That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
Porno V is just about to rear its uncontested head, and I think this is the time to think about some things that worm their way in to our consciousness, without us having any idea.
That is to say, sexualised women.
We live in a society that relies on half naked women as the most powerful advertising campaign. If there is a way to post an image of a woman in fewer clothes than normal, it will be done. If it were possible to have a semi-nude woman eating cat food to sell it, I’m sure that someone would do it. And yet who are they advertising for?
If it were possible to have a semi-nude woman eating cat food to sell it, I’m sure that someone would do it.
Our Derwent Bar Reps are advertising the St. Patrick’s Day bar quiz with the image of a severely out of proportioned woman, in tiny green pants and a drooping green top. This greatly confused me. Will she be there? Will there be suggestive women reading out the questions? Or worse, is it possible that she could be the prize? I really do not think so.
And so my next point of query. Do they not want me there, as a straight female? Is this quiz specifically for straight men and lesbians? Do I need to attach a penis onto my body to be allowed in? Again, I came to the conclusion that this is probably not so. And so what is her relevance? She is possibly a great fan of St. Patrick’s Day, and she may even enjoy the odd bar quiz. But this tells me personally nothing about why I should attend.
I think that it is down to a severe lack of imagination on the part of advertisers to rely on the bodies of women. But it is rather offensive that as a straight female I am kept completely out of the loop. It feels like my presence is unwanted unless I choose to dress like she is. Possibly I will be allowed in if I wear nothing but a pint of Guinness on my head.
The advertising for Porno V at least makes sense in the way that it is relevant to the theme. But, unless I have been tricked into believing this, the event is about safe sex. Porn does not encourage safe sex. The participants often suffer from STIs, partly because condoms reduce the appeal for a lot of people. A condom bukake may not work. If you know what that is, you will know why.
And apart from a little snippet at the end of the YUSU page for the event, saying, rather inconspicuously, almost as if to avoid detection, “...and remember, use protection”, there is nothing about safe sex, only lots of it and with the most scantily dressed people.
This is closely followed by the screamingly uninventive “CUM ON DOWN”... Right. Firstly, ‘come’ spelt ‘cum’ refers only to men. Secondly, I’m aware that this is a joke. And yet the advertising cannot be called a joke. It is not funny. I do not see anything amusing about a woman’s backside. It seems that at the heart of this seemingly tongue in cheek night, equipped with bucking cock to ride, there is the very real notion that women are the sexy ones in porn, boring unless they constantly have their skirts hitched up.
And to have fun if you are a woman, you must be that sexy woman. There are no other roles for women featuring in the event. There are awards at the end for the ‘kinkiest dressed’, and I’m positive that girls will feel the need to dress sexily and revealingly, whereas the guys will dress to get a funny reaction. This is the incredibly serious distinction. It is acceptable for men to dress as revealing or conservative as they like and still fit into the theme. They could go as Hugh Hefner. And any costume that a girl chooses to wear will have to be sexually attractive. There is no other option, unless they choose to not go, or do not go in costume. And I think this is crucial: should the university be encouraging and supporting events that potentially make people feel so physically inadequate that they do not attend?
A major cause of concern for me at the moment is the amount of young women in education who strive to be glamour models. There is an abundance of Facebook groups started by these entrepreneurs, asking people to vote for them in various ‘Nuts’ competitions. And yes, it is nuts! Most of these young women are at university. Does our society tell them that the glass ceiling is still there, so just lie back, have your photo taken, and think of England? Is this what the suffragettes went on hunger strike for? I do not know enough about psychology to say this and uphold it fully, but I think that they are really lacking in confidence. It may sound like a cliché, but confidence in your mind and personality is much harder to sustain that confidence in your breasts. Surgery can fix it for one thing.
So, at universities where women can be educated into holding top positions for leading companies, can begin their political careers, can become doctors, we have naked women selling things, and students becoming those women. How depressing.
How is a scantily clad woman in a picture exploiting anyone?
a) She chose what to wear
b) She chose to be in a picture
c) She probably made some money from the shoot
That doesn't transate into meaning ALL women are sex objects and ALL men are perverts. It means this one particular woman may happen to use her body as an object to make a bit of money or publicity. Or simply to show off that she looks good.
Enough with the sweeping statements. The 'whatever we do...' song they womens reps were singing implies that all men just want to rape women. Simply not true.
Moaning about sexualisation belittles your cause. Women can't even leave the house without a man in some countries, can be stoned to death in others, can't go to school in others, can't drive in some, can't vote in some, can't join the army in some, can't have sex before marriage in some, can't have abortions in some.... C'mon guys. There's plenty of real issues to be campaigning on here , rather than recycling years-old stupidity about all men being perverts.
Take a leaf out of LGBTs book. They managed to raise money and awareness of persecution abroad, rather than just implying all straight people are 'homophobic'.
#80 is completely right. This is abusing Kate for no other reason that it gives you all a target.
Suggesting that she can't do her job as a welfare officer is ridiculous. Her comments now (after the event) would not have stopped someone coming to her if they had a problem before the event, that's utterly stupid.
Nor can you label her an anti-feminist just because she doesn't agree with one facet of your 'feminist' beliefs.
One of the Vanbrugh Ents reps (female) went to the event as a pregnancy test, and many of those selling tickets dressed up because they chose to, not under any direction, and that is the point, it was their CHOICE and i'm sure they weren't feeling marginalised, victimised, or any other 'buzz word' ending with 'ised'.
This conversation has been very enlightening though, so far i've learnt that Rape and Porn are the same sides of the same coin, that women are incapable of making decisions for themselves, and that painters all love genocide, wahey for sweeping generalisations i say.
This happens EVERY SODDING YEAR, the SU criticises because they have to, and Vanbrugh JCRC nods at them and then continues on its merry way and the media hype sells more tickets, similar story with Chav D. PORNO is Vanbrugh's most successful event, and there was i thinking that the role of JCRC Ents Reps was to put on events that people like going to...as indicated by the popularity of the event in a time when college events are finding it difficult. Sounds like they're all doing their job to me.
#81 is right, there are bigger fish to fry here. Sitting about on The Yorker carping about feminist issues does not a feminist make, surely that time could be spent doing something worthwhile, like campaigning on some of the issues listed above.
'Whatever we wear, where ever we go, yes means yes and no means no!'
How can you have a problem with this campaign!? Recent surveys show that many people hold a woman partially or completely responsible for her own rape if she is 'dress provocatively' or 'flirting heavily'. Also me, and many of my female friends, have experienced unwanted attention when on a night out - like having your ass grabbed etc. This is what the chant is about! In no way does it imply that ALL men are perverts! I think it is a very positive statement as it include ‘yes means yes’ – i.e. there is no need to tell us to ‘let your hair down’. We can have fun doig what WE want to, but shouldn’t be judged by what we are wearing etc.
#83, the point #81 is trying to make is that the song coupled with some of the disgusting sweeping generalisations that were made about men during their campaigning equated to this was what the new Women's Officers were saying. That why I had to laugh when Amal Ali made a point of saying that she'd be including men during her acceptence speech.
#84, What sweeping generalisations were made about men during the campaigning? Can you quote please? As far as I'm aware the posters were encouraging debate about a woman's place. I haven't seen anything that is remotely anti-male. Also, some men do come to Women's Committee, and nothing anti-male has ever been said. Behavious and views of men AND women is what is important. Please don't criticse and think you know what happens in Women's Committee. I guarantee you haven't been, because anyone who has would laugh at the comments made all through this (completely irrelevant to the article) argument about the sexism of Wom Com.
If it's not anti-male, lets rename it gender equality committee and have a male rep to deal with mens' issues. Men do worse in exams, men are more likely to fall into the poverty trap, men are more likely to need treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, men are more likely to end up in prison.... mens' issues are just as important to society as a whole, and whereas unions give oxygen to (sometimes radical) feminism, mens issues aren't even given a token mention.
There are some awful generalisations about men that are common in feminist circles, particularly postmodern feminism. Some campaigns on campus just seem to pit men against women and emphasise the differences between the two genders, with men often as the
'oppressive' gender and women as victims. And it's just not true. You cannot extrapolate the views of a few to 'represent' 50% of the world's population!
If you're really serious about gender equality, and not man-bashing, lets have a gender equality committee with a male and female elected officer.
ps: Why did the womans officer feel the need to comment that the people who complained about the anti-gay abuse at elections were women? Would it make any difference if they were men? Or one of each? Any answers??
I agree. I generally feel that the LGBT completely ignore my issues as a straight person. Also, Racial Equality groups simply do not give white people their say. It's disgusting.
Most issues discussed are men's issues. All the articles I read about women in the credit crunch were to do with how much women are now spending on make-up and boob jobs. Come on. Men go to prison more because generally juries cannot stand to see a family without a mother. Yes, men may have issues that are different to women's. But please don't imply that they are listened to less than women. For goodness sakes. It's ridiculous!
Well said #87. Although I don't blame people for thinking that gender equality issues don't exist any more and that all groups like Wom Com do is moan about nothing, because that is what we're constantly told. I am appalled, however, that so many students, who are supposed to be intilligent, open minded people can't see that the need for such a committee is perpetuated by things like porno v and by dismissive attitudes like those of many people (of whatever gender) who've posted here.
comment deleted by the author #88 what previous posts have said is that equality issues DO exist - yet womens committee and officers don't address them.
The international situation regarding womens rights is mentioned above, i shan't bother stating these facts again.
PORNO V is a non-issue compared with real trouble. If the womens committee worked to highlight real problems that seriously affect peoples' wellbeing, then perhaps there'd be less doubt about why it's even there.
As said before, LGBT have championed the cause of people facing persecution (they had a petition in vanbrugh and a week of events) and non LGBT people signed the petition and found out more about the horrific punishments and treatment people face for being gay.
In Iran activists are facing death by strangulation for daring to distribute literature about womens rights. In Saudi Arabia a woman's testimony in court counts for half of a mans. A woman can be stoned if she is raped. Female Genital Mutilation happens across asia and africa, and even in some communities in Britain (albeit rarely).
So yes, there are lots of issues to talk about, to raise money for, to raise awareness for and to think about.
But a raunchy club night really isn't one of them. I'd be quite happy for MACHO V to go ahead with pictures of bodybuilders, boxers and rugby playing men on the posters. I don't like that image of men, but i just don't think i'd turn up. If you don't like it, don't go.
This kind of bickering really does belittle your cause - despite all the negativity in some of the other anon posts here, there is so much potential for Womens Ctte to do a good job, but it's ruined by focusing on the wrong things. PORNO V will be back next year, with the same article written by a different writer and the same old comments underneath it. Point is, nobody was harmed in the making. People are being harmed for standing up for womens rights across the world. Priorities, people. Do some good instead of winding people up.
Feminism = belief in gender equality. Not the belief that women or women's issues should be prioritised over men or men's issues when it comes to gender equality. Whatever its name, WomCom embodies this attitude.
Ah, yes, porn...
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