Women's Views on News |
- Concern over ‘pro porn bias’ in journal
- Disneyfied Princess Merida is outrageous
- End gender based hate speech on Facebook
| Concern over ‘pro porn bias’ in journal Posted: 22 May 2013 07:11 AM PDT
Routledge are to publish the first peer-reviewed journal on pornography amid concerns over the approach of its editorial board. Due to debut in Spring 2014, the journal claims it will 'critically explore those cultural products and services designated as pornographic'. Most reports on the impending journal struck a not so fine balance between cheap quips on 'practical research' and spurious attributions to the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. There was, however, a tacit acknowledgement by the Guardian that the perspective of the publication's editors may dictate the tone and content of the journal. The editors won't, apparently, 'be inhibited by '70s ambivalence'. For Feona Attwood and Clarissa Smith, the two English university professors set to edit the journal, are both very firmly on the 'pro' side of pornography's eternal dichotomy. Clarissa Smith recently took part in an Intelligence Squared debate in which she advocated for the motion 'pornography is good for us'. During the debate she argued that 'porn has narrative and art' and asked 'what is wrong with being known for your body?’. She also said to Salon magazine that 'porn is…very marginalized as a media form but at the centre of a lot of scares'. Positioning pornography as a cultural phenomenon rather than a sociological concern has lead American campaigners Stop Porn Culture (SPC) to petition Routledge about the journal. The online petition asserts that "Routledge is in a position of authority, and framing the editorial “experts” on porn as pro-porn under the auspices of neutrality (which is what the journal title does) further fosters the normalization of porn and misrepresents the academic, political and ideological debates about the issue. “In the interest of academic integrity and thorough critical inquiry, it is imperative that a journal titled Porn Studies creates space for critical analyses of porn from diverse and divergent perspectives". A critical, empirical and rigorous research publication would surely be welcome given the increasing concerns over the ubiquity and normalisation of pornography and the vexed issues of internet regulation, extreme pornography and causal harm. Unfortunately, the supposedly detrimental effect of feminism on the 'progress' of pornography studies is regularly used in an attempt to sideline such concerns. In an interview about the journal, Clarissa Smith bemoaned the limits of an Anglo-American pornography debate 'framed within the feminist and objectification rubric'. Coverage in the Guardian also made thinly-veiled references to the halting effects of pro versus anti-porn feminisms on the development of pornography as a cultural study. Reclaiming pornography for cultural studies in this way smacks of silencing, and reduces binaries within feminism to nothing more than obstructive bickering. The point, surely, is that pornography is not made or consumed within a vacuum and cannot be divorced from its sociopolitical context; a context feminism is very much a part of. For whatever your view, one thing is certain: pornography affects women, and competing feminist discourses are an integral part of the debate, not a distraction from it. |
| Disneyfied Princess Merida is outrageous Posted: 22 May 2013 03:30 AM PDT
The ‘princess phase’ is one which has rendered many of my friends with little girls utterly helpless against a tirade of pink nylon frills and sparkly accessories. No matter how progressive, liberal or open-minded they had been in raising their daughters, they have all had to face the day their feisty little girls decided that all they wanted to be was a pink princess. From the tie-dye vegetarian mum to the high-flying exec mum, I've witnessed countless modern women who I know and love try to instil independence and ambition in their daughters, only to be met with a Stepford Wife-style commitment to conforming to the princess ideal. Mass marketing, particularly of the multi-billion dollar Disney Princess phenomenon, has a lot to answer for. It’s no surprise then that mothers and fathers across the western world welcomed the arrival of Princess Merida, the feisty heroine of Pixar’s animation, ‘Brave‘, last year. Here was a princess who refused to conform to outdated stereotypes – both those about princesses and about girls in general – and gave little girls an alternative. It’s equally unsurprising then that plans to sex-up the character for her induction into the Disney Princess Collection this month were met with fierce opposition. In images doing the rounds online, the red-headed tomboy appears to have been aged by at least ten years and was given bigger breasts, a slimmer waist, full make up and a sparkly, lower-cut number. She also appeared minus her trademark bow and arrow. The makeover sparked the creation of an online petition calling for Disney to ‘Keep Merida Brave’. The campaign, by A Mighty Girl, has garnered the support of over 220,000 people in just two weeks. Addressed to the Chairman of Disney, Bob Iger, the petition says: "The redesign of Merida… does a tremendous disservice to the millions of children for whom [she] is an empowering role model who speaks to girls’ capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired." One of the campaign’s supporters is Merida’s creator and co-director of the film, Brenda Chapman, who was controversially replaced by a man half way through the film’s production. Speaking to her local newspaper in response to the makeover she said: “I think it’s atrocious what they have done to Merida. “When little girls say they like it because it’s more sparkly, that’s all fine and good but, subconsciously, they are soaking in the sexy ‘come hither’ look and the skinny aspect of the new version. It’s horrible! “Merida was created to break that mould — to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.” Subsequent reports have claimed victory for the campaign, after the altered image of Merida disappeared from the Disney website. However the global fantasy power-house has denied that the media controversy has had anything to do with this. Using a Disney blog, the company is at pains to explain away the vamped up Merida as a "one-time stylised version" that was "blown out of proportion" online. If you look at the collection of Disney Princesses, it’s easy to see why Merida didn’t fit the saccharine-sweet, pastel princess norm, with their submissive poses and coy looks. To trivialise the protest as Disney has, however, is to shirk its responsibility. Millions of girls are effectively brainwashed every year by their mass marketing reach, and if they’re not affected by it directly they’re experiencing the peer pressure that comes from it. Some may view it as a harmless phase, but the rise of the princess phenomenon over the last 15 years has solidified gender roles among children like nothing that came before it. Children are being defined by gender in their pre-school years; girls with their pink fairies, princesses and ballet dancers, and boys with their trucks, tools and monsters. The pressure to conform kicks in at a very early age, and pity any child that should deviate from the norm. With so many media channels available to children, it’s nigh-on impossible for them to avoid being sucked into this new type of gender stereotyping, and perhaps equally difficult for parents to resist the pressure to provide an endless supply of tiaras and glitter. No one wants to be the miserable mummy who wouldn’t throw a princess party. The Merida makeover, regardless of its scale, is just part of a much wider culture in which girls are encouraged to see their looks as their only passport to success. |
| End gender based hate speech on Facebook Posted: 22 May 2013 01:02 AM PDT
As regular WVoN readers will know, in 2011 we fought a hard campaign against rape jokes on Facebook. The campaign went international and the outcome was a particular page being taken down after we contacted advertisers to warn them about what kind of pages their ads were appearing against. However we did not win the war – Facebook simply informed users that if they marked content as humorous, pages featuring rape, domestic violence and pornographic images could stay up. Since then, there have been numerous protests against Facebook’s questionable application of its terms and conditions, because these apparently allow all kinds of offensive and violent material against women to be published, but not pictures of breastfeeding. The latest campaign is being run by the Women, Action and Media (WAM), an independent North American nonprofit dedicated to building a robust, effective, inclusive movement for gender justice in media. The campaign, which WVoN enthusiastically supports, aims to end gender-based hate speech on Facebook. An open letter demands that the monolithic organisation takes three specific actions: 1. Recognise speech that trivialises or glorifies violence against girls and women as hate speech and make a commitment that you will not tolerate this content. 2. Effectively train moderators to recognise and remove gender-based hate speech. 3. Effectively train moderators to understand how online harassment differently affects women and men, in part due to the real-world pandemic of violence against women. Signed by over 40 organisations that promote women’s rights and/or campaign to end violence against women, the letter goes on: ‘Facebook's response to the many thousands of complaints and calls to address these issues has been inadequate. ‘You have failed to make a public statement addressing the issue, respond to concerned users, or implement policies that would improve the situation. ‘You have also acted inconsistently with regards to your policy on banning images, in many cases refusing to remove offensive rape and domestic violence pictures when reported by members of the public, but deleting them as soon as journalists mention them in articles, which sends the strong message that you are more concerned with acting on a case-by-case basis to protect your reputation than effecting systemic change and taking a clear public stance against the dangerous tolerance of rape and domestic violence.” To join the campaign: - tweet specific companies who advertise on Facebook - tweet other companies using the hashtag #FBrape - send examples of offending pages, along with the actions you've taken to hold Facebook and its advertisers accountable, to facebook@womenactionmedia.org. |
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