We get the best complaint emails ever about our, ahem, personal ads in the back of the paper. Those of you who live in towns with local alternative weeklies know the ads I’m talking about. Here’s today’s:

A classified add [sic] appearing in the ‘adult’ section of the March 19 2002 edition on page 165 is misleading. There is an ad just before the shemale section for somebody with the name ‘Roxy’ at 212-xxx–xxxx. When I called the responder’s voice sounded a bit deep. I asked if I was speaking with a male or a female. The 1st answer was ‘which ever you want’. The second answer was ‘hermaphrodite’.

I think every kind of provider of services to consenting adults has a right to discretely advertise. However, the picture and the placement of the ad should be consistent with the appropriate combination of the provider’s original sex organs and current sex organs. Thank you.

I couldn’t agree more.