Archive for the 'sexist' Category

Some things to read

Published by
Anna
at August 7, 2006 in Politics, abortion, rape and sexist. 0 Comments

Representatives from the indigenous Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council speak out about the system’s failure to protect indigenous women and children from abuse in remote communities.

Here is the transcript of the Lateline report in June which is mentioned in the above article, which featured Mantatjara Wilson. Sexual slavery reported in Indigenous community

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With the rise in christian fundamentalism in the US it’s interesting to note that a reduction in abortion rates has stalled. Introduction of policies which make it harder for women to get Emergency Contraception and a rise in funding of misleading abstinence only education, amongst a host of others, obviously make it more difficult to prevent unintended pregnancies.

Here is the report.

Between 2000 and 2003, the abortion rate declined by an average of only 0.8% per year; the 0.6% decline in 2002–2003 was the smallest in those three years. By comparison, the abortion rate declined by 3.4% per year in the early and mid-1990s.

–**–

Greg Baum writes a hugely offensive article in The Age about the Senate Inquiry into women in sport and recreation. “WOMEN’S soccer is a joke” is the article’s opening line. Lovely

Gibson’s sexist slurs go unremarked

Published by
Anna
at August 2, 2006 in media, pop-culture and sexist. 2 Comments

Mother Jones points out that Mel Gibson, in the midst of his drunken anti-jew tirade, also made some rather offensive sexist remarks that seem to have gone completely unnoticed by the media.

Gibson is alleged to have said:

“Fucking Jews….The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” He then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?”

Obviously this kind of bigotry is unacceptable but why isn’t the following also being condemned?

Gibson is alleged to have cursed and carried on like this for some time. What isn’t being discussed is that he is also allleged to have called one of the female officers a “bitch,” and called another one “sugar tits.”

So why isn’t he apologising profusely over that behaviour? Obviously one reason is the media’s choice not to express outrage at his misogynistic tendencies. They obviously believe anti-semitism to be more newsworthy. I guess sexism happens so often it is quite unremarkable isn’t it? And for the same reason, sexism doesn’t have the ability to tarnish his standing in Hollywood the same way anti-semitism does.

I wonder too, if, the same lack of respect had been shown to the male officers present whether they would have flexed their authority by adding an additional charge for, perhaps, swearing say?

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What a load of bleep

Published by
Anna
at July 29, 2006 in media, sexist and wtf?!. 2 Comments

According to a study of 61 male university students men who are hungry are attracted to heavier women. Perhaps they also should’ve asked if they have canabalistic tendencies.

And the following tends to be a tad contradictory:

The hungry men also paid much less attention to a woman’s body shape and regarded less curvy figures as more attractive.

So which one is it?

And did they record the “hungrier” men’s own bodytype as well? That’s not to say that people are attracted to people of their own bodytype but heavier people could have more realistic standards. But of course they didn’t, because this society only judges women on their figures silly. [Of course that’s not true for those who are notably overweight but as far as the media goes…].

Check this:

The men were then asked to rate the attractiveness of 50 women of varying weights, all within a healthy range, who had been photographed wearing tight grey leotards and leggings.

Not only that, the researchers admit that there really wasn’t that much of a difference anyway:

“Obviously we only saw a small shift in preference but it is a significant shift. If you were to extrapolate it onwards to people missing many meals and getting hungrier and hungrier over a longer period of time you might start to see a bigger shift.”

Australian universities can’t even get enough money to fund research into cancer, well pack up your belonging ye scientists, Britain is obviously just giving research funding away.

Teaching kids pimps are cool

Published by
Anna
at July 26, 2006 in indoctrination, media, pop-culture and sexist. 0 Comments

This article in the Sunday Mail, rightly points out the sneak attack of unsuitable kids television in the Saturday and Sunday G-rated timeslot through music videos.

WOMEN in dog collars, make-believe pimps and prostitutes . . . welcome to children’s breakfast television in Australia.

I’m no big watcher of Video Hits and the like but I do find myself mesmerised when, sitting at a pub having a quite beer, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas starts showing me her hump or what have you. Music videos have been known for their raunchiness for a quite a while but has anyone ever studied their impact on children as far as attitudes to women?

The music director for PG-rated pay TV music station Channel V, Drew Michel, said the station regularly showed a video for the song Pimp by 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg, that included women in dog collars.

But community organisation Young Media Australia wants clips like this banned from children’s television.

“Having women led around in dog collars is degrading, sexist material,” YMA president Jane Roberts said.

“There is a whole generation of young Australians who think this is normal behaviour.”

Granted, music videos have become ever-raunchier and degrading but it has always existed in some form or another. Christina Aguilera’s raunchy clips perhaps could be comparable to some of Madonna’s early stuff for example. There’s a line that’s crossed, however, when kids are constantly bombarded with degrading images (and ideas/lyrics) of women, especially from the gangsta-rap arena.

YMA wants the clips banned from children’s television but should the regulation start at the source? Should the music industry be pressured into taking responsibility for the ideas they’re spreading? Or is that over-regulation and akin to censorship?

I can’t help but notice the hypocrisy of toning down songs by artists such as Peaches for mass release. For example she had to tone down her song Two Guys. The original lyrics go something like this: “I wanna take you home get you satisfied/ Drugged out, sexed up, however you fly/ Just one thing I can’t compromise/ I wanna see you work it - guy on guy…Slappin’ those dicks all over the place/ Rubbin’ that shit all up in your face.” But that toning down doesn’t seem to happen too much when the song lyrics involve “Bitch choose with me, I’ll have you stripping in the street/ Put my other hoes down, you get your ass beat”*.

Feministing points out the reluctance of stalwarts such as MTV in giving airtime to bands with feminist leanings.

*Said 50 cent song

Bits and pieces

Published by
Anna
at July 10, 2006 in Politics, The workplace, World, rape and sexist. 0 Comments

The report Aspects of Retirement for Older Women finds that women will retire with half the superannuation of men.

Women in IT produce a “screen-goddess” calendar to prove that women in the industry are not just nerds but “are full bodied, fully intelligent, fully socialised women who absolutely love what they do.” I’m not sure how the calendar does that but the article topped the SMH and the Age’s most-read articles list.

Indonesian Playboy model, Kartika Gunawan, faces imprisonment for indecency after appearing in the magazine.

Five more US soldiers charged with the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl in Iraq. But with 16 troops having been charged with murder in the past month, it becomes evident that cases such as these aren’t exceptional in the war-torn country.

Bojana Stoparic points out over at Alternet that women will be most severely affected by climate change.

And according to the Port Macquarie News women go to pubs and drink beer because they are “subconsciously seeking equality”. Uhh…ever think that it’s just because women enjoy a beer too?

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What she said

Published by
Anna
at July 7, 2006 in Politics, media, pop-culture and sexist. 1 Comment

This article seems to get to the crux of the matter surrounding the BB furore. Whilst the pollies’ reactions aren’t suprising (by-passing the point is part of their job-description) what I have found surprising over the past week is the prevalence of the “it was all in good fun” attitude. And in most cases a blatant refusal to acknowledge that what happened was sexual assault or in the least harassment. I’ve recently been involved in comment threads that have suggested that Camilla was asking for it, that have likened “turkey-slapping” to flirting (way to woo a woman), that those who object to what happened are “wowsers” and/or Howard supporters (for assisting him in distraction apparently) and that it’s naive to think that there aren’t women out there who would like to be “turkey-slapped” (?!What the!?). Perplexing no?

I think that this whole incident has been a good opportunity for starting a debate over unquestioned [by some people] sexist, mysoginist norms but hopefully recent developments regarding internet regulation don’t go any further than the political hot-air and chest-beating it’s been so far.

Anyway, back to the article [link to full story above], which encapsulates the disconnect between the politicians’ brouhaha and the real issue:

The recent “alleged” sexual assault-harassment of Camilla, a female contestant on Big Brother 2006, has provoked wide public discussion in Australia these past couple of days, both in the media and in political circles. But has that discussion been about the right thing?

This is of course not the first time that Big Brother has been the talking point for these kinds of issues. Last year, Big Brother 2005 contestant, Michael, committed a similar and equally repulsive act toward female housemate Gianna. Another less publicised incident in that series occurred where one of the female housemates was “turkey-slapped” (the colloquial expression for when a male slaps his penis against a female’s head).

The political discussion following both this season’s incident, and the incident involving Michael in 2005’s Big Brother, has been almost identical: conservative politicians enter the public fray, calling for the show to be axed.

[…]By questioning whether the show should remain on the air, and not discussing the incident itself and what it means for Australia’s young people, Australia’s politicians have conveniently sidestepped confronting the real, and contentious issues that this incident could have brought into the public limelight.

The incident should have prompted a re-assessment of Australia’s sex education curricula, and a re-evaluation of efforts made by Australian governments at all levels - local, State and Federal - to ensure that derogatory gender stereotypes do not persist with today’s young people.

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Hooters comes to Australia

Published by
Anna
at June 26, 2006 in sexist. 0 Comments

This is old news but it has only just come to my attention. According to reports from late May/early June, Hooters will open in Parramatta sometime next month and later will open in Cronulla. The franchise which features waitresses with large breasts in skimpy clothing failed once in Australia but here they are again giving it another shot. The 1997 attempt was located in Five Dock so perhaps they’ve chosen their locations more carefully this time by calculating which suburbs have the densest population of sexist, bogan men.

And you gotta love this advert, I’m not sure if this is how they’re marketing it in Australia (as a family restaurant) but somehow I don’t think that take will work here. Check out the dynamics they’re trying to put across:

Dad: “This is how to be a man son”
Mum: “I’m so proud of my boy, learning how to ogle big boobs”

sheesh.

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P&O says sexist ads “don’t represent” the company’s “values”

Published by
Anna
at June 15, 2006 in rape and sexist. 0 Comments

“Seamen Wanted” said the advertising campaign for P&O Cruises. The caption accompanied an image of several bikini-clad, sunbaking women. But the cruise company issued an apology over the advertising today, saying they were insensitive and didn’t represent the company’s image – the same company that is part of the inquest into Dianne Brimble’s rape and death aboard the Pacific Sky. The postcards boasted “more sun” and “more girls” on board, “there’s nothing else a guy needs to know” apparently.

Whilst P&O Cruises distances itself from the sexist advertising, P&O Ferries have recently launched this shocker of a viral marketing campaign for the World Cup. Somehow I think these ads represent the values (or lack thereof) of the company perfectly. They should at least be honest about what their selling. Their tagline perhaps should read something like this: “More drugs, more alcohol, more women: There’s nothing else a rapist needs to know”.

Update re Dianne Brimble:

This guy’s a shining example of a human being isn’t he

LETTERIO SILVESTRI thought Dianne Brimble had “f—ed up his holiday” by dying in his cabin.

He was a man of pride who did not talk to “anything that’s over 60 kilos”.

Those remarks were part of an interview he gave police on board the Pacific Sky cruise ship two days after the Queensland mother of three died in the cabin he shared with three friends.

[…]

Mr Silvestri said he had briefly met Mrs Brimble in the nightclub. She had come up to his table and said: “Hi, how are you going?”, he told police.

“It’s like, Hi, see you. I just brushed her off, I didn’t want to speak to her . .. breath, yuck, ugly dog, just go talk to someone else. Ring the RSPCA,” Mr Silvestri said.

“Stop laughing,” he tells police conducting the interview.

>>Full story

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