I’ve read two things this morning that show that even in the 21st century, misogyny and sexism are alive and well.
Firstly, here’s brian d foy writing about a nasty advert that was published in a Linux magazine recently. The company involved seem to think that drawing a comparison between their products and oral sex is a reasonable way to act.
And then there’s a (female!) Daily Mail reporter explaining why women shouldn’t object to having their bottoms pinched. In fact she thinks it should be encouraged. She goes on to say that she enjoys it when she attracts wolf-whistles.
It’s like it’s still the 1950s. I despair.
Dave, I’m not sure I agree with you on this one. In fact, I think your closing line couldnt be further from the truth! I think adverts like that are a show of the fact we’re in the 21st century – you can get away with things saying like that and a lot less people will be offended by it than would have been 50-60 years ago. Its proven by the fact that so much advertising revolves around sexuality nowadays – marketing companies aren’t stupid, they know what people like and they know how to push it.Who is the advert actually offensive to? Women? Or the IT men that are being portrayed as the “geek” that can’t get the girl? Perhaps if it implied that buying a server would lead to Oral sex then there’d be some cause for claims of sexism – but all that advert is saying to me is that the woman won’t give oral sex. If anything, this is celebrating a womans right to choose!!!! ;o)Sex sells, its simple marketing. Would you refuse to deal with ANY company that dared to imply sexual acts in their adverts???
Oh, I totally agree that you can get away with a lot more explicit sexual content in adverts (in anything, in fact) these days. And I’m mostly very happy that society allows us to be more open about sex.But I’m not happy about it when men use that freedom to portray women as nothing more than sex-objects. The IT industry is already uninviting enough for most women (particularly the sysadmin part of the industry that this advert is aimed at). Adverts like this just make it worse. How many women do you think had to put up with “going down” jokes following the publication of that advert?Your argument seems to be veering dangerously close to the idea that we’re now in a “postfeminist” or “girl power” world where all the equality battles have either been won or are now irrelevant. I think a quick look at the lives of most of the women in the UK would demonstrate that this point of view is bollocks.
I don’t deny that for a second. But I don’t think it’s necessary to sink to the levels of that advert.
I’d look at every example individually. If it was subtle, clever or unoffensive then it probably wouldn’t bother me. Cheap schoolboy puns don’t fall into that category.
Your argument seems to be veering dangerously close to the idea that we’re now in a “postfeminist” or “girl power” world where all the equality battles have either been won or are now irrelevant.I don’t think I was getting at that at all. But I think the ability to see a sexual reference like that for what it is – a joke – is a positive step towards teaching people that they don’t have to be offended by a sexual reference. There is such thing as innocent sexual humour, and personally I believe this falls into that category.When I see that advert, I was drawn in by the womans obviously pretty face (again, sex sells), and I laughed at the joke. I dont think the suggestion that you’d be disappointed if you thought you were going to getting oral sex and didn’t is unrealistic. What if the tag line had been “Don’t worry, out servers won’t make you a pie either”? Is that offensive, in that it suggests women should be in the kitchen?Or alternatively, what if it had been a picture of a man and had suggested he wouldn’t “go down” on her? Would it still be offensive? Or would people be hailing it as “turning the tables” on maintream sexual innuendo in advertising?I think people need to be careful about whether they actually believe the advert is offensive to women, or whether they themselves are offended and assume that other people should be as well. Is it the fact that its so close to home? Perhaps the geek inductry doesn’t want the Linux’s name cheapened by sexual references. In which case, its simply a case of poor target audience research.I remember a story years ago about Hackney Council banning “Black Coffee” because of of the possibilities of offending black people, and instead forcing people to call it “coffee without milk”. The black employees they interviewed about it were confused as to how it could be offensive, although I don’t doubt a couple of people will most likely have agreed with it. Does that sound ridiculous to you? Or what about the claims that describing the stock market crash as “Black Wednesday” is offensive to black people, because it suggests black is bad? I compare these situations because they’re all examples of people declaring something as offensive because thats what they think other people will think.In the first example, the councillor who gave the order at Hackney was white. Suprised? Not really, because the term black coffee has no relation to racism whatsoever, and instead born from the thoughts of a white man who was scared that because the word “black” was used, people would be offended. How is this any different? Its a joke, referencing something that happens every single day. Suggesting a woman gives oral sex isn’t something to cringe and take offence at, and its not some seedy act that shouldn’t be talked about, its something that women actually do! For some, its a part of everyday life!!!
I’m not happy about it when men use that freedom to portray women as nothing more than sex-objectsI missed this the first time. Where on the advert does it say it was put together by a man? In fact, I was under the impression that the spread of men/women working in the Marketing industry was fairly split.How many women do you think had to put up with “going down” jokes following the publication of that advert?I don’t know, how many? I’m guessing the ones that did are the sort that would find it funny. Most people aren’t stupid enough to say that to women they work with unless they know they’ll take it as a joke, and the ones that should be punished (and often are). Example – I showed that advert to 2 girls in my office (I was shocked that people were so getting bothered about it). Their reaction? They laughed. And the funniest part was they thought that it was offensive towards MEN – they saw it as an implication that IT geeks can’t get the girl.