Women's Views on News |
- Esquire says women are ornaments
- Sports round-up: 18-24 March
- The crisis is about people, not just statistics
| Esquire says women are ornaments Posted: 25 Mar 2013 06:00 AM PDT
Last week, London played host to the Advertising Week Europe conference, a 'hybrid of inspiring thought leadership featuring the world’s best and brightest with engaging special events.' Not captured your interest yet? Well, one of these special events was a panel hosted by Cosmopolitan editor Louise Court, which looked at feminism in the media and advertising. The panel was called 'Cosmopolitan and the F Word’ and it asked questions about modern feminism in media and advertising such as: 'how many true role models are there for women in the industry? Is media innately sexist in the way it covers news stories? How do women want to be portrayed?’ And such like. So just to reiterate – a panel about feminism in the media. It would seem, then, that someone either stumbled into the wrong room, or took the title 'Cosmopolitan and the F Word' to mean something quite different. Enter Esquire Magazine editor Alex Bilmes who, in his infinite wisdom, addressed the panel with the statement that the magazine used pictures of 'ornamental' women for male readers 'in the same way we provide pictures of cool cars'. He went on to assert that this was more honest behaviour than that of the women's magazine industry, which, in some publications, perpetuated 'negative images of women'. Was that a clanger I heard dropping? Did he think these chauvinistic ponderings would endear him to his feminist audience? Here's what he said in more detail: 'What we do at Esquire is produce a men's magazine, and it has a male gaze. So this is the controversial bit that people don't like but I always say the truth about it: The women we feature in the magazine are ornamental.' At this point, a woman in the audience, clearly agog, interrupted, saying, 'We have sharp objects.' Alas, the man had no fear. He continued: 'Yeah I know. Well, I could lie to you if you want and say that we're interested in their brains as well, but on the whole we're not, and they're there to be beautiful objects. They're objectified.' He went on to share other pearls of wisdom including the idea that men ‘regard women in many, many ways: They're our sisters, our daughters, our wives, our mothers, and we do see them as three-dimensional human beings. ‘But there are certain times we just want to look at them because they're sexy… One of the things men like is pictures of pretty girls, so we provide them with pictures of pretty girls. ‘For that purpose, they are ornamental. This may sound even worse, but it's the same way we also provide them with pictures of cool cars.’ Holy nauseating sexism Batman. Who is this dweeb anyway? He is clearly a pony short of a gymkhana if he thinks it's smart to offend women while surrounded by a room full of feminists. But he wasn't done yet. Oh no. Alex, in mitigation of this jaw dropping sexism, offered 'We’re at least, or possibly more, ethnically diverse [than other magazines]. More shape-diverse. We also have older women. Not really old, but in their 40s… Cameron Diaz was on the cover three issues ago. She’s in her 40s.' Well, that's ok then Alex. As long as you are being ethnically and age diverse in your objectification and sexism, who are we to complain? I wonder if the women who appear in this magazine are aware that this is how they are being sold? That they are simply pretty baubles for men to drool over, as they would a Lamborghini or an Aston Martin? In fact, put the two together and millions of men would fall catatonic, if Alex is correct. Would the cover girls of Esquire Magazine be happy to know that none of the readers care about their brains, abilities, personalities or opinions, and that they are nothing better than pieces of meat? And what of the readership? Men are being told that these attitudes are fine, that women are just things, to be gawped at and drooled over and, yes let's not beat about the bush, to be 'relaxed in a gentleman's way' over, to use an old fashioned phrase. You get the drift. In a further attempt to justify Esquire's blatant sexism, Bilmes also said that the women’s magazine industry was just as irresponsible, and far less honest, with regards to perpetuating negative images of women. Oh really? And how do women's magazines perpetuate a lad culture that stereotypes women as being nothing more than a series of body parts, there for the pleasure of men? Hilariously, Bilmes later took to Twitter, claiming that 'actually I said mental, not ornamental, but was misquoted.' Yes, because saying that women are mental is so much better than saying they are ornamental. Alas the camera does not lie, and he was caught in his full glory on film. (If you can stomach it, you can watch for yourself). Needless to say, reactions to his admissions have been less than favourable. The Guardian asked 'Isn't there a Benny Hill sketch somewhere, missing a ruddy-faced pervert?' Kat Stoeffel of New York magazine picked up on Bilmes claim that Esquire embraced diversity by featuring older women on the cover. She said, 'Personally, I would forgo such bold and anti-ageist cover models as Cameron Diaz, 40, in favor of women being distinct from cars.' Even the Daily Mail seemed 'outraged' (how very unlike them) despite the fact that they feature seismic numbers of semi-clad women on their website every day. Alex Bilmes clearly thought that there was some merit to his candour. Sorry Alex. You’re just a narrow minded, repellant, chauvinistic twit. Just being honest, you understand.  |
| Posted: 25 Mar 2013 04:00 AM PDT
The Guardian online may have ditched its women's sports round-up due to "lack of interest", but we haven't, so let us know if you're reading us. Rowing: Oxford claimed the Women's Boat Race on March 24 at Dorney Lake by two lengths. The race should have been held at Henley but was moved due to this week’s bad weather. Although the women's race has been in existence since 1927, it has only had a proper home, in Henley, since the mid-1960s. Things are set to change in 2015, when the race will be moved to the Tideway and will be on the same day as the men's. In the Rowing World Cup in Sydney, several women's crews put in creditable performances. March 23 saw Ruth Walczak take fourth in her lightweight single sculls final. On March 24, the new combination of Helen Glover and Polly Swann took gold in the women's pairs, while there were bronzes for the open weight duo of Frances Houghton and Vicky Meyer-Laker and lightweight women's doubles Imogen Walsh and Kathryn Twyman. Curling: Scotland has won the final of the World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, beating Sweden 6-5 on March 24. The team, comprising skip Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Lauren Gray had already lost twice to Sweden earlier in the tournament, but held on to take the final by the narrowest of margins. Cycling: Not a result, but great news nonetheless: the 2013 Tour of Britain will include a one-day women's race. It will act as a curtain-raiser for the new five-day stage race due to be held in 2014. The one-day race will take place on September 22 and will be over the same 8.8km London circuit that the men will ride. The distance is yet to be decided. “The aim is for it to be a world level race and all of the UCI teams, such as the newly formed Wiggle Honda, will be invited,” said a Tour of Britain spokesman. Football: The WSL Continental Cup, the precursor to the Women's Super League season, began this weekend. Unfortunately, the terrible weather put paid to most of the fixtures: the only survivor was the Merseyside derby, which took place only after six inches of snow were cleared from Liverpool's Halton Stadium pitch in Widnes. A crowd of 1,432 saw a competitive match with Liverpool taking the lead through a Louise Fors penalty in the 75th minute. This looked to be the winner until a Nicky Parris header equalised with four minutes to go. Gymnastics: Gabby Jupp took gold this week at Liverpool’s Echo Arena to become British Senior Champion. The 15 year-old was competing in her first major senior event. Charlie Fellows took silver, with Niamh Rippon winning the bronze. Former English Champion Hannah Whelan fell twice in her bars routine to ruin any chance she had of taking the title, eventually finishing eighth. Jupp told the British Gymnastics website, "I'm so, so happy I didn't ever think I'd be senior British champion. “Floor and vault were really good, bars I was a bit disappointed but to end on beam, even though it wasn't perfect, suited me as it's my strongest piece. “As a first year senior to take the title is like a dream and as for the rest of the year hopefully I can now make the European team which would be a big step in my career." Snowboarding: British snowboarder Zoe Gillings finished tenth in the final round of the World cup in Spain. Although she qualified fifth, she was knocked out in the semi-final. In an interview with the BBC she said, "It was a tough course with some massive jumps so I am happy to finish the season injury free." The overall winner was Dominique Maltais of Canada. Tennis: After Heather Watson's high profile first round loss at the Miami Masters, Laura Robson progressed to the second, but fell to France's Alize Cornet 5-7 7-5 6-1. The match was a bizarre one, including three rain delays, two floodlight failures and a change of court. The match finally finished seven hours after it had begun, although there were only 60 minutes of on-court time. Robson took the first set and looked to be doing well until her serve imploded. She served 17 double faults and lost six games in row to go out in the most disappointing way possible, missing out on a chance to become British number one.  |
| The crisis is about people, not just statistics Posted: 25 Mar 2013 02:09 AM PDT
Speaking at the European Parliament building earlier this month, one UK speaker, Professor Sylvia Walby, presented findings from her research on how the spending cuts are impacting on violence against women and how other areas of women's lives are being affected by the financial crisis. Sylvia Walby is Professor of Sociology at the UK’s Lancaster University and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Chair of Gender Research, and awarded an OBE ‘for services to equal opportunities and gender and diversity’. Her presentation was at an inter-parliamentary meeting and seminar with the title ‘Women’s response to the crisis’. She said that women are increasingly being discriminated against during the financial crisis and that the crisis itself was gendered in its causes and it consequences. This included through financial decision-making, the recession, narrowing budget deficits and economic growth strategies. Currently almost all financial decision-making is performed by men, and men are more prone to excessive risk-taking, and risk-taking, she said, is exacerbated when companies consist of a monoculture of all-male groups at decision-making levels. And to date, voluntary measures aimed at increasing the number of women in top economic positions have been slow in producing the required effects. The European Parliament’s committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) is now pushing for a mandatory increase in board members to 40 per cent female quotas for listed companies, to try and provide a better gender balance within decision-making bodies. It is recognised that 50 per cent is the ideal and ultimate target, but 40 per cent is considered ‘progress in the right direction’. Walby argued that including women on the financial committees of governmental bodies, as well as on boards of directors, should be considered as an issue of democracy. This inclusion of women is also necessary, she said, for protecting the employment rights of the women affected by any decision-making and also should ensure that the risk-taking associated with men is counter-balanced to protect the profitability of firms. The recession and financial crisis is quite clearly impacting mostly on women. One focus in the UK government's decision to reduce public expenditure has been on cutting employment in the public sector – and women made up 70 per cent of the public sector labour force. Women are also more likely to be employed in, use and support the areas where the most critical cuts are taking place – health, education, child care and services aiming to prevent violence towards women, for example. And in countries where governments have not made ‘gendered cuts’ to budgets, the effects of the crisis on women have not been as significant. Professor Walby also argued that the gendering of the recession is uneven, with women disproportionately affected by the government's response in choosing to cut public spending, rather taking steps to raise taxes and abolish tax loopholes. What was made clear at this meeting in Brussels is that women are under-represented in key decision-making strategies within our democracy. And if gendered interests are significantly under-represented in both governmental and business settings there should be a democratic entitlement for women to be represented at government level, at the EU parliament level and at the EU’s banking level. The message that came very clearly from Professor Walby and other speakers at the inter-parliamentary meeting is that the financial crisis and the way out of it is about people, not just statistics. Governments must place more emphasis on the gender implications of the steps they take and the EU – and the UK – needs to come up with legislation which affords greater protection to women.  |
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