Mother criticizes American Apparel store for displaying porno magazine
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 | 1:28 AM ET
CBC News
Trina Campbell says the graphic sexual images in the magazine were inappropriate for display. (CBC) A West Vancouver mother says she is angry a popular clothing store has openly displayed a pornographic magazine featuring explicit homoerotic images.
Trina Campbell told CBC News on Tuesday she and her 13-year-old daughter saw the magazine sticking out of a backpack on display inside the American Apparel outlet at the Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver.
"I pulled it out and I went to open it and it flipped open to a double-page spread of two men having full-on sexual activity, not just suggestive," Campbell said.
"I don't think this is something that the average person wants to see unless they're ready or going out of the way to see it."
This digitally altered image is one of several graphic images from Butt magazine showing men engaged in various sexual acts. (CBC) The quarterly magazine, BUTT, focuses on homosexuality, and it is available for sale worldwide.
Campbell said she complained to store staff, who said it was a head-office decision to put the magazine in the display.
Repeated calls by CBC News to American Apparel's U.S. head office were not returned on Tuesday.
Staff at the Park Royal mall's American Apparel outlet said they sell the magazines only to people with identification to prove they are over 18, and they keep the magazines behind the counter.
"This was right there, and whether we had to produce ID to purchase it or not, we didn't have to produce ID to look at it, and it was too easily accessed," Campbell said.
A spokesperson for the Park Royal Shopping Centre said there's little mall management can do about how a store displays its products, as long as it is acting legally.
The spokesperson added that mall officials spoke to the American Apparel store once, requesting the magazines to be put in a more discreet location.
West Vancouver, like many B.C. cities, has a bylaw regulating the display of adult publications. They must be on a shelf at least 1.2 metres up from the floor and must be behind a sheet of opaque plastic.
