I'm visiting local folksinger Kate Wolf. She plays me a new song she's writing, about images of sexy women being used to sell things, in ads:

Only a piece of paper,
how did a paper matter so much?
Do you still like ME?
Ain't I a woman, without
a piece of paper?
Your eyes are full of paper--
I'm over here!

I'm not pretty as a picture!
I'm not pretty as a picture!

How can I compete
with her perfect paper ass?
Will you treat me like
A black girl in Joburg without her pass?

For years I vaguely recalled this dream as being an anti-porn song; when I finally reread it, I found my memory had distorted it. Kate was very specific: her song was about ads, pointing out that the sexual tease in ads is truly anonymous and backgrounded. Erotica, even the most pornographic forms, is an imaginary window framing a subject who at least gets taken seriously. Attention is paid, at least a fantasy identity is established--the porn viewer sees a sex object as an imaginary lover. The dream compares this with ads, which "backgrounds" women's characters totally. Not even a fictional character: no name, no strong emotions allowed, no distracting actions--you're just a skin coathanger.

Ads are far MORE objectifying than porn! But capitalism has way better-paid lawyers than pornographers, so you won't be hearing that viewpoint in the mainstream any time soon...

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