceral connection with many of us. How right that is, I don’t know. I’m not crazy about many types of advertising with or without sex.
Many of us are shocked/embarrassed by sex because we are weighed down by the old religious taboos carried down from generations. Really, what is the difference between seeing somebody’s penis or the same person’s nose, I mean in practical terms?
Where to draw the line? Tricky. A U.S. lawmaker once said “I don’t know the definition of obscenity, I just know it when I see it”. Different people have a different obscenity thresold which has a lot to do with the way they were raised. If children are raised to view sex as what it is, recreational repopulation, as well as the traps and hazards, STDs, unwanted pregnancies and what not, they may develop a more objective view of it. It’s not the be-all end-all of existance nor is it dark and perverse.
I didn’t tie a specific ad to OP’s post, I might have missed something there. Just thought it was about society’s attitude toweards sex vs. donuts.(j/k)
The OP is referring to a weekly newspaper (not The Coast) deciding to withdraw a paid ad from a local shop which deals with these kinds of materials and appliances because of a complaint from a reader. The ad included a picture of a vibrator.
I have no clue where to draw the line when it comes to sexual references in advertising. Between the entertainment industry and retailers, our media is already saturated with damaging depictions of sexuality, in my opinion.
We also seem to operate under a double standard when comparing media portrayals of sexuality and graphic violence. Back in the 1980s, the Reagan administration’s Meese Commission tried to link pornography (Playboy and Penthouse! Ha!) to rape in its efforts to sanitize the public sphere, but completely ignored the well-established link between exposure to graphic portrayals of violence (in movies and on tv) and subsequent episodes of violent behaviour.
I tend towards freer expression, but the world looks a whole lot different when you’re raising kids of your own. To have a parent drop a vibrator into a ten year old girl’s lap to initiate a discussion about masturbation would seem wrong to me but that is apparently what some people think should happen.
I still think it is primarily the parents’ responsibility to educate their children about sex, at the time of their choosing. I don’t think it is the responsibility of sex toy retailers to initiate or lead that discussion.
I have a few thoughts about this…. First: how many kids actually read the metro? It’s not like it’s a vibrator ad on Sesame Street.
Second: it really was clean. They weren’t using “sex” to sell the product. It was just a picture, not some sexy woman with her legs open. They’re a viable, local business who really does contribute to the community, and now you’re saying their advertising something in a not-overtly sexual way is somehow “wrong” for the newspaper. Meanwhile, the ad may have been on the same page as a rape story, or violence, or the guy up for pimping charges of a 17 year old.
Parents are responsible. These days kids will be bombarded with the images and language far before parents are ready, it’s a fact of life in 2011. Ugh, I mean, look at their teen-age idols these days!
I think removing this ad was really a useless smoke & mirrors kind of act to please one reader without really thinking about the consequences and the statement the paper is making is basically bullshit.
Seriously? That’s fucking bullshit.
they may not read the paper… but have you seen how many metro’s get strewn about?
not exactly far fetched to think a free paper that’s pimped out every day like crazy would get a viewing from a minor/tot.
Commandante puts it quite eloquently IMO.
ralmn… you’d be ok with anal beads draping down the pages? and pussy/penis pumps and shit as well? meh, call me a little more conservative when it comes to that stuff….
God knows that the Rihanna songs I shake my bootay to are wrought with inuendo.
C.E has it right … where is the line … I don’t know. What an interesting time to be growing up! Yeahhhh
The sad thing *is* with this newspaper’s daily distribution, the ad was pulled over one complaint, apparently, from parents who thought their adolescent daughter shouldn’t be exposed to that.
And this is what gets me: the ad (I’ve seen it on my FB newsfeed) had a picture of a vibrator on the side of it. Big fucking deal. Chances are these people’s adolescent daughter is masturbating, but I’ll bet they’ve never talked to her about it because OH HAY I get the sense they’re huge prudes. The sad thing about that is: masturbation IS a natural thing — even barnyard animals do it ffs! Human infants have been known to do it too. And there are FAR too may teens out there who figure out how to masturbate and either don’t know what they’re doing and think there’s something wrong with them or figure it’s shameful and wrong and in both circumstances they likely suffer from emotional distress because of it.
Jesus, if these parents really wanted to do something good for their kid they’d be better off buying her a vibrator rather than perpetuating the idea that masturbation is wrong. I mean, shouldn’t we be teaching kids how to masturbate? Think of all the horny teens out there who are having sex because they don’t know how to masturbate or think it’s somehow wrong! Maybe a few teen pregnancies could even be prevented!
In any event, I believe these people would’ve had an issue whether or not the pic of the vibrator was there.
I’m a die hard, bleeding heart liberal, but to me this seems over the line. It’s all well and fine to fight for “ideals” of what should be, but when put into practice, sometimes, ideals do not sync up with the reality of things. Case and point here, I’m not for censorship of any kind and all about freedom of speech, but this just seems indecent, when considering the fact that it could be viewed by minors.
Comandante hit the nail on the head! +10 rep
A latex shaft is ok, but its still not work safe to throw on the front page of a website that you want productive members of society to frequents when they are on their break.
Dear God no! They’re reading a newspaper and saw a vibrator! Right next to the articles about rapes and murders and people being shot and child molesters and blaghblaghblagh.
The parent who was complaining had a FIFTEEN year old daughter. When do they start teaching about reproduction, oh let’s see, elementary. When do they whip the condoms and bananas out? Junior High. When should this mom haul the stick out of her ass and replace it with some Ben-Wa balls? Right now.
PK, did you really just say we should teach kids how to masturbate??? And by what age do you define the kids we should be teaching? Please do elaborate because I wanted to make sure nobody missed that!
You are right, it is a natural thing, and parents should educate their kids about it, WHEN THOSE PARENTS DECIDE IT IS OKAY TO DO SO. Who are we to say, OH HAY, teach your kids now because I feel that you are a prude if you do not. The kid in question was supposedly 15, so maybe the parents were waiting until she was 16? I don’t know, and neither do you.
And who is to say what age is right to do this so called education? I am not saying I know the answer, but I am saying it shouldn’t be up to the local porn store to dictate that to me because they want to place an AD in a free paper that my kids might see littered on the street somewhere.
I agree with previous comments that there should be a line. Just a few years ago that stuff wasn’t as in your face as it is today. Call me a prude but when I see stuff like that advertised it seems so juvenile.They couldn’t have thought of a more creative picture for their ad? Seriously?? Same as half naked life size pictures of women standing across the way from kiddie rides in the mall. Girls have boobies. We get it. Now put some friggin clothes on.
i will only say this once, there are far too many fucking sexual uptight fucking fools around. the mom saw ad, thought maybe her 15 year old might see it, or something like that. now how about the pride thing? are we to go all fucking nutty , if some mom, doesn’t agree with the parade, and wants to have it stopped. what happened to this fucking country, without free speech, and free thought, or freedom of expression, we are totally fucked. we might as well in orwell’s 1984, at least there, the thought police were known. not some sniveling little pissed off mom.
i am and was a 60’s flower power lover type, you know, peace and love and all that other hippie shit. lok what has become of this world since that basically stopped being okay. we have little johnny rotten, out fucking or killing little susie q., and anyone else that gets in his face.
why this dumb bitch even started this shit with the big deal, about one little fucking ad, when she could’ve gone hog wild over rap, movies, video games, and about a million other media presentations of crime, sex, and foul language.
now don’t think that i condone child porn, i don’t. but hey, the germans have a lot more shit going on over there, and i don’t hear much shit about a fucking vibrator ad.people are so fucked up sometimes, it makes me want to bite nails, and spikes.chill the fuck out whoever the fuck you are, if you don’t wanna see, hear, or know of sexual shit, move to fucking mars, or go live with the bears in the woods. either way, the rest of us, will be a lot happier with your,” do it my way, or no way shit,” gone. this has been an ad lib moment. regular bitching will now continue.
Hay BW — why don’t we just take sex ed out of schools altogether so parents can decide when they want to educate their kids about sex!
Because that would work out SO WELL for STD/STI/teen pregnancy stats!
If sex can be and should be taught in schools, so the hell can masturbation. A passing mention, even, would be helpful. There are tons of kids out there who are doing it and feel ashamed when there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. Can you really put that kind of emotional distress on a kid just because their parents are unwilling to go out of their comfort zone a little bit for the sake of their kid?
There are kids out there as young as 10, 11, 12 having actual sex. Parents like this need to get their heads out of their asses and realize that the world is what it is and they can’t shield their kid from this. Burying your head in the sand won’t make reality go away. As long as a male can get an erection — at whatever age — they can have sex and technically, females can physically have sex at any age. Ask any pedophile out there.
And the age of which kids start going through puberty is getting younger and younger. 30-40-50 years ago, girls didn’t get their periods on average until the age of 14… now it’s 11/12. Some can get it as early as age 9.
Get your head out of the above mentioned sand, BW, and deal with reality.
These are the types of parents who’s kid’ll come home knocked up and they won’t have a clue why because they figured their kid was too young to know and/or have an interest in sex.
I’m not complaining about a latex shaft on a website, I’m complaining about it being on my screen without a warning. Its my screen, not yours, I like this website but that is exactly the kind of thing that might make me too paranoid to come here. I have a 7 year old son that I don’t want to see that. And I’m pretty certain that I could be fired or disciplined if my boss or a coworker sees it.
Freedom is important but are you determined to get me fired?
Please warn me next time.
I noticed that Dildo, NFLD is no longer recommended as tourist destination either. Hmmm… Coincidence, maybe.
No matter how fucking dumb, or brilliant you are, people can always figure out how to fuck, they don’t NEED toys, but they just add to the fun. The smarter ones understand birth control etc. the stroller mofo’s understand the dollars and cents of random procreation with various and sundry pieces of plankton piss thereby polluting city housing worldwide and adding to the jail population.
As for seeing a big dildo in a newspaper, I thought the concerts for cash issue was done?
Expanding on what I said before, I honestly don’t know where to draw the line.
I’ve traveled overseas to places where public nudity was commonplace, especially on beaches but also on the streets and in the shops of beachfront towns. I don’t have a problem with that and I think North Americans could learn a few things from folks in these places.
But nudity and sex are different things. Trust me. You see a 60+ year old woman (or man) strolling down a boardwalk in the south of France wearing nothing but a smile and you realize that nudity and sex aren’t as tightly bound as the purveyors of media and entertainment in our North American culture would have us believe.
I think there are too many taboos around public discussions of sex, which strikes me as odd because that’s how we all got here and most of us indulge, but having said that I would leave sex education mostly in the hands of parents, even though some parents fail miserably at this task.
I have two (grown up) kids of my own so I sympathize with parents who feel they’re losing control over the most important job that society gives them, which is to raise independent, compassionate, highly functional and fully human adults.
I am a supporter of the shop in question. Far more problematic for me are the advertisements that sell everything from cars to booze using half-naked young women, frequently impossibly thin and firm-breasted, depicted in ways that suggest that their value to society is directly linked to their waist size and their cup size. The entertainment industry is equally culpable. This kind of thing has been going on for decades but it’s only getting worse, not better. It should be upsetting to anyone trying to raise girls OR boys.
There should be a line but it beats me where to draw it.
“There should be a line but it beats me where to draw it.”
Thank you Dr. Freud.
Kids read newspapers? I call shenanigans!
i love that album avasto
with girls hitting puberty at the ages of 9 to 12 now, i say fucking right teach them how to masturbate. their emotional selves might not be as ready for their bodies as sex, but rubbing one out won’t hurt. i wish someone had given me ‘pointers’ when I was younger about masturbation and HOW FUCKING AWESOME IT IS. and honestly, with all the lame fucks I’ve had in my day, sometimes I wish I had just done it myself.
11 year old girls have double D’s bouncing around on their chests. i think a dildo is the least of their problems.
I’m in my mid 20s and I barely knew what the thing in the picture is. The parent that complained must have known why it is and thus is a dirty dirty parent. 😉
In all seriousness, I doubt kids would know what it was in the picture. If they knew, they’ve already been exposed to it from other means and therefore no harm done. It’s a stupid complaint.
all things sexual should be kept in the gutter ..like the good ol’ daze..:)
I somehow figured out how to masterbate at a very young age. I didn’t even know what it was, I just knew “this feels good” lawl. I would just do it willy nilly, no matter if anyone was around and my parents never said a thing. Not that I can remember anyway. Maybe this is why I have such a dirty mind ;D. I love prudes! Dey iz funny. Like so sad and miserable, they’re funny. I find prude = hasn’t had an orgasm in 18 years. That kinda turns me on.
@Great Value: AdBlock Plus is your friend.
@mel: lolz
@All: I’m not sure if this was in relation to this situation or not, but I noticed that the store in question has very large (heh) advertisements for their sale in their windows, with a vague outline of an adult toy.
WHAT WOULD ARIISTOPHANES HAVE THOUGHT?
“Civilize, v.t. Bring out of barbarism, enlighten, refine.” (The Oxford Concise Dictionary)
“This is about repression and, ultimately oppression.” (Storks Bring Babies and Guns Bring Freedom)
“There should be a line but it beats me where to draw it.” (The Unctuous Arse, July 19, 4:38PM)
“There is legend of the olden time,
That all our foolish plans and vain conceits
Are overruled to work the public good.”
Aristophanes (“Ecclesiazusae”)
Aristpohanes, of course, would have been in no doubt where to draw the line. The line he would firmly have drawn would have excluded portraying the picture of the dildo in a newspaper or any other public media. The reason he would have done this is not out of a sense of repressed prudery – God knows that Aristophanes was no prude – but to preserve “the public goood,” to maintain an enlightened and refined civilization and slow the descent into a new barbarism, a new Soddom and Gormorrah.
Stork, the bitcher, strikes what he assumes is the correct political posture – “It’s all about repression and ultimately opprerssion!” he crows – but the “freedom” he trumpets is little more than an instance of what Aristophanes called “physis,” that “vain conceit” which purports that its proponents are in “harmony” with nature but which in reality amounts to little more than collective degradation. The Stork would have gotten the back of Aristophanes hand since the “public good” (i.e., standards of propriety) are all that we have in order to claim any standards of enlightenment and refinement, that is, any claim to being civilized.
But at least with “Stork” we know where we stand. It is in the case of the the “Unctuous Arse,” however, that the real threat arises. He maintains that a line should be drawn but doesn’t know where to draw it. But if he doesn’t know where to draw it, how does he know that a line should be drawn at all? On what grounds? In other words, the Unctuous Arse thinks that there should be some standards in society but his political correctness prevents him from saying which. While appearing to some as an enlightened position – many commenters praised him for just such enlightenment – he has, in fact, just beat a craven moral retreat. It is, indeed, just this sort of moral muddle that will give the victory to people like Stork.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
Are you a prude Monsieur? I do enjoy a challenge
RSVPs
;Depeche Mel (July 20, 1:10PM)
“Are you a prude Monsieur? I do enjoy a challenge.”
Depeche Mel, you must try and read my comment more closely. I refer you to the explicit rejection of charges of prudery – the reason Aristophanes would suppress the picture of the dildo was “not out of a sense of personal prudery – God knows that Aristophanes was no prude – but to preserve ‘the public good’ …”
So it’s back to the drawing board, Mel. You have to come up with another line of attack. I also enjoy a challenge and now the ball is in your court.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
“I would leave sex education mostly in the hands of parents, even though some parents fail miserably at this task.”
How can you defend that statement?
The fact is parents always have some kind of partisanship when it comes to sex, and they are arguably incapable of talking honestly and subjectively to their kids about it, especially young girls. When it’s taught in school it is hopefully taught without any kind of slant or spin, like scare tactics and half truths.
You’re really no fun Monsieur. But that’s why I love you.
RSVPs
: Depeche Mel (July 22, 9:18PM)
An interesting comment Mel. Usually it’s the other way around – i.e., one generally loves someone else because they ARE fun. Does this possibly indicate a masochistic streak in you Mel? Is there anything in particular that you would like me to do to satisfy it? What did you have in mind?
I love you too Mel.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
how about downing a bottle of pepsi and swallowing 2 mentos whole….
can you do that for me… er…. for Mel…..
please?
a plea, sure as always.
with cheerios
Hmm, could you pierce my tragus?
why not just get the daith snug and rook done too while you’re at it.
makes going through the airports a pain for the first 6months to a year.
Oooh those look wicked too. Hopefully my ears will be pure metal someday. I find I haven’t really had an problems in airports with any of my current piercings but getting x-rays is a bitch.
Soon, mel, soon. Once cybernetic implants become widely available.
I’m thinking about getting metal legs. It’s a risky operation, but it’ll be worth it.
RSVPs
:Depeche Mel (July 22, 10:55AM) – Yes, Mel, I could pierce your “tragus” if (a) I knew what it was and (b) where it was and (c) if I could get it.. well, never mind.
Your reference to thinking about getting “metal legs” (5:29PM) however, is not encouraging. This strikes me as being very painful, perhaps for us both (certainly for me).
Write back, but in the meantime attempt to restrain your pelvic thrusts.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!