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| Image credit: Photo by fd on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons |
"The level of sexual imagery in modern life is astounding. I knew intuitively this was true, but when you tune into it, you just can't believe it. I click on the Yahoo! finance page, and there's this blond model in a low-cut dress looking at a computer screen and nibbling alluringly on the temple of her glasses, apparently very aroused by the latest S&P 500 report."
~ A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically
Years ago, when my husband Mark and I were first married, we went away for the weekend, leaving the little city (or big town) we called home to drive to a bed and breakfast on a ranch in the middle of big rolling fields of nowhere. At night, we could look up and see a sky, not just dotted with a few twinkling stars against a vast blackness, but absolutely littered with more light than darkness. But even more than the presence of stars, I remember the silence...
Have you ever seen the BBC sci-fi show Torchwood? The 2nd episode is about an alien that feeds of sexual energy--and planet earth is an all-you-can-eat buffet. The alien inhabits a young woman's body of course and goes on a sex-mad spree. One problem is that when the man climaxes he vaporizes. Not so good. The girl/alien walks around town and is overwhelmed by all the sexual imagery. The show makes the point that there is no safe place from such a world.
Anyway, your post reminded me of that and of the Dove soap campaign for real beauty. They have a video of a girl be bombarded with sexual images. Sigh.
I often speak of the pervasiveness of alcohol in our everday lives, one can not pump gas, drive, watch TV, or even buy groceries without being bombarded by alcohol advertising. It's tough to think about, but I would guess that over half of the alcohol advertisement (any ads really) also include provocative and sexual portrayal... how this might affect those dealing with sex addiction.