February 8, 2012

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Post City Magazines / June 2010 / 'R' Rated Ads? Now Mag Faces Critics

'R' Rated Ads? Now Mag Faces Critics

Should magazines easily accessible to minors run explicit adult ads?

Con: Jennifer Kolari

I admire NOW Magazine’s dedication to serving their readership with integrity.

I agree that the role of the media is to expose issues that can and will make some people uncomfortable, but here are some important things to consider.

Although prostitution will not disappear if the ads vanish, the fact remains that the world of prostitution is oppressive, dangerous and abusive. Having counselled these young girls and boys and been a witness to the devastating effects that prostitution has on their self-esteem, self-worth and sense of hope, I feel it is important to consider whether it is ethical to advertise and enable this cycle. Kids are bombarded with sexualization on a daily basis, but does that make it all right for them to be privy to ads that offer sex for money?

The fact that NOW Magazine is free means that, although the target audience is not children, it is simple for kids to procure it without their parents’ permission or knowledge. Many parents work hard to protect their children from harmful images and information available on the Internet; however, they cannot watch every move their kids make outside of the home.

There are few if any ads in magazines or on television that are of the same gratuitousness as ads that directly advertise sex for money. There is a reason why sex magazines are wrapped up or behind the counter in retail outlets: to protect children from the effects of their content. I totally agree that advertising in general is often in opposition to the self-esteem and healthy imaging we want for our children, but these sex ads are not subtle or subliminal.

They are quite graphic, depicting images that may be confusing and even alarming to kids. NOW celebrates choice — the choice of what to listen to, what to see, where to eat, which opinions to consider. Prostitution by its very nature is choice-limiting for all involved.

Jennifer Kolari is a renowned child therapist, author and speaker. She is also the founder of Connected Parenting. 

Pro: Michael Hollett

At Toronto’s independent alternative newsweekly, we have a simple deal with our readership: we’ll give you all you need to know about your city, a lot of the good, the need-to-know bad and everything else in between.

“Everything Toronto” means that we deal in issues and attitudes that can make some people uncomfortable, an ages old role of media. And it means we seek to keep our advertising pages as open as possible without us passing judgment. The only ads we have refused to take are for cigarettes, in support of larger societal move against this blight, ads that even “family publishers” like Toronto Life and Toronto Star owned publications have accepted.

Prostitution doesn’t disappear if the ads in NOW Magazine do. What does happen is that more prostitutes take to the streets to get their message out. When the police attempted to bust NOW in 1990 for running the ads, the charges didn’t stick, and prostitutes came to our defence.

They say NOW helps keep them safe, especially by helping eliminate or reduce street prostitution. In addition, NOW works with sex worker organizations and provides weekly tips in the magazine to ensure safer services. While NOW magazine takes many stands designed to protect children, they are not our targeted readership.

But if a child stumbles across a copy of NOW and finds the ads in the back, it is unlikely they are seeing anything they haven’t seen on the Internet or the highly sexualized advertising and television shows that clutter this world. If your child does bump into our escort ads, it’s our hope that this will lead to a valuable discussion that will help them understand these ads and more importantly the deluge of sexualization that they experience every day from billboards to Top 40 radio songs.

It’s our belief that the subtle messaging of fashion magazines and other self-esteem robbing media puts children more at risk than anything they will encounter in NOW.

Michael Hollett is the co-founder of NOW, Toronto’s alternative news and entertainment magazine.

Con: Megan Boler

Each of us — men and women — internalizes the highly profitable image of women as “T & A.” The fifteen pages of ads found in weekly, free newspapers depict women as sexual objects to be bought, used and consumed. Such ads are part of the accepted degradation of women and reinforce gender stereotypes that hurt us all. 

While impossible to prove that these exploitive ads cause trauma, they perpetuate the message that women’s primary worth is as a passive sexual object, valued foremost by her body’s sexual pleasure for men. The existence and seeming effectiveness of these ads for generating business are evidence of a culture that exploits women in ways that are harmful. But is the solution censoring sex ads? No, advertising is but a symptom.

The real disease is pervasive sexism and misogyny. For example, every 60 seconds here in Canada, a woman or child is assaulted, raped or abused.

While Hollett may be right that ads offer prostitutes greater safety, the question remains: if ads are part of pervasive visual propaganda of violence against women, does possible increased safety justify the presence of these ads?

If publishers running such ads acknowledge an ethical question in profiting from exploitative gender systems, then at minimum these papers should counter possible harm by ensuring women be given voice through diverse weekly columns to spark public dialogue about issues such as sexism in media, safety in the sex trade and preventing domestic violence and sexual abuse. But bottom line: One is hard pressed to argue these images are any worse than the countless sexualized images of women in the 3,000 ads every person encounters daily or than the pervasive violence against women in TV and film.

To engage critical discussion of the industry of sexism in advertising is crucial. But let’s not risk missing the bigger picture. From axing funds to 11 women’s organizations, to his anti-choice framing in maternal health debates, Stephen Harper’s policy actions arguably pose a more immediate threat to women and children’s well-being.

Megan Boler is a philosophy of education professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She is a research expert on media representations, social media technologies and feminist and cultural studies.

 

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