Entries Tagged 'sexualisation' ↓

In a bold move, backed by readers who suggested they preferred to see “real women”, the UK monthly magazine Essentials will no longer feature models or celebrities on its front cover.

Published by IPC Media, the October issue runs with the theme “Celebrating women like you” and contains no models or celebrities at all. Stories include:
Real Fashion – wear all the new trends your way
Real Beauty – easy make up and beauty modeled by you
Real You – it’s never too late to get what you want

The magazine also celebrates women in an article about real women; Amazing at every age, size and shape. Essentials main feature is a social media campaign to find 10 real women to put on its front cover. Essentials said it was a “UK media first for women’s glossies”.

Essentials’ editor, Jules Barton-Breck, said: “So many of these women look, and are, amazing that we wanted to celebrate them. In our recent reader survey 70% told us that they would rather see a real woman on the cover of a magazine than a celebrity, so we’re excited to be the first magazine in the UK to do this every month.”

This comes at a time when many experts are worried about the effect magazines containing very thin models and the glamorous lifestyles of the rich and famous are having on adolescents and young women. 

Selena Ewing from Women’s Forum Australia said “one very clear finding is that there are harmful effects of being exposed to pictures of thing and glamourous women. Poor body image, lower self-esteem, anger, anxiety, shame, self-surveillance are documented responses.”

She added “Women may not realise this is happening to them; they may not make any connection between the glossy, breautiful, popular magazines and the negative, often hidden aspects of their own lives.”

Women’s Forum Australia has researched the issue of how women are portrayed in the media and as part of their findings they produced a satirical magazine-style publication as their research paper.  Faking It: the female image in young women’s magazines reflects the body of academic research on magazines, mass media, premature sexualisation of girls, and the sexual objectification of women.

According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures in the UK, Essentials was once again the biggest climber of mainstream magazines. It now has a circulation of 115,432, up by nearly 13% year on year.

Interestingly Cosmopolitan and Company reported the biggest falls in the women’s lifestyle and fashion sector, with a 9% drop by Cosmopolitan. Despite the fact that they feature high end fashion and have models and celebrities crammed into each issue.

Ilka Schmitt, the magazine’s publisher, said: “Celebrating our readers by putting them on the cover is a brave move, but it just feels right for Essentials. Essentials is a woman’s magazine that offers something different and more and more women are discovering that. Seven consecutive year-on-year ABC increases do not lie.”

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Essentials Magazine. Women’s Forum Australia

There is an increasing trend for fashion houses to glamorise death. The obsession with beautiful dead women has seen a number of recent ad campaigns idolise death, murder and suicide in women’s fashion. Young girls are being told that you can even look sexy when you are dead.

Taking the theme of ‘dead women are sexy’, Gucci recently featured a new ad campaign shot in Marrakech which showed models lying lifeless in the desert sand.

More disturbingly are the more graphic ads which further suggest that the model’s demise has been the result of male violence. Ads like Duncan Quinn show a man in a smart suit who has clearly strangled a woman. She is wearing nothing but sexy underwear and is lying motionless on the bonnet of a car.

Another ad by Dolce and Gabbana (later banned in Italy) featured a woman being pinned down by a man while a group of men looked on (waiting their turn?) the scene looked like a gang rape, and yet it was actually selling shoes.

Author of Getting Real and Generation Next speaker, Melinda Tankard Reist is a long standing campaigner for the portrayal of sexualisation and violence against women in the media to be banned.

“All these images and messages make a mockery of global campaigns to stop the abuse of women. They feed violence, fuel violence and contribute to an environment which every day becomes more dangerous for women and girls” she said.

Now to suicide – The South Korean fashion label Lewitt recently engaged American photographer Ryan McGinley to make a video promoting their brand of clothing.

It featured Australian model Abbey Lee Kershaw and was apparently inspired by Alice in Wonderland. However the clip depicts Kershaw jumping from a tall building rather than falling down something. Her climb to the top of the building, hesitation before jumping and free fall as she tumbles down over the building all feature multiple changes of wardrobe.

But Alice in Wonderland wasn’t climbing a very tall building with the intent of throwing herself off, oh no, she fell down a rabbit hole and it was an accident.

Adolescent psychologist and Generation Next speaker Dr Michael Carr-Gregg commented that it seemed like an odd concept for promoting fashion to young women in a country that boasts one of the world’s highest female suicide rates. Odder still, given that seven models have committed suicide in the last 2 years (4 by jumping), including South Korea’s Daul Kim who committed suicide in November 2009.

The data showed that 18.7 out of every 100,000 South Korean women committed suicide in 2008 while suicide rates in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries remained stable (source: World Health Organisation 2008).

Julie Gale, founder of Kids Free 2B Kids suggested calling for a protocol where these themes are not used. Just like newspapers have an ethic of not reporting suicides. She went on to say that the Advisory Group on Body Image set up by Youth Minister Kate Ellis in March 2009, should be looking into advertising which depicts acts of self harm such as suicide as glamorous and something to aspire to.

At the time of the launch she said “The Advisory Group will help to develop a new Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image, and provide advice to the Government on a national response.”

“Young Australians are telling us loud and clear that they are concerned about negative body image and the impact that it has on them, their friends and the community,” said Ms Ellis.

“This is a very complex issue and the Government believes the most affective approach is to work in partnership with the media, health sector, fashion industry and young people themselves to develop a national approach to tackle negative body image in a coordinated and targeted way.”

Melinda Tankard Reist, when talking about suicide and body image said “now Lindsay Lohan, soaked in blood, is showing us you can still sell yourself as a sex object while threatening to kill yourself.”

She added “self harm is the highest cause of hospital admission for girls aged 13 to 19 in Australia. Should it be treated so lightly? Should it be seen as something you do if you want to be seen as hot and sexy? Branding yourself with blood as some kind of artistic statement?”

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. Melinda Tankard Reist. Kids Free 2B Kids (Julie Gale)

At the centre of popular culture lies popular (pop) music, it has always been the music of the next generation, as young people come into their own they begin to express themselves through their clothes, interests, friends and music.

In modern times, the mass media has become a major instrument for the spread and dissemination of popular-culture to young people.

In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, John Storey equates pop culture with Mass Culture. This is seen as a commercial culture, mass produced for mass consumption. This definition can also be applied to today’s music industry and the phenomenon that encompasses it.

Popular music is present almost everywhere, and it is easily available through the radio, ipods, the Internet, and new technologies, allowing adolescents to hear it in diverse settings and situations, alone or shared with friends. They use music in their process of identity formation, and their music preference gives them a means to achieve group identity and integration into the youth culture.

Much of the music today no longer has sexual innuendos where the imagination joins the dots. Today the lyrics are graphic and vulgar, this is seen in songs by artists like Lady Gaga “I’m educated in sex, yes … I wanna take a ride on your disco stick”, or Katy Perry with “Sex on a beach. We get sand in our stilettos. We freak and we’re cheap”.

The content of pop music is highly sexualised and seems to know no bounds. Music by R ‘n’ B singer Rihanna is considered by some experts in the music industry to be soft porn.

Music producer Mike Stock (part of Stock, Aiken and Waterman) thinks children are at risk from the pop stars who peddle porn. He has condemned raunchy clips as “sexualising” children.

“The music industry has gone too far,” he said, “99% of the charts is R ‘n’ B music and 99% of that is soft pornography.

“Kids are being forced to grow up too young. Look at the videos, I wouldn’t necessarily want my young kids to watch them. It’s not about me being old fashioned. It’s about keeping values that are important in the modern world. These days you can’t watch modern stars like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga with a two-year-old.”

Research has found that nearly 42% of songs contain very explicitly sexual language. Lyrics revolve around topics such as sexual promiscuity, rape, death, homicide, suicide, and substance abuse. Rap music in particular often carries messages of violence, racism, homophobia and hatred towards women as well as drug, tobacco, and alcohol use – all of which are glorified.

Generation Next speaker and adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said the classification system needed to be toughed to stop the “skankification of this generation”.

“Mike Stock is right – it’s amazing that the Senate inquiry a few years ago actually recommended that the TV stations review the classifications, but when they redid their Code they didn’t change a single word,” he said.

Kids Free 2B Kids director Julie Gale said research has found sexualised video clips can impact on children’s self-esteem after just ten minutes exposure.

“The recommendation of the Senate inquiry two years ago should be followed through, they should not be in children’s prime viewing hours,” she said.

The Senate’s report Sexualisation of children in the contemporary media, published in June 2008 recommended that broadcasters review their classification of music videos specifically with regard to sexualising imagery.

Australian recording artist Kate Ceberano has also said artists needed to take more responsibility, “Artists need to be responsible for how they use sex to sell their products. There’s a fine line between beauty and hard core.”

In November 2009 the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement on the “Impact of Music, Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and Youth”

Research by the AAP showed that popular music effects schoolwork, social interactions, mood and affect, and particularly behaviour. Exposure to violence, sexual messages, sexual stereotypes, and use of substances of abuse in music videos might produce significant changes in behaviours and attitudes of young viewers.

It is estimated that over 60% of young people watch music videos on a regular basis, with 7% of these watching them before they go to school.

In studies performed to assess the reactions of adolescent boys exposed to violent rap music videos or sexist videos, participants reported an increased probability that they would engage in violence, a greater acceptance of the use of violence, and a greater acceptance of the use of violence against women than did participants who were not exposed to these videos. Researchers also found an association between music-video–watching and promiscuous sexual behaviours.

The American Academy for Pediatrics recommended that the music-video industry produce videos with more positive themes about relationships, racial harmony, drug avoidance, nonviolent conflict resolution, sexual abstinence, pregnancy prevention, and avoidance of promiscuity.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics. They Sydney Morning Herald

The American Psychological Association (APA) recently formed a task force which produced a report on the sexualisation of girls through the media and other cultural messages.

The report also included information for parents, carers and teachers on how they can help young women become aware of the sexualised imagery and messages that are presented by the media.

According to the APA, sexualisation occurs when any of these factors are present:

• a person’s value comes only from their sexual appeal or behaviour, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
• a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy;
• a person is sexually objectified – made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and
• sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a (young) person.

The last point (the inappropriate imposition of sexuality) is especially relevant to children, when children are imbued with adult sexuality; it is often imposed upon them rather than chosen by them.

Sexualisation of girls
The report found that nearly every type of mass media had examples of the sexualisation of women, including television, music videos, music lyrics, movies, magazines, sports media, video games, the Internet and advertising.

Research found that generally women were more often portrayed in a sexual manner than men (e.g., dressed in revealing clothing, with bodily postures or facial expressions that imply sexual readiness) and objectified (e.g., used as a decorative object, or as body parts rather than a whole person).

The report also documented the sexualisation of girls in advertisements (e.g. the Skechers “naughty and nice” ad that featured Christina Aguilera dressed as a schoolgirl in pigtails, with her shirt unbuttoned, licking a lollipop), dolls (e.g. Bratz dolls dressed in sexualized clothing such as miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas), clothing (thongs sized for 7– to 10-year-olds, some printed with slogans such as “wink wink”), and television programs (e.g. a televised fashion show in which adult models in lingerie were presented as young girls).

It also found that many young girls were unintentionally sexualising themselves by thinking of themselves in objectified terms. Many girls modelled themselves on the celebrities portrayed by the media; wanting to look sexy and physically appealing, often by wearing inappropriate clothing.

Consequences of the sexualisation of girls
The report found that emotionally the sexualisation and objectification of young girls undermined their confidence in and comfort with their own body, leading to many negative emotions including shame, anxiety, and even self-disgust.

Research also linked sexualisation to the 3 most common mental health problems suffered by girls: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.

It noted that for young men, the sexualisation of girls could make it difficult for some men to find an “acceptable” partner or to fully enjoy intimacy with a female partner (e.g., Schooler & Ward, 2006). This in turn could lead to increased rates of sexual harassment and sexual violence; and an increased demand for child pornography.

Positive alternatives to the sexualisation of girls
The report recommended the introduction of school-based media literacy training programs to combat the influence of sexualisation.  It also indicated that organized religious and other ethical instructions could offer girls important practical and psychological alternatives to the values conveyed by popular culture.

What can parents do?
The report encouraged parents to:

• teach girls to value themselves for who they are, rather than how they looked
• teach boys to value girls as friends, sisters, and girlfriends, rather than as sexual objects, and
• advocate for change with manufacturers and media producers.

How can parents help?:
Tune in - Watch TV and movies together. Get to know their world. Ask questions. “Why is there so much pressure on girls to look a certain way?” “What do you like most about the girls you want to spend time with?” “Do these qualities matter more than how they look?” Really listen to what your kids tell you.
Speak up – support campaigns, companies, and products that promote positive images of girls. Complain to manufacturers, advertisers, television and movie producers and retail stores when products sexualize girls.
Understand - young people often feel peer pressure. Help them make wise choices among the trendy alternatives. Remind girls that who they are and what they can accomplish is more important than how they look.
Encourage - highlight talents, skills and abilities over physical appearance. Encourage them to develop interests and get involved in a sport or other activity.
Educate - discuss media, peer and cultural influences on sexual behaviours and decisions, talk about how to make safe choices and what makes healthy relationships. Find out what their school teaches.
Be real - help them focus on what’s really important: what they think, feel, and value. Help them build strengths that will allow them to achieve their goals and develop into healthy adults.

Finally the report recommended that schools, parents and other caregivers, community-based youth and parenting organisations, and local business and service organisations encourage positive activities that help adolescents build nurturing connections with peers and enhance self-esteem based on their abilities and character rather than on their appearance.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha
Source: American Psychological Association

Kids Free 2B Kids  

This website was started as part of a grass roots campaign to apply pressure to the mass media, current cultural trends and manufacturers that are exposing children to inappropriate sexualised imagery as they try to sell products and make profit. Kids Free 2B Kids is in alliance with The Australian Council on Children and the Media.  (Formerly Young Media Australia).
 
The American Psychological Association describes the sexualisation of someone as being when “a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy” and  “a person is sexually objectified – that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making.”

Kids Free 2B Kids is full of the latest information and research regarding the effect this kind of exposure has on children and young people including:

• How children are portrayed in advertising: What they wear, how they’re posed?
• The images children are exposed to in their environment:  Billboards, magazines, internet, TV?
• The toys, dolls and games children play with?
• Exposure to adult sexual images that a child is not developmentally ready to absorb?

The website includes a section on how to complain to the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) if you feel an advertisement, music video clip or free to air TV program features the sexualisation of young people.

Childhood is recognised as a time of innocence, playfulness, fun and spontaneity. Children should be able to develop at their own pace, without undue pressure and influence from mass media marketing and advertising.

Julie Gale, founder and Director of Kids Free 2B Free believes that parents, carers and teachers try to provide an environment in which children can develop to their full potential. It is a time when children can be free to explore their world through play, spontaneity and innocent fun.  Children should be able to grow at their own pace, without the pressure and influences of the mass media, marketing and advertisers.

Recent international and Australian studies have highlighted the significant impact that the sexualisation of children in advertising and marketing campaigns is having on children’s physical and psychological health.

Dr Joe Tucci of the Australian Childhood Foundation said “children continue to be exposed to a whole range of sexual imagery that normalizes sexuality for them, and in that process, I think there are some long term consequences to children and to childhood in Australia.”

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha
Source: Kids Free 2B Kids

Since 2005 there has been a bus doing the rounds in Oakleigh displaying a near naked reclining woman in high heels, her legs stretch almost the full length of the side of the bus. This is the long running advertisement for the Kittens School of Striptease.

In 2005 the advertising regulator didn’t even bat an eye lid over this ad. Luckily things have changed and experts, educators and parents alike are more aware of the harmful effects images like this can have on young people.

Back then the ASB said the images were not “overly graphic” and did not expose the breast “in any way”.

According to the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) chief executive Fiona Jolly the bureau was different 5 years ago “Issues such as the sexualisation of children are an issue now, but they weren’t an issue in the mainstream media five years ago,” she said.

Maggie Hamilton author of “What’s Happening to Our Girls?” and Generation Next  speaker said “If sexy’s where it’s at, then that’s what some girls will aim for. Knowing this, advertisers push the importance of girls being sexy.”

She added “The interest in being sexy may seem harmless enough, were it not for the fact that the sexualisation of girls is taking its toll. ‘What troubles me is that it’s like girls don’t feel they have any rights’ one young teacher confessed. ‘It’s like they want to be objects to be desired.’ This in your face sexuality is present in almost every form of media”.

5 years on and the ABS has finally reviewed the advertisement and with the pressure of changing community attitudes, led by  campaigners like Kids Free 2B Kids, it has decided that the ad is indeed sexually suggestive and could expose children to sexual themes.

Kids Free 2B Kids Director and Generation Next speaker, Julie Gale, was delighted with the turn around by the ASB. “It is a good thing that the ASB are getting up to speed with how children are being impacted by adult sexualised imagery,” she said.

The Kids Free 2B Kids website has a dedicated page Who Controls Ads to help people wishing to complain to the ASB should they feel an advertisement (print or TV) is overtly sexual or depicts sexual exploitation.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha
Source: Herald Sun, Kids Free 2B Kids

headspace is supporting this series of national seminars relating to the health and wellbeing of young people.

The next Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People 2010 Seminar will be held in Sydney on Friday September 10, 2010

WHAT: Topics this year include major and current issues

• Cyber-bullying
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Body Image & Eating Disorders
• Teen Depression
• Resilience
• Sexualisation, Consumerism, the Media and Mental health

Feedback from our previous event:
• ”It was very insightful. I got such a lot out of hearing from the wonderful line up of speakers you organised for us. I congratulate you on putting such a powerful line-up and message together.”
• “Thank you again for organising such a great event- it was a wonderful success and hopefully the start of many more in the future!”
• “Congratulations and thank you on a well informed and planned conference. My colleague and I loved it. I know next year I would like to send my middle years staff.”
• “The day was a very valuable one and I know that there will be more teachers from our school attending the next one.”
• “The conference speakers were engaging and stimulating and to be honest I have thought of little else since…! It was extremely uplifting to listen to people who love what they do, who are passionate about young people, passionate about their area of expertise and who are generous enough to share their knowledge, insights and understanding to improve the lives of others. Congratulations to everyone involved, I for one have been moved into action and inspired to act!”
• “Thanks once again for such a wonderful conference. I got so much out of it. I plan to use much of the info I gained on the day on a whole school basis. It’s great to have practical info that can be adapted to a school setting.”
• “It was a terrific seminar and every speaker was dynamic and to the point, well worth having a second one. I will share the details with colleagues.”
• “It was wonderful to learn in such a funny and stimulating way. The power of humour…! I will tell all colleagues about what a great professional event it was and how they can possibly get to the next one.”
• “Thank you for your vision, passion and dedication for the wellbeing of young people.”
•  “It was a terrific seminar and every speaker was dynamic and to the point, well worth having a second one. I will share the details with colleagues.”
• “Again thank you for a wondrous seminar.”
• “I will promote the next conference for you, as last week was fantastic!”
• “Thanks for putting on a great conference.”
•  “Thank you so much for your part in organising the wonderful event…..It was inspiring to hear such a collection of speakers on the one program, all most informative and entertaining. I …. shall be passing on the information to others.”
•  “The event WAS wonderful and I am happy to see that you are hosting another so soon.”

 
95% of the delegates felt that the seminar was definitely worth attending

Australia’s leading experts in one event:
• Michael Carr-Gregg, Adolescent Psychologist and Beyondblue Ambassador
• Dr Sloane Madden, Expert in Body Image and Eating Disorders, The Children’s Hospital, Westmead
• Paul Dillon, Drug and Alcohol Research and Training
• Susan McLean, Cyber safety Expert
• Lyn Worsely, Psychologist, Developer of The Resilience Doughnut
• Evelyn Field, Psychologist, Author of Bully blocking, National Centre Against Bullying
• Dr Ramesh Manocha, GP, Mental Health Researcher, University of Sydney

For Education, Health and Welfare Professionals:

“The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People 2010″.
Date: Friday, September 10, 2010
Venue: Mathews Lecture Theatre, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Sydney
Time: 9am-5pm

To look at the full programme, download the brochure or register go to Generation Next

Or phone 1300 797 794

Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha

420 million Internet porn pages
4.2 million Porn websites
68 million daily porn search engine requests

Playboy used to be synonymous with all that was porn. Scantily clad women with “come hither” looks. Even Cosmopolitan was considered “risqué” with its sealed sections.

According to Gail Dines, the porn around today has very little to do with sex and everything to do with degrading women, violence and profit. It seems there are no boundaries which cannot be crossed as men become desensitized to even the cruellest, humiliating, sadistic and brutal material.

Gail Dines, regarded as the world’s leading anti-pornography campaigner, has just published a new book Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. It exposes why the porn available to our teenagers today is destroying their chances of a healthy long lasting relationship later in live.

“We are now bringing up a generation of boys on cruel, violent porn,” she says, “and given what we know about how images affect people, this is going to have a profound influence on their sexuality, behaviour and attitudes towards women.”

The porn today explores feelings of hate, fear, disgust, anger, loathing and contempt. Every sex act is designed to deliver the maximum amount of humiliation. Whether it is choking her or violent intercourse, the aim of porn sex is to demonstrate how much power he has over her. These images are now common place on the net and are shaping the way men think about sex, relationships and intimacy.

Dines found that many men believed that porn sex was what women wanted, and they became upset and angry when their sex partner refused to look or behave like their favourite porn star.

“I have found that the earlier men use porn,” says Dines, “the more likely they are to have trouble developing close, intimate relationships with real women. Some of these men prefer porn to sex with an actual human being. They are bewildered, even angry, when real women don’t want or enjoy porn sex,” she said.

During her research for the book, one student told her “I love porn and I try out the sex on my girlfriend, but she isn’t interested. I dumped the last girl I was with because she wanted to keep the sex straight. That’s not for me. If women don’t want to try different things, then I am not interested.”

Research statistics on porn access by boys over the internet is staggering:

• 30% of 13 year old boys view porn on a regular basis
• 30% 14- to 16-year-olds saw sexual images online by the age of 10 years old
• 81% of teenage boys polled looked at porn online at home, and
• 63% could easily access it on their mobile phones.

In essence, the today’s teenagers have access to hardcore porn 24 hours a day.

Porn culture doesn’t only affect men. It also changes “the way women and girls think about their bodies, their sexuality and their relationships,” says Dines.

“The more porn images filter into mainstream culture, the more girls and women are stripped of full human status and reduced to sex objects. This has a terrible effect on girls’ sexual identity because it robs them of their own sexual desire.”

Images have now become so extreme that acts that were almost non-existent a decade ago have become commonplace, including oral and anal penetration.

For the producers of porn it is not about sex; it is all about money and the profits. Dines spent 3 days at an Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas during 2008, she interviewed many porn producers and found that their interests lie not in bodily contact but purely in the profits, niche markets, and bulk mailing. Nobody talked about sex, just his or her business plan for increasing revenue. 

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: New York Post

“What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice” you would certainly think that if you watched California Gurls, the latest video clip from Katy Perry.

“It’s all edible. We named it ‘Candyfornia’ instead of ‘California,’ so it’s a different world,” Perry said. “It’s not just like, ‘Oh, let’s go to the beach and throw a party and then shoot a music video!’ It’s more like, ‘Let’s put us California Gurls in a whole different world!’

The clip is a sugary mixture of pink candy floss, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a board game. Featuring Snoop Dogg, the clip takes us through Candy Land in which girls (looking so good you could eat them) are held captive by ‘King’ Snoop Dogg. Perry moves around a candy inspired board game to free them.

It culminates in a battle when Perry defeats the’ king’ with her guns made from whipped cream, which are attached to her breasts and she squeezes to make the cream come out. This is so ‘soft porn’ it’s not true and is almost too embarrassing to watch.

Just to clarify, Snoop Dogg, used to be a pimp who seems to have little respect for women. About his time as a pimp he has said “I wasn’t a gorilla pimp where I was beating the girls up” but explains he was simply offering a service “cause I know so many mother f***ers who like buyin’ it” (Rolling Stones November 2006), not a great role model for adolescent boys.

Long gone are the days when a musician or group could simply stand there and deliver their song and it be filmed. Today we are offered a whole fantasy to go with the music, a visual journey for us to get lost in.

But what is it that we are being sold here? The lyrics for many songs are borderline pornographic with little room for words of true love or romance – it all seems to be about superficial physical attraction and instant sexual gratification. When these lyrics are translated onto the screen what we see is a video clip that has become a short ‘soft porn’ movie.

The lyrics in Perry’s song make no secret of the fact that California girls are body conscious, on the look-out and available “Sex on a beach. We get sand in our stilettos. We freak and we’re cheap”.

We, or rather young girls, are being sold the idea that girls/women are here to look good enough to eat, to be delicious and to be enjoyed by men. They are being told that girls should flaunt their sexuality and make it clear that they are ready and available.

Maggie Hamilton, Generation Next speaker and author of “What’s Happening to our Girls? said “much information girls glean about sex is from magazines, TV and the movies… often sex in the media is presented as immediate, exciting, causal and risk free.”

“When girls access the media they learn almost nothing about the subtle difference between sensuality and sexuality, understanding and expressing desire, the importance of intimacy and boundaries, and life beyond instant gratification” she added.

This clip would visually appeal to young girls; it is full of all the food and colours they love at that age; ice cream, gummy bears and candy floss. They are being hooked into a world which then tells them “you are here to look pretty, taste good and give pleasure to men”.

These messages are conveyed by the way all the girls are dressed/wrapped up as ‘sweeties’ that can be eaten and are the property of Snoop Dogg’s own personal candy stash. It is reinforced by the way the women in the clip smile and give the camera the ’I’m here for you’ look.

At one point Katy seductively licks an ice cream while looking wide eyed and innocent. Later she slowly sucks her fingers as she slips some gingerbread man into her mouth.

Then we see Perry lying naked on a cloud singing about how California girls are “fine, fresh and fierce” however all the girls in the clip have a vacant/available expression on their faces like no thoughts have ever passed through their heads.

This clip is insidious because it looks like a superficial sugar candy coated innocent romp through Alice in Wonderland while actually taking a voyeuristic journey that shows women as objects for the pleasure of men . In essence it is soft porn and the worrying thing about this video is that it will be watched by thousands of young girls on a Saturday morning as they get their weekly fix of Video Hits.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

The argument for ‘lads ads’ seems to be much the same as for ‘lads mags’; they aren’t really offensive, just harmless suggestive fun, a bit of titillation with no real damage intended. This of course is from a male perspective. Talk to most women and the response is more like; they are degrading, humiliating and offensive.

There has been a string of such ads lately, they began with a barrage of airline ads including Air New Zealand, the Russian airline Avianova and Spain’s Air Commet.

Then more recently came the Brut campaign, described by Pharmacare “a body spray deodorant range targeted at male deodorant users in their late teens to early 20s. The principle behind the Code element of Brut Code refers to ‘the amusing codes that friends live by’. An example might be ‘No matter what, two guys should never share an umbrella’.”

So what makes these ‘lads ads’ so offensive and degrading to women?

Well let’s start with the airlines, words that come to mind include raunchy, erotic, risqué, sexist, creepy, soft porn and voyeuristic.

In this day and age how on earth can we allow advertising campaigns that depict female flight attendants washing planes while wearing bikinis? It is like watching an old James Bond movie, which we all know depicts the ‘bond girl’ as a trophy to be won by Bond during the movie.

Then there was Aeroflot’s calendar featuring a female flight attendant posing completely nude. This however was surpassed by Air Comet; their calendar showed staff in various flight-related poses including one in which a woman stretched out on a jet engine clad only in an emergency flotation vest.

Ms Jo-Ann Davidson, Secretary of the Flight Attendants Association of Australia pointed out that raunchy advertisements are offensive and place cabin crew at risk.

“Such suggestive advertising portraying cabin crew as part of the product they’re selling sends wrong messages and puts cabin crew at risk of sexual harassment and abuse – all for a $10 air fare,” she said.

“Cabin crew deserve to work in a safe environment and be treated with respect and dignity.”

Ms Davidson made a very shrewd comment when discussing airline executives; “it’s a sad reflection of the attitude of the airline’s executives – dare I say more than likely middle aged males – towards cabin crew, in particular, female cabin crew by portraying them in such a demeaning, distasteful and irrelevant manner.”

You may be feeling comforted that these airlines are all overseas and that in our part of the world the media is more ideologically sound. But oh no, just take a look at last years’ ads by Air New Zealand. They well and truly took their place among the most offensive ads by showing staff carrying out their duties wearing nothing more than body paint.

Now if we turn our attention back to Brut again. The Brut campaign with its tagline “still brutally male” and the series of “spot and share” ads – a set of amusing codes that friends life by – serve as a thin veneer covering the depiction of women as sex objects to be ‘shared around’ by men.

All the ads use a beautiful woman posing in a T-shirt and bikini. In the online video clips she whips off her T-shirt (not much product shot here, remembering this is an ad for male deodorant) to reveal a code. There is an obvious play on the word ‘reveal’. The double entendre about the ‘revealing’ of the codes is clearly intended to refer to women taking off their tops in addition to ‘revealing what the message of the next code is.

This sends a very strong message to teenage boys and adds to their understanding of how a man should treat a woman. In this case men should view women as nothing more than the sum of their body parts to be ‘spotted’ ‘noted’ and ‘shared’ around. Could this description also be applied the appreciation of soft porn or even gang rape? Surely these ads depict inappropriate role models for young men.

This is how The Advertising Standards Bureau dealt with complaints for one of the poster ads.  The poster features a beautiful blonde woman with her back to the viewer in nothing more than a bikini bottom (no surprises there). The words for the ad reads - BRUT Code #85: Always alert your mates to the presence of fine form. 

The complaint addressed the issues of the sexualisation and objectification of women and the affect this might have on both adolescent boys and girls. “No individual within society should be subjected to such over-sexualised and demeaning images that objectify women.”

“The site where this add is situated is a busy thoroughfare for both primary and high school students all of which are influenced by popular culture and the society that surrounds them. Firstly young women see images in which females are being sexualised and objectified for the means of appealing to the male audience – thus creating the view that a woman’s body is her only asset. These ads also affect young boys as they are sent the message that women are simply objects for their own pleasure.”

In their defence Pharmacare said “using attractive people in adverts is very common practice and in no way does this objectify or demean women.” They dispute that the ad is “overtly sexually suggestive” by arguing that the woman in the ad was smiling and looked happy.

The Advertising Standard Bureau (‘the Board’) decided “that the advertisement did treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience and that the advertisement did not breach section 2.3 of the Code.” They went on to determine that “the general community would find the portrayal of the women acceptable in the media utilised” and concluded  “finding that the advertisement did not breach the Code on any grounds the Board dismissed the complaints.”

In an ironic twist, The Board was quick to come down on the ads where health and safety issues were concerned.

“The board considered that as the vehicle is depicted in motion the depiction of the person in the boot and the person sitting on the car rather than in a seat is a depiction of material that does breach community standards on safety in vehicles and safe driving.”

Finally in its deliberation the board wrote: “The board considered that the overall theme of the advertisement is light-hearted and is specifically directed to depicting men who appreciate the beauty of a woman.”

It added: “The board considered that the song ‘spot and share’ does not imply sexual behaviour … and that the song and language are not suggestive of rape.”

It is very neglectful of our society to encourage teenage boys to view girls in this way. It is a view that they will take into adulthood and it will undoubtedly be reflected in the way they treat women in the future.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.  The Advertising Standards Bureau