"If men are so into sports, why is the biggest selling issue of Sports Illustrated the swimsuit edition?"-Adele Lang & susi Rajah

Advertising is a rather troubling industry in this nation. It pushes the lines between acceptable and obscene. The government has tried to step in and deal with the issue but the results were just a handful of blunders. Chapter thirteen of Smut: A Sex Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough, titled Ad Nauseam, confronts this issue.

Gil Reavill starts off by pointing out that advertising is everywhere. But advertising today doesn't just consist of simple ads for movies or the latest dress from a top designer, it consists of porn (p.87). Many billboards are indeed X-rated (p.88). You can find them in all major cities and not just in towns known as being risque. "Raunchy signage is popping up all over the country" causing the public space to become overcrowded with sexual imagery (p.91).

There really is a problem with advertising, but what can be done about it? The Bill of Rights allows these companies to market whatever they want. But the Bill of Rights isn't given to people who hinder the rights of other people. Many people consider the barrage of sexual advertising a violation of their rights as citizens. Reavill does have a suggestion for this issue. "...I don't believe in censorship. I don't think the government has any business telling me what I can and can't watch in the privacy of my own home. ...I nevertheless believe it has a place in our society. We can't deny the fact that sexually explicit entertainment is an incredibly popular multibillion-dollar industry, that people like it, or that adults, both men and women, consume it and voluntarily star in it. ... So, yes, porn has its place. I just don't think that pace is looming over a public street..." (p.89).

Being an insider in the sex industry he knows all the marketing tricks. He writes that when creating ads companies go out of their way to create something sexual. "I don't like to be so crudely manipulated, and I don't like the fact that advertisers know they can get to me by presenting certain images" (p.90). With this situation in mind, what can/will women do to fight this since advertising focuses on them?