Porn vs check out isle smut

Today while getting groceries and supplies I was forced to wait in line while the clerk and her manager tried to figure out how to make the Link Card in front me work properly.  This provided me with the opportunity to read the cover of several magazines, well I'll admit what really caught me attention was the pretty little thing in her undies, but after that attracted my line of sight I decided to read the cover stories as well.  This really got my mind running around in circles.  While I was checking out I couldn't help thinking to myself how some people have the nerve to say porn is demeaning to women.  Is Pornography worse than the smut pushed as an impulse buy?

People, mostly women, take off their clothes for the amusement of others, mostly men. This is a clearly defined practice which has ages and ages of history behind it.  There are no misconceptions, the models take off their clothes and put their goodies on display.  For this service they are paid, and paid well, generally speaking.  No one is forced to do this against their will, at least not in commercially produced publications.  But the smut on display at the grocery store is filled with unrealistic expectations.  Perfectly toned, perky little hard bodies dancing around in their underwear with headlines like "How to give him mind blowing sex".   

This stuff is peddled to the masses in quantities that I'm sure far exceeds pornographic magazines, and worse still is that it's put right in the reach of children.  This fact really stood out to me as a soon to be father.  I thought about the kind of questions children might ask and wondered how I might answer such questions from a child about these magazines.  Can you imagine, a trip to the grocery store leading to a question like  "Dad, what is mind blowing sex".  Or a teenage daughter asking why it's inappropriate for her to run around in her underwear when the models on the magazines do it?  These are questions some have no doubt already had the pleasure of dealing with, I don't look forward to that day.           

All this leads me to the realization that I almost would rather see pornography on the check out isle shelf at the grocery store and the pop culture "smut" behind the counter.  At least when my kid asks me why the girls on the cover are naked, I can turn it into an economic lesson.  Simple supply and demand.  There are plenty of girls with "daddy issues" and plenty of dirty old daddies willing to keep them employed.  I would rather teach that lesson than taking all the time required to explain and teach about how some people make profit selling an unrealistic image to people who simply want to be popular.  

Cheers,

Mike