Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 10, 2011 Features / Columnists, Stella Says
Two Sundays ago, Kaieteur News carried a stirring editorial entitled, “Abusing the female body,” in which it opined “a most cynical example of exploiting the female body to sell a product by pandering to the baser instincts of males, who are known to be in the majority when it comes to viewing sporting events.”
The editorial said, “…during the World Cup cricket match there were some ads by a car-parts company that featured a number of young women draping and otherwise provocatively exhibiting themselves in the skimpiest of short pants. There was not even the slightest pretence of creating a nexus between the product and the models that were being used (and there is no other words for the practice) to sell the cars and car parts.”
The objectification of women to sell a product is one reason women are still fighting to be taken seriously in the professional workplace. When advertisers expect men to view women as an ornament to dress up anything from cars to food to beer, how do these men then make the mental switch to view their relationships with female professional colleagues, female personal friendships and female family ties with the respect and esteem they deserve?
The editorial stated, “The female form is in this fashion made into objects of sexual gratification: the ads are very suggestive – buy the product and you will (not may) possess the female. In one study (by Donnerstein and Linz) it was demonstrated that ‘exposure to media depicting women in degrading and subordinate situations, even if not explicitly sexual or violent in nature, will lead to increased violent behaviour of men against women in society.’”
Which brings me to the real purpose of this column. In the very same issue of this newspaper that carried this editorial, there was a pretty face gracing the front of the newspaper to help sell the product. In fact, there is a pretty face on every Sunday issue of Kaieteur News.
The young ladies who grace the front page of Kaieteur News’ Sunday issues are not “draping and otherwise provocatively exhibiting themselves in the skimpiest of short pants,” however, the consequences of the objectification process is still in full realisation.
It seems to me there was a distinct mark of duplicity in this particular issue of Kaieteur News. As the editorial team reached for great moral heights to point out the correlation of objectifying women to sell a product, the same team printed a “pretty face” on the front of that newspaper to sell that product.
There are no shades of culpability when it comes to this issue, either the editorial was right and the publishing of a “pretty face” is not right, or the editorial was wrong and it is okay to use pretty faces to sell Kaieteur News.
This newspaper has always supported my ongoing efforts to make this nation a safer place for women. Therefore, I know firsthand that the publisher and the editors care about the women. The editorial printed in that March 27 issue demonstrates that they also know “…exposure to media depicting women in degrading and subordinate situations, even if not explicitly sexual or violent in nature, will lead to increased violent behaviour of men against women in society.”
It seems to me that this newspaper has a choice to make when it comes to the “pretty faces” it prints on the Sunday issues. If Kaieteur News does indeed care about the safety and well-being of the women of Guyana, it has no choice than to stop objectifying women to sell more product.
Women are more than just an ornament to dress up a car – or a newspaper – to sell more product. The longer it takes for society to realise just how vital it is to treat women with respect, the longer women will be terrorised and murdered. Enacting real change to protect women will entail some very difficult decisions to transform the way we approach advertising and media output in general.
I do not pretend to think this transition will be an easy one, but it is well within our reach. To start the process, it just takes some strategic businesses in the country to make the decision that the safety and well-being of the nation’s women is more important than selling product. I know of one newspaper – my favourite newspaper – that could be the first business to make this important decision for the women of Guyana.
Email: [email protected]
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