GPS seek to ban MetroTimes b/c of its ad content

[bailey]

It’s not just raunchy images. It’s the Metro Times aiding and abetting sex trafficking,” LaVigne said.


Grosse Pointe Park resident Sara Demir agreed with LaVigne.


“This is graphic hate speech,” Demir said. Her 8-year-old daughter picked up the Metro Times at the library and “she realized it too — she saw this magazine and she said, ‘Mom, they’re selling women in here,’ ” Demir said.
As a social worker who assists victims of sexual violence, Demir recognized that Metro Times ads invite criminal conduct, she said.

“Nobody calls an escort service for a prom date. That’s just prostitution,” she said.

Yet, banning the publication would do nothing to stop human trafficking, Metro Times Editor-in-Chief Valerie Vande Panne said.

Told Friday of the library board vote and LaVigne’s charge, Vande Panne said that if anyone has evidence of Metro Times’ advertisers engaging in sex trafficking, “they need to take that to the police please.”

The library board’s decision to hide the Metro Times behind counters is the height of hypocrisy because many books with risque passages, profanity and hate speech sit openly on library shelves, Vande Panne added.

“Are they doing the same with ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ and Mark Twain?” Vande Panne said, referring to D.H. Lawrence’s long-censored 1928 novel of explicit sex scenes and four-letter words, and to the author of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” which came under fire for using a centuries-old racial epithet for African Americans.

The Metro Times sits out in plain view at the Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham and at the three branches of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, their directors said.

...
Vande Panne also said that putting her publication behind library counters will imply that there is something shameful about reading it. And she denied that any advertisement constituted sex trafficking.

Referring to some ads’ risqué photos, Vande Panne said: “Many women would argue that it’s a feminist right to have their photograph taken in that manner.” Asked whether she thought the wording in some ads constituted come-ons by prostitutes, she said: “I don’t know what two consensual adults engage in with those advertisements.” She said she did not know whether money was exchanged when customers patronized the ads, even though some ads state that payment can be made with credit cards.

After hearing descriptions of the offending advertisements, Jane White, director of the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force in East Lansing, said that “chances are very good that there are elements of trafficking in there.”

It's a typical PTA mom "cause" for sure, but I have always wondered how the MT and other free papers got away with such blatant prostitution adverts with little or no objection.

and I have to say I'm a little confused by the Editor in chief's statement. She apparently concedes that the MTs existence depends on advertising for illegal activity, and the response is, "not running them isn't going to stop it", "we're just running ads, we don't know what people do when they call the number", "it's feminism" and "there are books about risque stuff in libraries too!".

You stay classy Metro Times. It's like listening to a small government teabagger defend the war on drugs or nation building abroad.

Ads for someone to come give you a blowie while her pimp stands outside...er I mean "escort" you on a dinner date...vs. access to Tropic of Cancer is not exactly apples to apples. That is just weak sauce.

One would expect from a paper with the political leanings and agenda of the MT to, instead of an impassioned, righteously indignant defense of the ads, say something like "we can see there are some troubling aspects to some of the ads pointed out and we at the MT will take a serious look at the content of these ads. The last thing we want to do is contribute to the objectification of women and negatively impact young girls' self esteem." I can only imagine the OUTRAGE that would spew forth from the MT if this discussion was about some other paper's controversial ads.

Besides, it's not being banned, it's being moved behind the counter. I'll give it to Vande Panne that the move is probably pointless as any kid with an iphone has more porn at their fingertips than anything in the fairly scummy ads in the MTs.

Vande Panne wants to run the ads, collect the revenue, and then wash her hands of what "consenting adults" might do. Which is fine, but the issue is not what consenting adults might do, the issue is what opinions and beliefs about the worth of women KIDS are going to form when ads for bondage mistresses to come over and choke you out are casually thrown out there in the library.

[Jimaz]

Of course their circulation will skyrocket now.

[Hermod]

It is the old progressive conundrum on freedom of speech/press versus the negative effects of porn and sex traffic on women.

Does the Metro Times [[and papers like them in other cities) overly rely on ads dealing with sex? Yes they do. Should it be illegal? Probably not. Should it be discouraged? Probably.

[bailey]

It is the old progressive conundrum on freedom of speech/press versus the negative effects of porn and sex traffic on women.

Sure, but it's not like they want to ban the paper. three suburban libraries are going to basically move it to a higher shelf.

Really I was just struck by the dismissive and snarky response by the editor. [[there are also multiple blog posts on MT's site continuing the sardonic theme). Surprising to see these concerns treated with such disdain by a "progressive" paper.

[Hermod]

Sure, but it's not like they want to ban the paper. three suburban libraries are going to basically move it to a higher shelf.

Really I was just struck by the dismissive and snarky response by the editor. [[there are also multiple blog posts on MT's site continuing the sardonic theme). Surprising to see these concerns treated with such disdain by a "progressive" paper.

Metro Times just spreads their legs for advertising money.

[Scottathew]

Prostitution is a victim-less crime [[most of the time). To avoid victims in prostitution we should decriminalize it, tax it, and regulate it.

Decriminalizing prostitution would make it safer for everyone as well as allow adults to willingly do whatever they wanted to do to each other.

[Honky Tonk]

Prostitution is a victim-less crime [[most of the time). To avoid victims in prostitution we should decriminalize it, tax it, and regulate it.

Decriminalizing prostitution would make it safer for everyone as well as allow adults to willingly do whatever they wanted to do to each other.

Not only that, but legalizing it would end Crime In Detroit. Oh wait, wrong thread.

[GUSHI]

Legalize weed and hoes,

[Cliffy]

Legalize weed and hoes,

And carjackings, murder, rape etc... Then Detroit will be crime free.

[Zacha341]

Well stated... they've earned their specific space on the shelf so to speak.

Metro Times just spreads their legs for advertising money.

[Zacha341]

Uh, yeah... when does it end?

And carjackings, murder, rape etc... Then Detroit will be crime free.

[DetroitPlanner]

It should be banned based on literary content. Lots of hack journalism in there these days. When people don't want to read it based upon its articles, you need to amp up your ads to keep in business.