Re "Bringing Sexy Back" 8/24/2012): Has Isthmus experienced a change of staff that put this article in such a prominent position?
I realize that Madison and its social mores are ever-evolving, but aren't there some topics that are better left as private matters?
Laura Burno, Stoughton
When I heard that Metcalfe's Market refused to display last week's Isthmus because of the vibrator(s) on the cover drawing attention to an article about a local business, A Woman's Touch, I thought that to elicit such an extreme reaction, it surely must have been a picture of a woman actually using one! Even then, the papers could have just been placed facedown so as to not offend anyone who happened to walk by. Metcalfe's did make them available at their customer service counter.
I always read Isthmus, and usually get it at Copps when I buy groceries. It was not on the rack. A store employee told me they were inappropriate and had been sent back!
I did eventually find a copy somewhere and was shocked to discover how innocuous the picture was.
If a child is even going to recognize the picture of the vibrator(s), then obviously s/he is already seeing them somewhere other than on a newsstand! If an adult is shocked by the picture, I can only imagine that they must want to crawl back into the womb at stuff that's thrown in our faces every day by the media. (Please, dear God, spare me from the constant bombardment of print and TV ads about erectile dysfunction!)
I do think that Isthmus should have expanded the text on the front-page picture to showcase that the gist of the excellent article was about heretofore unavailable treatment of sexual difficulties, and that so many women (and the men in their lives) are being helped because of the work of the two wonderful local women who own A Woman's Touch.
Ruth E. Wagner
Family reunion
Judith Davidoff: Thank you very, very much for the wonderful and exciting story "'Everyone Looked Out for One Another'" (8/17/2012), featuring Diane Small.
Ms. Small is a very caring person and a role model in the Madison community. Simpson Street has meant stability not only for Diane Small but also for the rest of us who can look back experiencing the change in the neighborhood.
The author is so right - we still call it Simpson Street. Thank you for the family reunion.
Michael A. Walker
