The Puritanical Residents of the 90027, uploaded by Vidalia.
That title should mess with the Google results for a while…
I was pretty disturbed to see this issue of Vanity Fair at kids’-eye-level at Rite Aid in my neighborhood, without the cover-up that the bookstore in this Flickr photo did. Just Paris Hilton and a white pair of pants, using her arms as a shirt. They cover up the parts that would mandate a plastic wrapper if they were fully visible, but not very well. Let’s just say almost nothing is left to the imagination.
Arms are not a shirt. Sorry. I don’t think it’s too culture-war-ish to say so.
“Mommy, can I get a pack of Skittle–Aaaah! What are those?!” I understand that this kind of magazine has existed for a long time, but really, they should use more discretion in what they put in the checkout lane for all to see (whether they want to or not). Six year old kids buying toothpaste with mom do not need to see this.
I just sent this message to Rite Aid Corporation:
You can contact Rite Aid too if you want.
Clothed or no, it’s a good idea to avert one’s eyes from Paris Hilton regardless. That said, how is her nudity more insulting or a bad influence than her disdain for the poor?
On the Google thing…people search for the phrase paris hilton topless 4,799 times a month, according to the Google Search Counts Tool. Dang. Lotsa traffic coming my way :).
But that’s nothing. paris hilton nude gets a whopping 160,335 searches a month. Double dang.
Many Vogue covers over the last few decades have been just as revealing, or more, using semi-clothed models. Maybe her notoriety is part of your reaction here. If it’s just the level of skin that’s prompting your complaint, though, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do in protesting to many other stores and magazines.
In other words, I’m glad you’re noticing and taking action, but in my view, this is nothing new.
Amen!!!
THX-
It’s the placement of the magazine. I know stores have always sold stuff like this, and I don’t care about that. But you can see Hilton boobs from 30 feet away at my local Rite-Aid, even if you’re a little kid. People who want to look in the magazine aisle for Vogue are welcome to do so, but I don’t want to be subjected to it every time I go to the store. You don’t even have a chance to avert your eyes - it’s just there.
At least with most trashy supermarket magazines, the trashy part is words that little kids won’t bother to read. Pictures like this leave no option but to be subjected to them.
In the back of my mind I’m wondering if Justin’s sudden attention to this subject (which i agree with THX is an issue we’ve grown desensitized to, even at child eye-level) is due to any information I haven’t heard, like—is Amy pregnant or something??!!
Hehe. No. But thanks for playing.
Justin-
I agree; it sucks to have to be exposed to all this Pornification of America (someone wrote a book on it), especially for kids.
Sometimes I think we focus on the children as being the only ones affected by these publications. The truth is these magazines severely affect women’s perception of what is “ideal” or beautiful—subtly (and often not so subtly) communicating to us that gaunt and flawless is the only way to be happy. It’s nearly the equivalent of what pornography does to men’s perception of women. Inevitably, the perceptions adults have affect our children—and are probably more harmful than simply seeing a pair of boobs.
wow… it’s really sad that people are so closed minded…. if america was raised properly, children and adults would take into consideration the beauty of the body, intead of just saying… “wow, nice boobs”… being an artist, i see that many other countries in the world are much more open minded… in traveling to Montreal, there are large street bilboards advertising for jeans and perfume, with half naked, fully naked individuals, covered classically… i find it sad, that such issues such as this are seen as more major compared to others, and that america needs to move on and revist the classical past, or come into the world, catch up with the other countries, and stop being so perverted, when they are looking at true beauty.
Flo - I think you make a valid point - there may be a time and a place for that type of appreciation, but in any case I think it should be the individual’s choice to look at it. Kids and people who don’t want to see this stuff shouldn’t have to.
I don’t know that it’s really possible to look at a naked body in our culture in pure appreciation of beauty. Our entire culture is geared toward promoting lust and the objectification of women. Normalizing this, as has been done in Europe and elsewhere, does not lessen its harm.
Again, I think what you’ve said it valid - we should be able to look at the human body without seeing it as a dirty thing. But that’s in a perfect world, a world that doesn’t exist. In the world we live in, such things are harmful, leading people to be dissatisfied with their spouses and perpetually in search of elusive gratification.