Chain Bans Vagina
• Zealots, Crusaders, Pests
Seventeen Magazine published a functional straightforward article Vagina 101. In response Alberton's a grocery store chain pulled the issue out of its 2,500 stores.
Hard to say what scares such prudish folks more. Is it fear of young women becoming aware of their sexuality? Or is it the prudes themselves who wish to pretend that girls are pure and asexual.
Trying to prevent boys and girls to develop a clinical appreciation of their bodies is the kind of thing that has left so many people psychically damaged. For these folks it is better that someone spend years in therapy than learn how to enjoy their sexuality.
The Idaho-based Albertsons' corporate office issued a statement saying it pulled the October issue after receiving complaints from customers who considered the article "inappropriate." The company has refused further comment.
We live in a country where the promise of sex is a potent sales tool, be it for perfume, cars or TV shows. That's what makes this situation stand out: Suggestiveness passes muster, but anatomy gets ejected.
Condoms in, anatomy out: Grocery chain pulls latest issue of Seventeen
Comments
This is exactly the sort of thing that gets my ire, having been the recipient of crappy sex education myself. Of course, I would have wanted to know about penises instead, but the principle is the same. We keep these parts of the body so well hidden that it’s almost impossible for kids to know what they’re supposed to be like, unless their parents are brave enough to talk about it (or are nudists, I suppose).
I saw a documentary recently about the history of sex education in the UK, particularly the films that teachers could show their pupils (presumeably so that they could hit ‘play’ and run for the staff room). One film had a young man and woman in their underwear, with diagrams then superimposed to show what lay beneath cloth and skin. God forbid (apparently) that kids ever see anyone else naked.
Posted by: Jeff Sela | October 30, 2005 01:23 PM