[lbo-talk] prostitution

Michael Pugliese michael.098762001 at gmail.com
Sun May 15 15:47:54 PDT 2005


Heh, a delayed reply to fs.New book at DPL. Smut: A Sex-Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough by Gil Reavill http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595230122/qid=1116197098/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-6363857-0391116
>From Publishers Weekly
Reavill says that he wrote this book because the ways that we can access smut have multiplied "staggeringly, exponentially, absurdly." People who don't like it are "getting it shoved in their faces." And he admits he wants his middle school-aged daughter to grow up in a world that's "less trashy" than the one he believes we're living in now. In this made-for-the-choir work, the men's magazine insider (Reavill writes for Maxim and Penthouse) offers a highly personal account of what he finds wrong with explicit advertisements, children's television, the video game rating system and other popular culture mediums. "I am a staunch believer in the First Amendment," he insists, "but there is a whole boatload of things to say about balance and moderation." In generally restrained prose, Reavill explains what is currently being done to censor public indecency and what he believes needs to be done. Among his recommendations: use filtering devices for television and the Internet, implement an "acceptable use" policy for your family's Internet use and insist on "voluntary G-rated display policies" for local signage companies and newsstands. Reavill writes from an unusual perspective, which should bring attention to a book that may have otherwise been dismissed by many.


>From Booklist
With stints at Screw, Penthouse, and Maxim on his resume, Reavill's claim to be a sex-industry insider is as serious as his fatherly concern about children's exposure to behavior most adults find at least gauche. The problem with smut, he says, is that it is too readily available. It prevails in all media, and it is virtually impossible to listen to radio, watch TV, or log onto the Internet without being accosted by everything from Howard Stern and lewd sitcom badinage to gangsta-rapper snuff lyrics and mousetrap hard-core Web sites (once a misspelling or deceptive link gets you into one of these, exiting is nearly impossible). Still, censorship is out of the question for First Amendment absolutist Reavill, who says that adults who want smut should be able to get it. What, however, ever happened to discretion, and can it be restored? Reavill is longer on private and familial than on public and legal measures for fighting intrusive, omnipresent porn. Easy reading and realistic thinking on a perpetually vexing public-affairs topic. Ray Olson Copyright (c) American Library Association. All rights reserved



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