Sex sells

This needn't be a sordid subject but that really will depend on how puritanical your state of mind is. If you have managed to get passed the title you'll be either relieved or disappointed that there aren't full frontal pictures plastered up here.

'Sex sells'. Yes it does. Most of us have a passing interest in it. Even if you are steadfastly against sex, the subject can still incite a marketable opinion, judging from the plethora of literature that’s available both for and against it.

Pornographic magazines. I have always loved that over-popularised reaction to the discovery of a person's adult magazine collection. “What have you got these for?” the accusation might start. Now, even taking into account the inflection of the voice, raised eyebrows and smirks, one reason might appear to be pretty obvious. The classic answer to this question, forever constrained to be a blatant lie is: “Umm, I just get it for the articles.”

Keep in mind the fact that those who are loudest in apportioning negative values to this media are usually forced to throw rugs over the muddy tracks of their own morality first. Hypocrites will embarrass themselves sooner or later. If you do in fact have the right to throw stones due to your purity I hazard a guess that you are also very boring. Accept it.

During my search of magazines who publish higher than G rated drivel, I came across several publishers who appeal as a thinking man's pornography. They pay for quality articles and stories to fill the pages between the naked models and rightly so. After all, sex can only consume a reasonably small percentage of your day before becoming a neurosis. The rest of the time we want to be entertained and educated. I think there’s no reason a writer shouldn’t profit from supplying filler material no matter what the publication is selling.

Ignoring such a rich and diverse part of the publishing market by overvaluing small-minded opinions in my life would be a mistake. A writer is whoring him or herself out whenever they accept money for their thoughts and opinions anyway.

However the history you are constructing must also be carefully considered. Your relationships with friends and family can suffer if you reach a level of selfishness where you can't appreciate how your actions are adversely affecting others.

So, what to do? Self-censorship, brutal honesty or obscurification? The latter seems the best course of action. A pseudonym's purpose can reveal, rather that hide, a man's diversities, freeing him to appeal to a wider audience without disillusioning the one he already had.

I can live with that.

(Like it? See – Money)