Tuesday 13 August 2013

Born to rule.....

So unless you have managed to avoid all talk, media-fawning and the like you will know that the future King was born. If you did manage to avoid all references up until this point please share your tips! I don't have a TV or buy gossip mags and yet still could not avoid the coverage. I will congratulate the Guardian on its Republican button, that allowed you to hide the rolling coverage and numerous articles that simply had to be written. However, it would have been even better if they had not covered it at all... (a view I appreciate may infuriate many)

My post brings me to the merchandise that has followed this birth, so many retailers so desperate and so quick to get on the bandwagon. That I can understand, it was a huge media event and people clearly want to buy the stuff. But my objections largely focus on the tired, gendered and stereotypical items of clothing that have been produced. I would have to say that the worst example that I found was ASDA's One day I'm going to marry Prince George. I had thought the assorted Born to Rule items had been bad enough across the media but this one really took the crown.

It's pink, with the boy's version naturally in blue, because clearly clothing for girls must be pink. That's the first problem with it, its simply conforming to the usual stereotypes about clothing colours for girls. Then there is the message, the royalist message is bad enough. The endless fawning over a family that we barely truly know. The celebration of inequality is almost endless, this child will rule over the UK irrespective of skill, ability, political persuasion or personality. As Republic point out 'shouldn't every child be born equal?', shouldn't every child have the chance and opportunity to be head of state, if they have the skill or desire? So for all the clothes that celebrate the recipient being 'born in 2013' perhaps the giver should stop and think about what they are celebrating when they pass on this item. The fact that the recipient happened to be born in the same year as our future ruler? The fact that the recipient will never know privilege like our future ruler? The fact that the recipient will never be head of state unlike the future ruler? Perhaps now it seems like an odd message.

Finally, back to the message of the first item of clothing. Do you really want your child to aspire to marry someone they have never met? Even as a jokey message it is pretty poor. What level of aspiration is that for your child? The focus of clothing like this, even if not explicit, is that girls should be thinking about their looks and superficial pursuits. It's just frustrating that in 2013 we still have this level of inequality and we still produce clothing and items that seek to stereotype and pigeon-hole the sexes.

Thursday 8 August 2013

What to wear....

Just a very very quick blog post today, about a particular article that I came across this morning. It is a piece in the Daily Mail about women who dislike/are fed up with/want to change their partner's style or particular items of clothing. With the title of the piece being 'Can you make your slobby hubby sexy again?'.

I can't believe how shallow and patronising a piece this is. There are several issues that could be taken up about this particular piece:
  • Image shouldn't be important if you care about and respect your partner
  • They shouldn't have to dress a particular way to please you
  • What you deem fashionable/acceptable/smart (delete as applicable) may be vastly different to what they think
  • Respecting and caring for your partner, it must be quite hurtful to have someone telling you they don't like the way you look, particularly if you have been married/together a long time

I have nothing against people who take pride in their appearance, whatever manifestation that pride may be it is up to them. Just as I don't see the value in judging someone based on the type or brand of clothes that they are wearing. I am sure there are a great number of people who would walk past me and find a hundred ways in which they could 'improve' my look.

The phrase fashion-conscious has been mentioned and a criticism of a husband for buying and wearing the same type of clothes over the decades together. If something fits, works and you like it I can hardly see a problem or the need for a spouse to want you to change. The individuals all look well dressed after their 'make-overs' and seem relatively happy and polite about the changes that have been made. However, it doesn't change the fact that the whole focus of this was to get the men to change because their partners had deemed there was something not good enough about their look.

The reaction to this article will be interesting as there is a little bit of me that cannot help but wonder what it would have been/looked like had the article been reversed. At the point of writing this blog post the positive rated comments on the article identify that it is sexist and the reaction would be very negative if men had done this to their wives. This is perhaps a very fair point, as when we think of control and manipulation we often have a very set idea of what and who this looks like. With the negative rated comments being about how good the changes were and that men should take this on board. Although as the boards are realistically anonymous (despite screen names, you could be anybody) we cannot be certain of the genders posting the comments at the end. I do think this is worth raising because too many people assume that any individual who identifies as a feminist but want female superiority and dislikes men. When in fact feminism is about social and political equality with respect for both genders. This respect works both ways, and means that neither sex should be judging or dictating to the other.

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Who needs Lads Mags?

So modesty covers and potentially restricting sales to the over 18s, have been in the press this week, with Tesco seeming to be at the front of this move. But this isn't good enough as Lose the Lads Mags campaign group point out.

A 'modesty cover' to conceal the nudity and breasts/sexual poses doesn't remove or stop this content from being made or existing. By covering the women up it does not really afford them any modesty, as soon as the covers are removed the women have been stripped of their modesty and in my opinion their dignity. Once the modesty cover has been removed the women are degraded to simply being pieces of meat for the stimulation of the buyer. By suggesting modesty covers the supermarkets seem to acknowledge that the content is inappropriate or not respectful. So why not do it properly? Why not ban the sale of these magazines?

I know there is far worse material online, and I know that those in favour of the ISP level porn opt-in will support blocking this, although perhaps without fully understanding or considering the power, restrictions and flaws that such a plan includes. I would like to make it clear I object to porn in all its forms, but I don't think this 'porn filter' as it has been termed will work. I also think the potential for blocking other material is too great a fear to ignore. However, this is not the blog post for such a debate. But, supermarkets need to properly consider their female and younger shoppers. I don't want to visit a supermarket that is selling lads mags, but I have little choice at the moment. I don't want to shop somewhere where crude and degrading images of women are sold, even if they are sealed in a paper/plastic bag. I'm sure parents of young children don't want to have answer awkward or inappropriate questions about the material shown on and in these magazines. Tweets from my followers and others indicate that this is a real problem and concern for many parents when shopping.

I also think that it is unfair on the shop workers to have to stack, handle and scan these items. For some it might cause embarrassment, for others it might distress or frustrate them. A fair question, that has been raised by many, is that is it discrimination against women to stock these sort of magazine? As it depicts women as sex objects. I don't know whether this is an argument that would hold in a court of law, but it is an interesting point.

Finally, the 'over 18' argument. At 18 you are legally an adult, but why as an adult is it suddenly ok to consume images of scantily clad women? At 18 is it suddenly ok to disrespect the opposite sex? No. So being an adult doesn't make it any better at all. It just seems another half-hearted attempt to show that you are bringing in some means of controlling who sees and buys the images. Without actually thinking about the impact of the images, because if you did then the logical step is to ban the magazines altogether. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, Lose the Lads Mags is a fantastic campaign. See how you can get involved and make a difference towards creating a more equal and respectful society. Good luck!

Sexism in adverts?

I'm thinking of a particular advert when I'm grumbling today. I'm thinking of the new Diet Coke advert, I'm sure you know the one. It starts with a group of young women, who spy an attractive man and decide to roll a can towards him as he mows the grass. They motion to him to open the can. Due to the rolling action as he opens it it sprays all over him and he takes his top off. The women seem happy.

Now I know there are countless adverts using scantily clad women, or stereotypes or sex to sell products. I object to those as well. But, the reason I object to this Diet Coke advert is because I think it portrays women as vacant airheads who are only interested in the physical appearance of someone. I also don't think the majority of women would behave like this, and the advert seems silly. I also fear that when feminist groups rightly identify adverts that are sexist, stereotypical or derogatory about women then adverts like this one will be chucked back at them.

Here's a thought adland how about some smart or even funny adverts that don't feel the need to belittle either gender, stereotype or degrade anyone? In my opinion there is probably more sexism directed towards women, but we should not ignore sexism against men either. Instead we should be looking for true equality and removing this objectification and silliness. Anyway, only a short post about this for now as I want to gather a bank of examples (or a bank of poor examples) from adverts. So, longer post will follow!