You're waiting at the Národní třída tram stop, where a kiosk displays a nude, headless woman hugging herself, showing you her back and just a little bit more. As you take in this ad for Nivea skin care products, tram No. 9 pulls up. Stretched the length of one car is the image of a naked model with a naive expression on her young face, alongside a slogan for an ad agency: "Your first FKK in Prague."

Provocative images on kiosks, billboards and posters around Prague are impossible to avoid. But longtime Prague residents Suzanne Formanek and Beth Lazroe feel that's no reason to be complacent about them. The two expats are presenting "In Our Faces: Visual Assault on the Streets of Prague," a photography exhibition and conference aimed at raising awareness about such advertising and working toward change.

Over a five-year period, Lazroe has documented this advertising phenomenon with over 200 photographs, of which she will exhibit around 45. She captures explicit ads in their environments, as the public interacts with them: Cars speed past, women and men stop and stare. The black-and-white images have a candid, snapshot quality. As we view the regular people who view these warped images of women, we add another layer of unwitting voyeurism.

In one effective piece, two tall kiosks display the enormous double image of a naked woman from her lower abdomen to her thighs. Where underwear should be, she sports a triangular keyboard, blank but for the letters "S-E-X" and an arrow pointing upward. Meanwhile, a real woman in a black coat hurries past, glancing at the photographer, dwarfed by her giant headless sisters. She seems to seek a quick escape.

Another photograph is darkly humorous: A billboard blonde opens her shirt to reveal shapely silicone breasts while a tube of silicone caulking material floats beside her. A plain-looking woman rolls past on skates, head turned to the billboard. Is she shocked or amused?

Creating dialogue

Using images of naked women in advertising is certainly not unique to the Czech Republic. But Formanek, a Canadian, notes that "you couldn't get away with this in New York or Rome." Men's magazines are frequent offenders, often picturing women together or with heads cropped out. Formanek says she has seen "no diminishment" in the volume of such ads during her 11 years in Prague.

There's a perception that Czech women, unlike their American or British counterparts, don't mind explicit images or simply laugh them off. Not true, Formanek says. "When I expressed my concerns to Czech women, they showed support. But they are unaccustomed to mounting resistance or showing protest. Many asked me if I would take on the job of protesting on their behalf."

Lazroe, who teaches photography at Prague's Academy of Music and Art and visual communication at the University of New York in Prague, first showed work from this photo series in a group exhibition at Prague Castle. "The response was strong," she says. "Many of my Czech friends and colleagues said it had opened up a dialogue between them. They said, 'Now I see that these ads could be damaging to children and give a bad image to the city.'"

The project committee also includes three Czech women: two educators and a human rights advocate. The one-day conference will feature 21 presenters (in Czech), including a feminist theorist, art historian, lawyer, senator and psychiatrist, as well as human rights specialists. They will discuss the links between sexually explicit advertising and issues like domestic violence, trafficking in women — and even trends in Czech contemporary art.

An afternoon roundtable session focuses on ideas for change, such as rewarding socially responsible advertisers with special recognition, and reminding advertisers that it won't benefit them to alienate half of their customer base — women. These ideas will be presented to the Czech Advertising Standards Council at a later date.

Formanek notes that the council has a code of conduct that discusses "decency in public spaces." "But advertisers don't follow the rules, and the council doesn't enforce them," she says. A self-regulating body, the council doesn't have the teeth of law. Likewise, the European Advertising Standards Alliance has similar standards that advertisers ignore, Formanek says, although she feels "it's much better to have people regulate their own activities than enact a law." So far, advertisers she has spoken to have given her "a sympathetic reception. They are willing to listen, but not necessarily willing to do something yet."

Challenging the status quo

Lazroe says that today's generation has seen so much of this kind of advertising that many consider it "street furniture" — simply the status quo. "When you put images across as the status quo, they are harder to protest against," she notes.

In her opinion, limiting these kinds of ads should not be viewed as endangering free speech. "It's an argument that's emerging globally — that this kind of depiction of women is considered free speech and if you speak out against it, you're against free speech. But free speech should not mean silencing half the population. When only one part of society expresses itself and intimidates others, that is not free speech."