Indecency at the Mall

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution had a point/counterpoint up this weekend about indecency at the mall.

Here are excerpts from each.

From the "Yes there is indecency" side:

And that is the reason advertising is getting more indecent: Some retailers have a warped sense of “normal,” and mainstream America isn't letting them know. In Virginia Beach, the A&F store got complaints - but the mall management got none! All indecency and obscenity laws depend on an image violating acceptable “community standards.” Well, most people find sexual advertising far less acceptable than A&F thinks. If concerned people don't join groups like iCareCoalition.org to push back, we have only ourselves to blame when A&F is able to say the Virginia police had an “incredible overreaction” - because, in their view, the community obviously finds those pictures totally fine.

And from the "No there's not" side:

My sympathies never lie with alienating, elitist retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch — girlcott them, boycott them, shop elsewhere if the vibe offends. Yet I'll always go to bat for art, and for the ability of young people to somehow survive exposure to an underwear model in an underwear store, or the image of a statuesque guy spotted in a field on a lazy summer afternoon. Now — you want to talk mall indecency? Look at the price tags …