Are You Normal?

After a long first week of school I decided to take myself to a salon and get a pedicure. I only treat myself to this rarely, but, after all, I stand on my feet for about 5 hours a day, and they are taking a beating. While in the chair, trying to relax my toes, I picked up one of the many magazines available for patrons. I honestly can't remember which magazine it was, but as I was leafing through it, I came across a feature page called "Are You Normal?" This particular month's question was "Are you normal about porn?"

What kind of question is that? What is normal about porn?

Although I was disgusted by it, I was so fascinated that this was even a feature piece, so I glimpsed at what was said (clearly aware that by their standards, I am not normal about porn). There were quizzes and polls to be taken and read, indicating that it was totally casual to watch with your boyfriend and not anything to be ashamed of. How would that conversation about what to watch on television even go down?!?!

Then they had a section called "The Next Best Thing," which featured something besides porn that helped attract you to a man. Some common responses about attractive men included a man that is put together and dressed nicely or a man who opens the door for you. How are these things secondary to pornography in attracting a woman to a man? How are these the "next best things"?

Unfortunately, I was more riled up after my pedicure than when I had entered. Forget relaxing my feet; these suggestions about what is normal simply made my toes curl.