Rate It X, a somewhat redundant 1985 documentary about the selling of women as sex objects in the United States, succeeds in showing the sexist views of the misinformed middle America, but fails as an objective study. In examining the many aspects of how women are used as sex objects in advertising, pornography, publishing, etc. the filmmakers never interview a single woman, only men in a "slice-of-life" style that hints of prejudice. They've come into this hunt with loaded barrels.

This is not to say that Rate It X shouldn't earn some merits in exposing the ignorance of the American male. When a string of gentlemen from distinctly different walks of life are asked to define the terms "masculine" and "feminine," many have a hard time defining the word "define." One dopey minister, standing in front of his cloth, says "Well, God made women have submissive hearts."

The film also takes the viewer on an insider's tour of adult bookstores, trying to figure out the appeal of love dolls and other apparatus. It visits newsstands, lingerie businesses, toy stores offices and movie theatres, in search of discovering how women are "exploited" in all media. Director Lucy Winer rarely asks a question, but lets her male subjects spout philosophies, such as that of the racist Ugly George, whom she cruises with, while he looks for "goils" to take their clothes off.

Unfortunately, Rate It X wastes an awful lot of time pondering the age-old questions concerning the use women's images in advertising and in magazines. It never addresses the subject of consenting adults posing for these photographs and only rarely touches on censorship (a newsstand dealer sums up by saying, "I don't have the right to censor. People read what they want to read.") Instead of digging into the subject of pornography it skirts the issue, sniffing the outer clothing without removing a garment. Perhaps the filmmakers are saying that it's all pornographic.

Only Hustler Magazine is looked at in any depth, with the cartoon and humor editor interestingly interviewed about the social relevance of "Chester the Molester."

When an owner of an adult bookstore wrongly states, "pornography today is about men's fantasies," that statement is explored no further. While being interviewed about a protest from Women Against Pornography while showing the cult horror film Bloodsucking Freaks, the manager of New York's 8th Street Playhouse states that members of that group have no sense of humor. The start of a spicy dialogue? No. On to a tattoo parlor.

Directors Paula de Koenigsberg and Lucy Winer have attempted to draw large-scale conclusions on the role of women in the media as the media sells sex, but the subject matter is way too broad to be covered in 95 minutes. Instead of concentrating on one or two areas in detail, they're coyly condemning everyone from publishers to businessmen to bakers (a short segment discusses X-rated cakes) and everyone else mentioned in this piece. In fact, we never see Winer, but for her hand. . . always wearing a white glove. How Subtle.

Rate It X is well-made, but too slight and subjective to be taken very seriously. It's better in some of it's humanly funny segment than as a whole movie.