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June
25, 2003
Barnes & Noble Grapevine
Offers this Magazine to all Ages
What you are not warned
about is obscene language and even more questionable references to
Jesus Christ and the mentally ill.
Follow up by
Kelly Kosikowski
Would you allow your child to read Hustler? What if Hustler’s
controversial publisher, Larry Flynt, put out a sports magazine
for children. What if that magazine’s demographic was for
audiences, including children,
between the ages of 13 and 25.
Let me introduce
you to Big Brother Skateboarding Magazine. A publication dedicated
to the extreme sport of skateboarding and published for our
children by the one-and-only Larry Flynt. Big Brother follows the
lives of various twenty-somethings of the skateboard culture.
There are articles from ranging topics including new tricks to
skate competitions in Australia. The photography is expert.
However, the language is full of obscenities and vulgarity.
Big Brother’s
Editor, Dave Carnie, also participates on MTV’s skateboarding
show, Jackass. The show has become a small phenomenon among young
teens. The show is dedicated to debauchery and mayhem in any form.
Carnie considers his controversial magazine, which follows the
same guide as the show, to
be funny, engaging, relevant and non-fiction.
“We love fresh
ideas from new people who have the same sense of humor and
perspective we do,” Carnie said. “ We even love fresh ideas
from people who hate us.”
Big Brother
Magazine has been under fire for years. The cover suggests that
the content is harmless, but the material is racy, perhaps too
racy for children. When reading
the June edition for research,
I started to count the number of times a certain
four-letter profanity was used. After page twelve and way over
fifty counted, I decided to give up.
“Big Brother
always has, and always will be known for its controversy,” Grant
Hogan from JackassDownUnder.com, an Australian site dedicated to
MTV’s Jackass, said. “ Thus leading to Larry Flynt being the
only person that would publish it.”
Carnie himself is
aware of the misguidance of the cover. In an interview with reporter John Doezine, Carnie was asked “What tricks have
you been working on?” The question was in regards to his
skateboarding. Carnie replied, “ Making
mothers think that Big Brother is filled with recipes and pet
care tips. I can't make it yet though. It's hard. Moms are smart.”
Recently a
10-year-old boy walked into Grapevine’s Barnes and Noble. After
searching the assortment of books and magazine the child asked his
mother to buy him a magazine. The mother, being cautious,
inspected the cover. Everything looked fine. It was just a picture
of a male on a skateboard doing an elaborate trick. She bought the
$4.00 magazine and left the store.
Later,
at home, she went through some of the pages of Big Brother
Skateboard Magazine. There was vulgar language, sacrilegious
images of a baby Christ, a photograph of a woman with down
syndrome with the caption, “Jill the Retard.”
Angered,
the mother went to Barnes and Noble and asked to speak to the
manager. The manager knew nothing of the magazine, but said that
it was on the shelf because Barnes and Noble did not censor.
Magazines considered “sophisticates” which includes Playboy,
Flynt’s more popular magazine Hustler and other pornographic
magazines are kept behind the counter. The Big Brother
magazine was not considered offensive enough to be kept behind the
counter.
I contacted Joan
Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship. Being a
writer, I do not condone censorship, but I knew that there were
several community members outraged saying there is a difference
between protecting your communities standards and banning first
amendment rights.
Apparently, the
Supreme Court has upheld laws that prohibit selling minors
“adult” magazines that are considered harmful to minors. Many
states have such laws in place. However, it is up to local
authorities to decide which magazines are harmful and how to
enforce these laws.
Big Brother
Magazine does not fall under Grapevine’s city ordinance for
display of sexually explicit material to minors. The ordinance
states that:
“
A person commits and offense if, in a business establishment open
to persons under the age of 17 years,
said person displays a book, pamphlet, newspaper, magazine,
film, or video, the cover depicts , in a manner calculated to
arouse sexual lust or passion for commercial gain.” Section
14-119. (go to www.ci.grapevine.tx.us
and look under code of ordinances for more information).
The ordinance
goes on to list specific scenarios that are deemed unacceptable.
Therefore, it is not illegal to sell Big Brother to ANY child.
In
1990, a bill was introduced in the Florida State Legislature
requiring “parental advisory” labels on any record, tape or CD
that “contains lyrics descriptive of, advocating or glamorizing
suicide, sodomy, bestiality, sado-masochism, adultery or any form
of sexual activity in a violent context.” Sales of such records
to anyone under the age of 18 was prohibited by law.
Advisory labels
are still in place today. Warning parents that the content is not
appropriate for children. Why is there no advisory for adult
magazines that are not considered porn. Legally it falls into the
jurisdiction of the city. Why are young, impressionable children
able to buy magazines that make their parents cringe?
If
you are interested in the magazine’s content, but do not wish to
help increase sales by purchasing it, you can log onto www.bigbrothermagazine.com
and you will have an insight to Larry Flynt’s newest
accomplishment.
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