Posted on 12/29/2008 8:05:34 AM PST by NYer
So I took the kids out to the mall to shop for Mom two days before Christmas. I want them to know that Christmas is not just about receiving but giving as well.
Now let me ask a weird hypothetical. If I showed up at the Mall wearing only briefs and say my wife showed up in a minuscule bra and panties we'd likely be dragged from the premises and arrested. And rightly so, especially if you've seen me in briefs. But no matter what, it's bad, right? So why is it OK for some of these stores to have huge window displays of essentially naked people. I mean, are these store owners out of their minds. Walking by Abercrombie or Victoria's Secret is essentially a walking tour of porn for children. Hey kids step on up and peer inside the sick twisted mind of adulthood where we view others as vessels of flesh waiting to be boarded and devoured.
It's lunacy.
So as we're passing a bunch of sex-soaked stories, I do my best to distract the kids from the window display. I start singing a loud Christmas carol and they all become embarrassed by me and try to stop me from singing anymore. So for anybody who saw the fat bearded dad singing in front of a ten foot porn window display with children laughing and climbing all over him, it was me.
But here's the thing. I know my kids saw it. They didn't mention it. But I know they see it. They see it. They internalize it. They think that window display represents the realm of adulthood. They intuit that adults desire 8-pack abs and 38 D breasts. And kids want to be adults.
Here's the truth. If a man was caught showing pictures of topless women in pink underwear holding their breasts or men in wet briefs, they'd be arrested. But when a store does it, it's capitalism.
So a few hours later I'm making the call I never thought I'd make in my life. I call the mall two days before Christmas to complain about the lewd window displays. The funny thing is that while I'm on hold I'm feeling like I'm the crazy one. I'm feeling like "I can't believe I've become the guy who complains about lewd window displays." I didn't think I'd ever use the word 'lewd' never mind call to complain about aforementioned lewdness. I'm feeling like I have to convince this guy on the phone that I'm not one of these crazy religious Jerry Falwell types. But then it hits me. I'm the sane one. Those displays are crazy to have in front of children. So instead of getting into a morality type conversation with the guy I just decide to speak his language. "I'm just calling to let you know that my family which comes to the mall often will not come back unless you guys stop allowing pornographic window displays."
So I make the call and I'm feeling proud of myself. And I walk back into the room where the children are watching The Polar Express on ABC Family. And then comes a commercial about some show about a fifteen year old girl who is pregnant. "Fifteen!?" says my nine year old.
"How can you have a baby if you're not married," asks my six year old.
They all look at me. "Hey guys Polar Express is back on!" And thanks to my amazing powers of distraction I muddled through yet another awkward moment. But I know my kids. Nothing escapes them. Questions build. They never fade away.
And we wonder why are children are ending up sexualized. It's simple. Somewhere between the Merry-go-Round and the pretzels they're seeing and interpreting the adult world. They're unprotected out there. The adults want too much to be like children and the children want to be adults. It's time for adults to start acting like adults.
Like...getting us off this rock? ;)
Cheers and Happy New Year Kevin!
You are absolutely right, and the commercials on TV as well.
Bingo....everyone tells us to simply avoid it. To do so, we will soon have to stop living. Nobody seems to see the enroachment because it’s been a slow desensitization process....
I agree with you. I simply explain that everybody has an opportunity to show class or a lack of class.
As I told my daughter at 11, there are a lot of good looking dumb broads out there who rely on looks and enticement for attraction. Develop your brain and make your candy something special to a special person; don’t make every day like Halloween and hand it out for popularity.
Now that’s a real commercial.
“Please remember that when we blindly follow our religion, we become no better than our enemies who do the same.”
Not really too concerned with what the Bible says about modesty I guess.
Well some people are, does that make them stupid?
Calling the mall manager is actually brilliant and something we can all do. Consumer pressure is about the only thing left.
Sex sells, if we want stores and advertisers to stop using it to sell, we have to stop buying it. We don’t have to let the madmen tell us what our behavior will be.
Ok that was funny (and Sexy!).
Not easy.
Yours is a typical cop out response by one who wants his 24/7 access to prurience, no matter how it is unraveling values and the backbone of our society.
The sleazy stuff is ubiquitous and unavoidable now. Last time I looked, malls were supposed to be family-friendly, not packaged for the seedier appetites.
Do you suggest kids get corralled Taliban-style— to tight little enclaves of existence ( only walk by churches Cathedrals..etc) so the underbelly among us have their sleaze fix close at hand, anywhere, anytime?
Repulsive.
It’s all in how you frame it. Like I said earlier, in my experience, the people that have issues with these ads actually have inner issues that they need to deal with themselves, but instead project their insecurities onto everyone else.
Up until about aged 11 my son used to turn his head and get grossed out when we walked past Victoria’s Secret, now (at 13) that little so&so does his best to get a look in the store. I try to cover his eyes and he says “MOMMM!”
Makes me want to put in a load
The all-sports radio station in NYC has E.D. commercials all day long.
I guess selling sexual aids to audience with children in it is considered "normal" now.
Strange.
We really are moving toward a porn culture. Shops in the mall (not just Victoria’s Secret) have overtly sexual displays and merchandise (ever go into a Spencer Gifts?). Even “mainstream” bookstores sell overt porn. And I’m no Puritan about this stuff—I don’t want it banned, just kept in a place where it isn’t so overt. I agree there are no easy answers. I guess we have to raise kids right so that when they see these things, they will understand them in context and understand that, while there is nothing wrong with a naked human body, that they shouldn’t respond in the wrong way to these mall displays.
Good for you!
I hope more people do as you did.
And your sense of humor saves the day.
It seems a majority of people have lost all sense of themselves as legitimate-— I mean that people in genereal seem to think that television and the media have all the authority. That we are peasants and have no right to complain. That the big corporations, and media and advertising are somehow the great Authorities against which we have no recourse. We have to accept anything they throw out.
The only other way is avoidance. Slink away and don’t make a fuss.
We have to stop thinking like that.
Oh get real.
This stuff is kudzu, it is crawling everywhere—perhaps broaden your perspective beyond 24/7 convenient titillation and see the impact.
The world you grew up in is being altered and not for the good. For the commoditizing of humans—flesh as the currency.
Mainstreaming it is where it runs off the rails into the swamp.
??
Well, at least the Muslims with their women covered up in burkas have the right idea. Of course, behind their own closed doors they take them off. It’s just that they don’t want other men in public to see them.
I wonder how Victoria’s Secret would look with the latest fashion in burkas... LOL..
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