Frankly Being

I was sitting on the subway heading to a meeting the other day when President Obama was in town at the United Nations. As you can imagine, public transportation was quite crowded as we have been advised by Mayor Bloomberg and the media to use public transportation on days like these and avoid the use of cars and taxis.

I don’t know about you, but being a country bumpkin at heart, I normally get a little anxious about the NYC subway system. Before I go down the stairs to the platform, I turn my eyes behind my head on and switch on my antenna for extra-sensitive hearing.

When I get on the train, I carefully scan the car as I enter and hold my cell phone on my lap. Just in case, it is my security blanket. I do not have cell service, but if need be I could take a picture. Being a not-so-savvy-tech granny, I can’t text fast enough. Besides, the text won’t go through until you are out of the subway. Well, as I was doing my ritual scanning, I looked up and read the ads above the seating and could not believe what I saw.

One ad was about “breaking boundaries” at CUNY with world-class women scientists alongside women. Right next to it was an advertisement for satisfaction and erotic fantasies. I wanted to take a picture to share this with you, and then I realized that the people sitting below might think I was taking a picture of them and that could start a ruckus.

As I stood there (all of the seats were taken and we were crammed in like sardines), I kept looking at these two ads. It made me think about all the kids that travel every day on our subways as I wondered if they look at these ads. Why in the world would you put these two ads next to each other? Why would you advertise anything sexual on a subway? We are living in a world where sexual predators lurk, food fights occur on subways, and shootings happen in all types of neighborhoods and schools. Would you provoke anything and advertise this?

When do we say we can’t accept an ad? Is it about the money? Who approves these ads? I thought about the comeback line for whoever accepts these ads, “Well they are paying for it!” Is this an ethical question? I do not think these are the types of ads that should be displayed on a subway. Instead, it might be helpful to advertise education, wellness, healthy tips, New York happenings and activities, even how to navigate the city.

Maybe there should be tour guides or volunteers trained on safety speaking about topics that we could learn from, especially as some people travel with anxiety while using mass transit. A standup comic or meditation facilitator could be fun. If we are looking to increase jobs, the safety of our subway system and calmness among citizens, subways could be a medium to help the unemployment rate, train the homeless or even increase awareness. Better yet, hold spelling bees. One side of the subway is Team A while the other side is Team B. We’d then be riding and learning.

In the meantime, if my 7 year old niece asked me what does sexual fantasy mean, should I talk about Mickey and Minnie?