FHM, Virgin, and Zoo Australia: The 12 Days of Misogyny

[redqueen]

Think sexist advertising isn't a big deal? Think again.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/fhm-virgin-and-zoo-australia-the-12-days-of-misogyny-8406231.html



Can't cut and paste an excerpt.

In order for anything to change we have to see it. We have to name it. And we have to speak out against it.


Yeah, it sucks. Yeah, it's depressing. But if we ever hope to be freed from oppression, we have to fight back.

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." - Gloria Steinem

[rocktivity]

1. "Zoo Australia muscled in with a picture...showing a model split in two at the waist

with readers asked whether they preferred the top or bottom half."

Hubba hubba...


rocktivity

[arcane1]

2. Excellent article!

That Virgin ad was so insane, I couldn't believe it was real!

[ismnotwasm]

3. I saw that top and bottom thing somewhere

I didn't know about the rest. It reminds me of Ms. Magazines "No Comment" section.

But we have to comment don't we? We have to speak out. At least I do. I'm incapable of not speaking out at this point, oh not so much here at DU, but discussing these issues with other women and men in my real life. Sometimes you plant a seed, but just occasionally you can fan a fire.

[DreamGypsy]

4. Here's an excerpt...

...from the article (emphasis mine).

Predictably, our highlighting of these issues, all of which have now been officially apologised for, met with the usual stream of “what’s the big deal/get a life/protest about something that matters” responses. Is it really a problem if FHM sticks a rape joke in the bottom corner of an article about what socks to wear? Is it a big deal if a greetings card tells 13-year-old girls they need to grow their “boobies” to catch a rich man? Should we be concentrating on more important things than Zoo Australia splitting a woman in half and musing over which bit is best? What does it matter if Virgin Mobile runs an offensive ‘joke’ that seems to make light of rape and domestic violence?

<snip>

And no, the Zoo Australia magazine ‘split her into pieces to dehumanize her even further as you objectify her’ and Virgin’s ‘wouldn’t it be completely hilarious if he incapacitated his wife so he could do whatever he wants with her’ gags aren’t ‘lighthearted’ or ‘harmless’ either. Think dehumanizing women in the public sphere, portraying them as sex objects and victims of men and simply vessels to be fucked or abused or turned into a great big joke is completely harmless? Tell it to the office worker whose boss referred to her by asking a colleague “if big tits has come in yet”. Tell it to the woman who was asked by her boss in front of 30 colleagues “If I ‘wax my crack’”. Tell it to the girl of 10 who was walking home from school when “two older boys said ‘show us your tits’”. Tell it to the child of 13 who didn’t even understand when two men in a white van asked her if she had “a tight pussy”. Tell it to the woman who reported being groped by strangers “at least once a week and often much more, regardless of what I wear, where I am, how I behave.” Tell it to the woman who declined to talk to a group of men and was pursued down the street by them, shouting “rape!” Tell it to schoolgirl who was “beaten by her boyfriend” and whose “friends asked her if she was going to stay with him until after the prom so she’d have a date”.

These women might never hit the headlines. But imagine telling it to every single one of them, and have a long, hard think about what they might say, before you come telling me it’s not a big deal.

[whathehell]

5. Great article...Thanks for posting.