Posts Categorised ‘The Sexualised Society’
Feb
17
Last week I wrote a post about the UCC Tramps ball after receiving an email from a UCC student branding the event sexist.
Opening the feminist.ie email yesterday, I was delighted to find the below email from the UCC equality officer (whom I sent a link to the blog post):
“Please see below the reply from the Entertainments Manager and Officer.
“I am writing to reply to the issues raised with regards to the UCC Students Union Tramps Ball 2011. Having reviewed the text and tenure of the advertising for this event the Students Union has decided to cease all association with Tramps Ball in the Savoy 17-02-11.
We are in the process of having the Facebook page promoting the event closed down. We have asked the Deputy President of the SU to have all references to the Tramps Ball in the Savoy removed from the www.collegeroad.ie website.
We are removing the event from the Raise and Give Week entertainments itinerary. We expect to have all of these measures completed by close of business today ( Feb 15th).
We deeply regret any offence or upset caused and will do all in our power that there will not be a recurrence of this.”
It’s brilliant to see that the issue has been raised and dealt with. A decision Trinity could definitely learn from.
Tagged: naked for charity, Sexism, sexist college events, Sexualised society, Trinity College, University College Cork
Feb
09
Looks like students at UCC and Trinity have equally poor taste when it comes to organising events.
And it looks like staff and boards members (and indeed the equality committee) of UCC, like Trinity, don’t seem particularly bothered by the fact that their own and their employer’s name is associated with events featuring playboy strippers, photo booths with playboy bunnies, strip shows, and strippers playboy parties.
And as if the above stripping galore wasn’t enough for one week, they’ve managed to squeeze in the inevitable naked calendar for charity as well.
Tagged: naked for charity, Sexism, sexist college events, Sexualised society, University College Cork
Jan
19
This year’s Trinity students can kick off the year with the Gumball Challenge.
If you’re a guy, this might include drinking from a water gun.
If you’re a girl however, you can be challenged to take of your pants, pin a Playboy bunny tail to your underpants and have some red-handed guy grab you while a photographer is taking a close-up of your ass.
Or you can have your picture taken while you’re having a tattoo done. Somehow the picture might turn out looking like you’re posing for a lads’ mag rather than actually having an impromptu tattoo made though.
Alternatively, you can drink from a tube, but have a picture taken making it look like you were actually making out with your friend.
And then all these pictures can be used to sex up a poster for next year’s event. Brilliant!
For a university still operating with rule books from the 16th century, they’re pretty liberal when it comes to allowing their students to spread sexism and contribute to the sexualisation of society.
It didn’t take many months living in Dublin before I lost count of how many sexist posters I’d seen in there.
For some reason, it seems to be okay with staff, students and board members of Trinity college that every person walking through campus, including students’ potential future employers and thousands of tourists, is greeted with breasts and half-naked asses promoting the next event organised by the agricultural society or something similarly irrelevant.
If anyone wondered how it came about that senior associates at PwC, a highly regarded financial company in Dublin, sent around sexist emails rating female staff members last year, the tolerance for such culture in top educational institutions possibly accounts for some of it.
If the gender equality society is still active, I suggest they gather all the sexist posters over the next term and make an official complaint.
If Trinity is half the brilliant educational institution breeding the country’s next elite they like to promote themselves as, they should demand that their students come up with something better than an ass the next time they want to promote an event.
Tagged: Sexism, Sexualised society, Students, Trinity College
Nov
18
Fellow feminists, fear not. There is still hope for all of us to become ‘actual girls’!
Oh Lord, the relief! (And besides, it looks really nice to be able to wear shoes)
From ltcconline.net
Brought to you by http://www.ltcconline.net, which states:
‘This web server is designed to provide the faculty of Lake Tahoe Community College with web space to post instructional materials for classes and programs.’
Tagged: Beauty, Feminism, Stereotyping
Nov
15
Illustration from amazon.co.uk
This is how Amazon describes this delightful new cook book: ’How To Feed A Man is a thoroughly modern and super stylish take on the traditional cook book concept. A nod to post feminist sensibilities, How To Feed A Man is a celebration of family life that is both engaging yet different’.
(And I ask the following without knowing whether to laugh or cry about it:) Could they get ANY more innuendo squeezed onto that book cover?
Tagged: Cook book, Innuendo. Sexism
Nov
10
Illustration from Flickr
PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of Ireland’s largest accountancy firms, have launched an internal investigation after male staff circulated emails where they rated the looks of women who had recently joined the company.
The email included pictures of 13 women, accompanied by names and the departments they work in. The subject line of the email was ‘this would be my shortlist for the top 10′.
According to the Irish Independent, a highly derogatory female description was used in one of the emails. The email started off as an internal office email, but has since been forwarded to numerous Irish businesses including finance companies, accountants, law firms, technology firms, state bodies and construction firms.
Many people would see this as a bit of innocent fun (I’m sure some would even say the women in question should be flattered), but it’s not. There is no reason for random people to be presented with pictures, name and workplace of women they’ve never even met and read other random people’s rating of their appearance. These women are not celebrities who have made a conscious effort to be in the public eye, they are business people who have made a great effort to get a good education and land a job in a respected company.
It’s highly inappropriate and unprofessional to reduce co-workers from skilled professionals to whether they are physically attractive or not. And there is no way this isn’t going to have some impact on the way these women are perceived in the company. Though most people would be capable of seeing beyond the comments circulated, the comments and ranking of these women will definitely be among the first thing that pops into their colleagues’ heads upon meeting them.
Despite probably being deemed harmless by many, this incident is an unfortunate product of the frantic focus on looks and beauty, and give fuel to the perception that the most important trait in a woman is being attractive.
Tagged: Beauty, News, Sexism, Work
Nov
08
Teacher students from St. Patrick’s College in Drumcondra, Dublin is organising a Mini Miss Ireland charity fashion show this week, in aid of Our Ladys Childrens Hospital and Aware . Promoting the event on the front page of Metro Herald, the girls are walking around one of the main streets in Dublin city centre. In underwear (and some strange, cropped jerseys). In November.
In usual MetroHerald style, the piece isn’t even an article, just a picture with two lines of text. There are no interviews, limited information about the actual event, and none of the girls are mentioned by name.
I have so many questions, including: Why aren’t they wearing clothes if they’re promoting a fashion show? What happened to their sport jerseys? Do they think this is a suitable way to portray themselves as future teachers? Aren’t they cold? Does stripping off make them good role models for the kids whom they’ll soon be teaching? Walking around in underwear in Coppers, a night club known by many as a bit of a meat market?
And again, can these young girls and women really not think of any other way to raise money for charity than organising for people to pay to watch them strip off?
Donating free grinds to children who are in hospital and therefore can’t attend school?
Campaign to implement Aware’s depression awareness programmes designed for students in secondary schools?
No?
Nov
02
Twelve women from Sutherland have stripped naked for a calendar to raise money for a eight-year-old boy fighting cancer, according to the Irish Independent. The group of women included a staff nurse, a crofter, a lifeguard and a stay-at-home mother who were all ‘left left with a huge sense of achievement’ after having their nude photos taken. ‘We are so grateful for the support we’ve received from the local community. Brora’s a small village, but we all know each other and for these women to strip off in such a way just proves that we’re more than just neighbours, we’re family’ said the boy’s mother.
In the last month alone, women have stripped naked for charity calendars for Help for Heroes, Malaria, Ovarian Cancer Research, Prostate Cancer Research and Dogs for the Disabled, breast cancer, gynaecological cancers, Air Ambulances, a hospital children’s ward, renewable energy, a helpline providing support to isolated older people….. and the bizarre list goes on and on.
One of the many nude calendars raising money for breast cancer, Ladies of Long Boarding 2011 calendar, features some of the best female downhill speed skateboarders in the world. But are they actually skating in the calendar, showing off their cool skills? No of course not! They’re naked!
Why do so many women think that the only thing they can do to raise money for charity is to undress?
Nov
02
This year I opted for a banana myself, but this great costume featured on genfem.com is definitely a runner-up for next year! Brilliant!
From www.genfem.com
Oct
12
Lithuanian company Olialia (pronounced Oh-la-la) produce everything from computer software to food products, and operate in 75 different business sectors. The company’s net annual profit this year is expected to be around $10 m.
Olialia is now planning to open a resort in the Maldives – staffed entirely by blonde women. The rule of blonde staff members even apply to the crew on the flights bringing tourist to the island.
The planned resort will include hotels, entertainment, spa centres and, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, an ‘education centre’ entitled ‘Pretty Woman’, where female guests will be taught how to ‘always be perfect and look great’.
Although the blonde-only-rule breaks numerous rules on discrimination and enforces as many stereotypes, Managing Director Giedre Pukiene claims that this is far from the intention. She is hoping that the company will help break the stereotype that blonde women are less intelligent.
The company’s marketing strategy might however make that ambition difficult to fulfill, as, according to the BBC:
All the company’s products are advertised using images of sexy blonde women in improbably intellectual situations.
An ad for Olialia’s own-brand cola, for example, shows glamorous high-heeled blonde scientists concocting rather unlikely-looking laboratory experiments to make the drink.
Another ad shows a board meeting of blondes, who are applying make-up while discussing corporate strategy.
Illustration from bbc.co.uk
Illustration from smh.com.au
