It is everywhere, even in “family friendly” stores like Sam’s Club, Walmart, and Costco. And it is an assault against Christian families. Soft porn, in the form of sexually charged magazines featuring scantily clad women, is now being showcased in the most “ordinary” of places. Yet, most of the time, we just walk right past the offense and pretend not to notice. Some men, even Christian men, may cast a furtive glance at the cover – that is what the designers hope you do.

Sadly, some will even buy a copy and stealthily smuggle it out of the store. Did you read my post on accountability?

I am very disturbed about what is happening at kiosks and check outs around the country. Christians should be doing more—we need to be doing more. So in an attempt to make it easy for people to join us in this effort, Stacy and I have crafted a letter for you to personalize, print, sign, and send to your local stores. This is part of the new EAGLE Project we are launching at Family Reformation.

Please remember to still complain in person, but let’s bombard them with mail as well. The letter is in a Word document, so you can post it on your blogs and websites, and send it to everyone you know; then they too can personalize and distribute it. Friends, it is time to pray for the end of sinful indecency and obscene assaults against our families.

Would Sam’s Club, Costco, Walmart, or any of our local grocery stores like to be viewed as anti-family? Of course not; they don’t want a moniker like that! Yet, although their commercials promote an apple pie-American image, they serve up family-destroying soft porn, like the latest Sports Illustrated® Swimsuit Issue (SI), for all to see. This particular issue features a topless woman wearing nothing more than beads and a string bikini. How much worse does it have to get before we do something?

I am grateful for the stores who care enough about their customers to recognize the danger these types of magazines represent. I plan to let you know which companies are cooperating so we can personally thank them by patronizing their stores. Some stores are already taking action and do not allow this offensive material on their shelves. Others, such as a Publix grocery store we visited in Birmingham, Alabama, put plastic covers over the front of the magazine, hiding the cover “art.” In fact, my wife observed that one magazine rack had five or six publications covered.

But too many simply put the trash out for all to see, conveniently placed at the checkout, and low enough for young eyes to be caught unaware.

Consider reading the article below, which is a review of the SI issue, and a call to arms. I join them in this call. Will you?

Please send this letter to everyone you know. Implore them to join us in our effort to defend our right to not be visually accosted while simply buying a gallon of milk.

From the American Decency Association

February 18, 2008

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is a misnomer if there ever was one. The magazine has nothing to do with sports and, considering numbers of the models are topless and sometimes bottomless as well, very little to do with swimsuits. What the SI Swimsuit Edition is, though, is outright pornography.

Starting with the topless woman on the cover, SI gets to the real purpose of the issue – the pornographic exhibition of women for the pleasure of men. Page after page reveals erotically displayed young women in, at the most, barely there bikinis. Each lust-producing pornographic pose reinforces the message to ogling men and boys that women are nothing more than sexual objects to be used. And wives and young girls, whose husbands or fathers bring home this issue, are given the message that to be loved they must degrade themselves and that their worth is dependent upon their body and bust size.

In addition to the nearly bare models, are dozens of photos of topless or completely nude women. There are also a number of pullout pinups. And as pornography use typically escalates to harder and harder material, the level of pornographic images in the SI Swimsuit issue has increasingly become more erotic and has included more nudity with each year.

This outrageous display is basically no different than a Playboy, yet, to some in America, the name Sports Illustrated seems to give it a semblance of ‘acceptability’. Men who would not dream of buying a Playboy, without a thought have the SI Swimsuit Edition in their home or on their coffee table. However, there is nothing acceptable about pornography and that is exactly what the SI Swimsuit issue is – material produced for the purposes of eliciting a sexual response. There is nothing acceptable about the degrading display of women as sex objects. There is nothing acceptable about luring susceptible young boys and men into a pattern of lust and escalating pornography use. And, there is nothing acceptable about looking the other way when local grocery stores, gas stations, or other shopping establishments display this filth in their magazine racks.

Also revolting are the numbers of American companies that have debased their corporate name by aligning with this smut. Many of the corporations stoop to the same level as Sports Illustrated by using very sexual, erotic imagery and innuendo in their ads. In some cases there is little difference between the erotic advertisements and the SI photo displays.

How disturbing that far too many – even Christians – have come to accept the SI Swimsuit issue and are desensitized to its destructive impact. That this collection of pornographic images is produced in the guise of a ‘legitimate’ sports magazine should outrage us. The fact that this too easily accessible magazine has the potential of starting many young boys down the path to a life-destroying addiction to pornography should anger each of us. These reasons and many others should drive us to speak to store managers at stores that carry this magazine. And the fact that mainline companies such as Taco Bell, General Motors, Ford, and Pontiac choose to support this with their advertising dollars should cause us to exercise our calling to be “salt and light”.

We urge you to contact the corporations who align their name with pornography.

Especially troubling are corporations who not only endorse this magazine with their advertising dollars, but also stoop to the same level by incorporating bikini-clad models and eroticism into their ads. These corporations included GMC, Pontiac, AT&T, Dasani water, Honda, Budweiser.

GMC was one of the worst culprits with a very seductively posed bikini model. The fine print of the ad talks about the perfection they demand from their vehicles – not accepting “close to perfection”. The ad’s erotic display of the model, spread across two pages, points out her imperfections – a freckle and a “pointy” elbow. This ad grossly objectifies women – implying she is not acceptable because of her flaws.

Honda’s ad urges viewers to download and customize a SI Swimsuit calendar. Dasani water was a four-page pullout of a close up view of a model’s body with the caption – “Make your mouth water.”

For a listing of advertisers who sponsored the SI Swimsuit issue, along with a sample letter, click on the link below.

http://americandecency.org/main.php?f=updates_new/2008/February/02.08a.08