WARNING: This chapter has some mentions of partial and complete nudity. Look away if you're as disgusted by them as I am.
I have a job at a local library as a page, shelving books on Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other Saturday. It's a great job, really laid-back, with pretty good pay, but there is one downside that constantly plagues me: cover images. Since I shelf every kind of book in the library, I tend to get some pretty nasty covers in the adult fic and magazine sections. The paperback books especially seem to get the gross-out treatment.
"So, how bad are these covers?" You may be asking. Well, some aren't so bad, just a few images of some slightly-more-passionate romance than would be appreciated. These ones don't bother me too much, I just hurry along and get them done asap. But some are horrifying. This one author in the paperback section seems to love having shirtless men peeling off the Victorian-era dresses of women on their covers, and the Women's Health magazines have strippers on some of their issues. This month's display magazine has a naked woman, which makes shelving those magazines double-yuck. Whenever I see these, I have to physically turn away and put them in their spots by groping around for the gap I just made for them. It's awful.
I've spoken to the staff at the library, and they said they'd try to arrange something to accommodate my sensitivities, but so far, no dice. I guess I shouldn't be complaining that much, since I'm lucky to have a job at all, but it still just rubs me the wrong way that A) these things exist, B) people actually read them (and give them smashing reviews, no less), and C) people are willing to pose for those covers. Have they no shame? No decency? No clothing?
I just needed to get that off my chest. I apologize if I ended up grossing anybody out or sending you guys running for the hills, but this is (to me, at least) a serious issue that needs to be resolved.