Editor:
I feel that I must speak out, for I have held my temper and opinions about this issue for too long. This society that we live in has become very sexually oriented, and this is too evident in your almost full page advertisement of Playboy with the heading of "Required reading for Spring Break" on Page 5 in the March 9 Wildcat.
For a lot of people this kind of ad may be no big deal Ä it's just another thing to glance over in the newspaper. For other people this kind of ad may be highly arousing and motivating to go out and buy this magazine. But then there are people, like myself, who find this ad purely repulsive. Reasons for this range widely from simple non-preference, to religion, to the severe Ä sexual abuse. I am in the last category and as a result of what I was made to suffer, I am repulsed by pornography (which Webster's Dictionary defines as "the presentation of sexually explicit behavior, as in a photograph, intended to arouse sexual excitement" for those of you who argue that Playboy is not pornographic).
The purpose of this letter is not to get on my soapbox and preach to you that you shouldn't be "reading" this magazine. It is your choice whether to do so or not. My intention is to tell you that for people like myself it is truly upsetting to open up a newspaper and be bombarded with an ad of such nature and size. I realize that your sponsors pay you for running their ads and I assume that you chose Playboy for a sponsor and you were paid by Playboy for running an ad to their specifications. However, I did not choose to see this ad. But I did choose to pick up the Wildcat and read it. Unfortunately, because you choose to run these kinds of advertisements and ads cannot be put in a separate designated section all by themselves, I am left with no choice but to stop reading the Wildcat in order to protect myself from any future upsetting surprises.
I hope that this letter has helped to make you aware of a part of your audience that may not be as well known as those in acceptance of pornography. Please try and keep all facets of your audience in mind when choosing which ads to run for your sponsors. Thank you.
J.B.