cover image Smut: A Sex Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough Is Enough

Smut: A Sex Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough Is Enough

Gil Reavill. Sentinel, $23.95 (208pp) ISBN 978-1-59523-012-6

Reavill says that he wrote this book because the ways that we can access smut have multiplied ""staggeringly, exponentially, absurdly."" People who don't like it are ""getting it shoved in their faces."" And he admits he wants his middle school-aged daughter to grow up in a world that's ""less trashy"" than the one he believes we're living in now. In this made-for-the-choir work, the men's magazine insider (Reavill writes for Maxim and Penthouse) offers a highly personal account of what he finds wrong with explicit advertisements, children's television, the video game rating system and other popular culture mediums. ""I am a staunch believer in the First Amendment,"" he insists, ""but there is a whole boatload of things to say about balance and moderation."" In generally restrained prose, Reavill explains what is currently being done to censor public indecency and what he believes needs to be done. Among his recommendations: use filtering devices for television and the Internet, implement an ""acceptable use"" policy for your family's Internet use and insist on ""voluntary G-rated display policies"" for local signage companies and newsstands. Reavill writes from an unusual perspective, which should bring attention to a book that may have otherwise been dismissed by many.