A big yuck to the Mountain Xpress

Posted on by Sherrill Osborne Knight

A big yuck to the Mountain Xpress for printing the photo of a woman's leg shackled to a dancing pole in an ad for a local nightspot. Hooray for healthy sexuality consensually expressed, but would Xpress have run the ad if the leg had been a shade darker? I think (thankfully) not.

Yes, editing is a form or censorship, but please choose not to run ads that portray violence to women as entertainment.

— Sherrill Osborne Knight
Asheville
Xpress responds: Thanks for your letter, which raises good points. We restrict the number and content of adult ads that run in Xpress in deference to the range of values held by our readers and to ensure that Xpress continues to promote community dialogue among those readers. The Xpress Advertising and Production departments created this ad with our stock-image library, using, at the client’s request, an image of a woman with a pole. When the ad was created and approved by the client, we didn’t think through all the image’s connotations and implied contexts. The ad ran for one week. We have replaced it this week to reflect something more positive.

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Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

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6 thoughts on “A big yuck to the Mountain Xpress”

  1. mat catastrophe

    Something more positive?

    Isn’t that like saying, “you should have seen the album cover they wanted to do”?

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