Private. Please Enter

Yesterday on the local news, they covered a story about an unusual local promotional event. To promote a certain kind of women's underwear, they invited participants to enter a large plexiglass box--in front of the crowd and TV cameras-- wearing this underwear. Then, blowers were turned on, and papers filled the air inside the box like a crazy popcorn popper. The papers that the women could collect in a certain amount of time were redeemed for cash afterward.

I suppose that's not too out of the ordinary for a promotion. But a friend who happened to be there told me that the curtained area behind the box where the women changed into this underwear was not closed very well, affording many a view of flesh that was maybe inappropriate.

And I wasn't surprised. In this country, restrooms have urinals in view of open doors. Cleaning women walk in to clean them while men are in there, and no one objects. Parents will pull down kids' pants in the middle of the city to use the bathroom on the sidewalk (or over a drain). TV commercials show little boys sitting on toilets. I guess it all makes sense together, but it's a little hard to take.