"Anne, a high school student, is moving with her family into a house across town that used to be owned by a friend of her father's. Her new room had been occupied by a sixteen-year-old boy named Tom whom she had met once at a party. This room is bigger than the one in Anne's old house, and she's anxious to move in her things and make it her own. Anne opens the closet door and climbs on a step stool to reach the top shelf. A box at the back catches her eye, and she pulls it forward, curious. She slides the top off of the box and sees that it is filled with magazines. The top two are for fishing boating enthusiasts. But when she lifts these up, she finds a stack of pornographic magazines. These magazines feature pictures of nude or nearly nude women and men in various sexual poses.
U.S. Supreme Court building.
English: Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court justi...
English: Official portrait of Justice Potter Stewa...But the magazines that really surprise and shock Anne are those that picture women as victims in dangerous or violent situations. These photographs strongly suggest brutality and rape. Anne wonders why Tom would be interested in this type of magazine. Does his reading of these magazines indicate that he has angry or malevolent feelings about women? He had been very polite when she had met him, and seemed to have a good sense of humor. Is Tom going through a phase? Anne wonders if all men look at pornography. Does her father? Her older brother? And why? Are they curious? Anne notices that in many of the pictures, even the nonviolent ones, the men are in dominant poses, suggesting that they have power over the women. But the women have expressions indication that they are enjoying their subservient roles. Do most couples view sex...