Is there another name for them? The small, black, crinkly, ubiquitous plastic bags that every porn store on the face of the planet provides for carryout purchases? The YKK of the zipper world, no porn store is complete without them. As if shopping for porn rentals among other pervs wasn't humiliating enough, someone, somewhere decided to brand us all upon our departure.
Conceptually, I get it. They're opaque, they're inexpensive, renters frequently return their porn in them so they're reusable, and yet the cruel irony is that others still know exactly what's in them!
In the pre-Internet boom of the early 90's, I moved to NYC just after college. Initially, I thought little of the knowing nods and smiles I'd get from fellow male passengers on the subway as they glanced at my bag. However, as I began to frequent various pornographic establishments and always left with the exact same bag, I quickly understood the unwanted attention I was attracting.
I wonder, do the youth of today realize the trail we've blazed for them? Have they ever felt the red hot shame of carrying said black bag through a crowded Central Park on a warm summer's day, gradually realizing with each step across the Sheep's Meadow that every man, woman, and child--Superman or not-- could see right through those thin, black plastic walls, and into the dark, depraved pornography within?
No comments:
Post a Comment