Body fix the wrong answer for teens

Scribblings
June 08
From the Editors
Dear Supporters,
Good to be in touch with you all again - and
a special welcome to all our new subscribers.
In this issue:
WFA in the Media
Events
Submissions
Shame File
Action
Wins!
News Briefs
Submissions
Recommended Reading
Quotable Quotes
Hmmm
From You!
Donate
WFA in the Media
Singer Marcia Hines has the
pleasure of meeting WFA
supporter Emma Palandri at the
Women’s Showcase in Perth, at
which WFA had an exhibition
booth in March.
Women’s Forum Australia
The last three months have been a rollercoaster ride filled with events, submissions,
media, grassroots campaigning against
advertising which demeans women and
children (and even having some wins!) and
work on our next two research papers (pornography, work/family balance).
www.womensforumaustralia.org
We are pleased to announce that we found
‘the woman for the job’.
Misty de Vries took up the
position of Chief Operating Officer this month.
Previously our ACT
coordinator, Misty has a
Misty de Vries
background in finance,
IT, and administration, and we welcome her
enthusiasm and commitment to WFA.
Melinda Tankard Reist & Katrina George
Body fix the wrong answer for teens
Melinda Tankard Reist
Sydney Morning Herald, May 9, 2008
they have a problem with?
A study published late last year found one in
four 12-year-old Australian girls expressed
a desire to have plastic surgery. Between 5
and 10 per cent of young women want to
look like the former Big Brother contestant
Krystal Forscutt, a Queensland surgeon says.
Forscutt has the bowling ball look favoured
“I can’t see any reason why a child … would by readers of Zoo magazine. A recent
Sunday Mail investigation found a 20 per
need to expose their intimate body parts to
cent increase in inquiries from teenage girls
strange adults for the sake of fashion or a
for plastic surgery. Botox is being pitched
trend,” the Minister for Community Servto young women as a “preventative” against
ices, Kevin Greene, said.
wrinkles. Seventeen-year-old girls have
It’s a good move. But if the Government is
reportedly had the treatment in Sydney.
serious about addressing the issue of body
Meanwhile, a Mission Australia national
modification in young people, it needs to
survey of 29,000 young people aged 11 to
demonstrate it doesn’t think fake breasts,
24 found body image their most important
celebrity-style noses or nerve-paralysing
issue. A study last year found one in five
poison injections are a good idea for young
girls aged 12 and 13 regularly used fasting
people, either.
and vomiting to lose weight.
While Queensland will ban cosmetic proSelf-hatred has become a new rite of passage
cedures for under-18s, “we’re not heading
for teenage girls, fuelled by a culture which
in that direction”, a spokeswoman for the
idolises thin, sexy bodies. Sexualisation of
NSW Health Minister, Reba Meagher, said
children - the subject of a Senate inquiry
recently.
- also contributes. Children learn early that
Why not? Which part of teenagers, boob
their bodies need to be “hot” to be acceptable.
jobs, and botulinum toxin injections don’t
The Iemma Government has announced a
ban on intimate body piercing on children
and teenagers. If you’re under 16, you won’t
be able to get rings and studs through your
nipples or genitals and any other piercings
will require parental consent.
Page 1
WFA in the Media
Give this ad the boot
Melinda Tankard Reist, ABC
Unleashed, March 7, 2008
Not rape - just boys
acting up
Melinda Tankard Reist, On Line
Opinion, February 28, 2008
Controversial Pictures
(Miley Cyrus photo shoot)
TODAY, Channel Nine, May 1, 2008
Womens Forum Welcomes
Changes to Advertising
Code
Lateline, ABC, April 17, 2008
Controversial Website
(re Miss Bimbo game)
TODAY, Channel 9, March 26, 2008
Sam’s boys told ‘it’s more
than a game’
Real Footy (The Age Online),
May 30, 2008
Women’s group welcomes
Sam’s “benching” from
Footy Show
So governments need to take action to stop
cosmetic surgery entrepreneurs cashing in
on the body angst epidemic. Surely there
are better uses for $10,000 than mammary
enhancement. Can’t we offer girls more than
an aspiration to be Miss Silicone 2008? Success in life is not to be found in liposuction
and breast implants. In fact, British research
has even found a disturbing connection between breast enlargement and suicide.
Cosmetic surgery can mask underlying
needs. A patient may need a counsellor,
not a surgeon’s knife. Dr Andrew Keegan,
president of the NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association - which supports
a total ban - said he was worried teenagers
were seeking physical solutions to what may
be psychological problems. “If you’ve got
low self-esteem, then you have to have your
self-esteem improved - you don’t need some
kind of reconfiguring,” he said.
The vice-president of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery, Colin Moore, said
he just wondered “why the hell we need it [a
ban]”. The magazine Cosmetic Surgery (all
266 pages of it) can be found in newsagents
alongside women’s magazines. It’s full of
swollen breasts in the “breast artistic gallery” and features on “vaginal rejuvenation”.
A new book by a Florida plastic surgeon expands the market further. The My Beautiful
Mummy picture book, designed for under8s, is the perfect cosmetic surgery primer.
Written by Dr Michael Salzhauer - depicted
in the book as a buff, square-jawed hero - it
tells the story of a little girl whose mother
gets re-made. Makeover mummy explains:
“You see, as I got older, my body stretched
and I couldn’t fit into my clothes any more.
Dr Michael is going to help fix that and
make me feel better.”
She ends up with a flat stomach, alarmingly
pert breasts, and her nose done. Her nose,
she explains, will appear “different, my dear
- prettier!”
Maybe her little darling will want a pretty
nose, too? Research shows girls are very
influenced in how they view their bodies
based on how their mothers feel about their
own.
The provision of cosmetic surgery to minors
has gone unregulated for too long. Teenagers
don’t need facelifts, they need heart, mind
and spirit lifts. They need the opportunity to
develop social and emotional resilience in an
often troubling and confusing world.
AAP, May 29, 2008
Sam Newman told to take
break from The Footy
Show
Herald.com.au, May 29, 2008
No boob-jobs until 18
Sunday Times (Perth), 11 May
2008
Critics want ‘soft porn’
billboard outlawed here
Girls, unprotected
Melinda Tankard Reist, Mercatornet, May 8,
2008
The insertion of long-acting contraceptives
into the bodies of young girls does not protect them from sexual abuse. It sets them
up for greater exploitation.
Footy Show boycott
threat
The Age, May 23, 2008
The director of... Women’s Forum Australia,
Melinda Tankard Reist, said a wider boycott
would have broad support.
“This is definitely worth us doing,” she
said. “The program has caused a great deal
of hurt to a lot of women and if The Footy
Show can’t respond in a proper manner, then
maybe they will respond when they start
losing money.”
Courier Mail, April 19, 2008
Porn Again
Helena Adeloju, Mercatornet,
April 17, 2008
“The report takes a self-selecting
sample of porn users who say porn
is good for them and doesn’t give
them a negative view of women.
Well, they would say that. Who is
checking this?” - Melinda Tankard
Reist
Our letter to The Footy Show’s
advertisers and sponsors can be
read on our website:
www.womensforumaustralia.org
or contact us for a copy.
See also:
Branding Girls for Sex
Melinda Tankard Reist, On Line Opinion,
May 6, 2008
Page 2
Scribblings March ‘08
The sluts-r-us approach to
childhood play
Melinda Tankard Reist, On Line Opinion, May 8,
2008
“What do you want to be when you grow up
darling?” a mother asks her little girl.
“A Bimbo!” she replies enthusiastically.
Forget dreams of your precious daughter
growing up to be Prime Minister or solving
world poverty. Young girls are being given
the message that their ultimate aim in life is
to be a bimbo…
Letters to the Editor (unpublished)
IT IS INTERESTING to see so-called
“pro-choice” commentators squirm over
new movies that show unplanned pregnancy
resulting in joyous birth. Perhaps Adele
Horin’s article “Teen pregnancy made easy
with a bit of Hollywood gloss” (SMH,
29/3/08) should have read “Teen abortion
made easy with a bit of abortion propaganda.”
While the movies in question may be idealistic in nature, it is possible to have your
baby and have a good life. Young women
can overcome adversity, make good decisions for themselves and their child and
become educated. What stands in their
way? Not their babies, but discrimination. A
culture that in its collective abandonment of
women says “You made your choice, now
live with it” and even “You should have had
an abortion.”
“Young women can overcome
adversity, make good decisions
for themselves and their child
and become educated. What
stands in their way? Not their
babies, but discrimination.”
Young women – like all women - need
friendship, family support, healthcare,
access to resources, education and employment and protection from abusive partners.
Sadly these are often lacking and that limits
real choice and may ultimately lead to an
abortion.
Horin mentions the pressure once faced by
young mothers to relinquish their child for
adoption. What about babies forcibly taken
from women at abortion clinics today? I had
my first child when I was 16 and I remember too well the pressure to terminate. I was
told by my boyfriend, friends and family to
Women’s Forum Australia
“get rid of it.” I went to a Family Planning
clinic where a counsellor told me that my
baby was a “piece of tissue” and so “why
won’t you have an abortion?” She told me
that my body would be ruined and that my
parents were too old to look after me. She
didn’t respect my choice, she did everything
to undermine it. I withstood this pressure
and gave birth to a healthy baby boy – he is
now 12.
As a 15-year-old, I was told “You’re stupid
to have this baby.” Horin’s repeated suggestions that “smart” women have abortions
(and dumb women have babies?) reveals
how little we have progressed.
WFA in the Media
New regulations
protect children in
the media, Advertising
authority moves to stop
sexualisation of children
ABC News, April 17, 2008
Glossy fake’s real appeal
The Mercury, April 5, 2008
Talking self-esteem
Wanneroo Times (WA) March 18,
2008
Self-harm epidemic
Sunday Times (WA), 16 March
2008
Senate inquiry into use of
sexed-up children in ads
Sydney Morning Herald, March
13, 2008
Players obliged to undergo
refresher course in sexual
etiquette.
Melinda Liszewski, Brisbane, March 31, 2008
Irish Times, March 5, 2008.
WHO IS DEFINING “News” at News Limited these days?
...Melinda Tankard Reist, director
of Women’s Forum Australia,
asked: “What’s next: teaching
men not to bash women over the
head with a club and drag them
into a cave by their hair?”
On today’s page one banner of The Australian is the larger pointer: “NEWS RED
ALERT Feathers and lace in the Latin look”
featuring a model in red sparkly push up bra
and feather boa. The “news” (p7) is about
a “racy underwear” fashion show in Colombia complete with model in see-through
negligee. An earlier “News” pointer was to a
story about a “glamour makeover” for some
rich bloke’s racing company, with a large
photo of him surrounded by models, one
pouring champagne into his mouth.
The paper was stuffed full of real news
today, not least being (p9) “Burma keeps US
aid flights on hold”. This story also featured
semi naked bodies, except they were dead.
They may not have looked as sexy on the
front page alert, but surely lacy bras and
undies are not “News”?
Melinda Tankard Reist, Canberra, May 9, 2008
Media Releases
Law Reform Commission
abortion report ignores
the real needs of women
June 1, 2008.
WFA welcomes benching
of Sam Newman
May 29, 2008
Women’s Forum
Australia launches worklife balance research
following Families Week
May 26, 2008
WFA welcomes end of
legal action against
Australia Institute
May 7, 2008
PM and Opposition Leader
Support Get Real Forum in
Tasmania this weekend
April 3, 2008
Page 3
Events
Get Real! Forums
Our Get Real forums in WA and Tassie in
March and April were a great success. Special thanks to our local organisers in those
states. Here are some pics:
Get Real! event at World
Youth Day
The global launch of Faking it
will take place at our Get Real!
event at World Youth Day, Friday
July 18 from 8pm-10pm at the
Sydney Convention and Exhibition
Centre Hall 4 Bayside Auditorium
on Darling Harbour. We’d love
to see you there. If you’d like to
pre-register or help our Sydney
organising committee, contact
Erica Schuman on 0414 690 487 or
email erica.schuman@womensforu
maustralia.org.
Shame File
Dr Lucy Tatman, Coordinator of Gender
Studies at the University of Tasmania,
launches Faking it in Hobart
Ambra
Hosiery company Ambra is doing its bit for
the pornification of the culture. This billboard was erected last month in a prominent
advertising space in Brisbane (it’s already
been up in Melbourne and Sydney). These
soft-porn images of women’s semi-naked
backsides demonstrate once again how little
Horseland
“I’ll be taking my
daughters and my
money elsewhere
until they can present
a more complex,
imaginative and
interesting view of
your customers”
- Lara Kirk
You wouldn’t think a company which
specialises in products for horses and riders
would attract Shame File’s attention. Unfortunately it has. WFA supporter Lara Kirk
from NSW has written to Horseland (April
14, 2008):
respect advertisers like Ambra have for
whole women.
Let them know what you think.
reason many mothers like myself go to the
considerable effort and expense of getting
our daughters involved in riding is that it
gets them away from the constant pressure they’re under to conform to a shallow,
narrow, hollow view of what being a girl is
all about, i.e. your success and worth as a
person will be determined by how sexually
provocative you can learn to be. I think your
advertising firm has seriously misjudged
their market. They have certainly alienated
me. I’ll be taking my daughters and my
money elsewhere until they can present a
more complex, imaginative and interesting
view of your customers”.
“Hi, I’m a young mother with young daughters who LOVE horses and whose favourite
shop is Horseland. We won’t be going back
to Horseland however while the current
Dublin “FlexAppeal” advertising campaign
is running [depicting young teen girl in red,
pouting while flexing a riding crop as though
Lara hasn’t had a response. Contact Horsepreparing for a sado-masochistic act]. The
land.
ING Direct
And this complaint from another WFA
supporter, Clivia Frieden, also from NSW
(April 20, 2008):
“Regarding the competition in ‘The Juice
Autumn 2008’.
Page 4
Julie Gale from Kids free 2b Kids in full
flight at the Perth “Get Real!’ forum.
While I am happy with my ING accounts, I
am VERY disappointed to see your organisation contributing to and even encouraging
the objectification and mutilation of women
in our society by suggesting we set up accounts for cosmetic surgery and give them
names such as “My new nose”. How would
Scribblings March ‘08
Mr Drok (pictured at the top of Juice) feel
if we took it for granted that he needed his
nose or his chin reduced?” As a result, I will
be looking around for another comparable
account to transfer my money into.
If you’re an ING account holder, you may
also wish to add your views.
“How would Mr Drok
feel if we took it for
granted that he needed
his nose or his chin
reduced?”
Unilever: But wait, there’s more!
We’ve told you before about Unilever’s
disrespect for women through products
which target boys, using the hyper-sexed
Boom Chicka Wah Wah’s. We’ve made the
point that their Dove self-esteem program
for women and girls is undermined by ads
which depict women as raving sex maniacs
after getting a whiff of Lynx. But wait, now
there’s even more reasons to boycott Lynx
and other brands such as Dove (accused of
air-brushing even the women in its “real
beauty” campaign, see: http://enlighteneducation.edublogs.org/) and Impulse (advertising for “Tease” scent tells girls how to be
“naughty but nice” and “play the game”
(www.myimpulse.com.au/).
When a boy goes to the AFL website to
check out the footy scores on the weekend,
what greets him just below the score box? A
woman in tight green satin dress, provocatively posed, cleavage displayed. Visitors
to the site are invited to click on the image
to get a look at her lower body, undies
revealed. All to promote Lynx to teenage
boys. You’d think the AFL had had enough
attention, with the anti-women antics on the
Footy Show and its DVD to teach players
not to have sex with women without their
consent. Can’t a boy just enjoy football
without this?
Loula
In the ruling, senior member Richard Horsfall stated:
The Advertising Standards Board got something right when it upheld complaints about
the shocking Loula ad featuring an image of
a murdered woman in the boot of a car). In
April, the Board told WFA members that the
ad breached the Advertiser Code of Ethics.
Kittens Car Wash
Forced to Shut Down
The Victorian Civil and Administrative
Tribunal (VCAT) has instructed Kittens Car
Wash in Melbourne to close immediately. In
its May 13 ruling (Glen Eira City Council v
Jinne Pty Ltd), VCAT found that the operators were using the land for cross-promoting their sexually explicit venues, for which
they did not have a permit.
Women’s Forum Australia
Let the AFL and Unilever know what you
think.
“…when all these matters are considered
together with the use of 5-6 skimpily clad
girls for car washing, in addition to the 2-3
male staff, I find that the whole activity
constitutes a dominant and separate activity like a performance or a show to promote
the Kittens Clubs. The conduct of the girls
shown by the evidence and the photos is the
most prominent aspect of the operation and
the impact on the public realm is shown by
the strength of the public reaction. The site
is designed to link its identity to that of the
clubs, to attract new customers to the clubs
and to reinforce the connection of existing
club customers. The intention of the operators is clearly demonstrated by the website
and reinforced by the showing of erotic
videos to customers waiting for their car
washing to be completed…”
Action
Contact the following
organisations:
Ambra
Ambra Corporation
PO Box 9046
Scoresby 3179 Victoria
Free call: 1800 634 876
Phone: (03) 9764 0222
Fax: (03) 9764 1662
Online: www.ambra.net.au
Advertising Standards
Board
Online:
www.adstandards.com.au
Write to:
The Advertising Standards Bureau
Level 2, 97 Northbourne Avenue
Turner ACT 2612
Let QLD State and Federal MPs
know what you think as well.
Horseland
Horseland Pty Ltd
8 Moncreif Rd
Nunawading Vic 3131
Ph: 03 98450600
Email:[email protected]
ING
Email: [email protected]
Unilever
Sarah Clarry
Corporate Social Responsibility &
Communications Manager
Unilever Australasia
20 Cambridge St Epping NSW 2121
Phone: (02) 9869 6321
www.unilever.com.au
AFL
The Commissioners
AFL House
Telephone 03 9643 1999
Postal Address GPO Box 1449
Melbourne 3001
www.afl.com.au
The Footy Show (Ch.9)
Contact us for list of sponsors.
Page 5
Black Douglas
Whiskey billboard
Did you complain about something? Did you get the outcome
you wanted? Let us know!
News In Brief
Submissions
WFA contributed a submission to
the Senate Standing Committee,
Environment, Communications
and the Arts inquiry into
the sexualisation of children
in the contemporary media
environment. We also gave
evidence at the hearings in
Melbourne in May.
Katrina George, in her role as
lecturer in law at University
of Western Sydney, and as a
Director of WFA, provided
two submissions to the Senate
Standing Committee on Legal
and Constitutional Affairs re its
Inquiry into the Rights of the
Terminally Ill (Euthanasia Laws
Repeal) Bill 2008.
If you wish to receive a copy
of these submissions and the
transcript, please contact Sara,
ph: 0448 597 114.
The Advertising Standards Board dismissed
complaints against a billboard for Black
Douglas Whiskey which depicted men
flashing their backsides in a sign of victory. However, the complaint was upheld
by the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code
Adjudication Panel (ABAC) as breaching sections (a) and (a)(iii) of the code by
“failing to present a responsible approach
to the consumption of alcohol through the
association of the product with offensive
behaviour” and “through the depiction of a
Coles and mags
Julie Gale heard from Coles Customer
Relations on March 17 in response to her
complaints about soft porn magazines at
kid’s eye level at her local Coles store.
“The magazines have now been moved,”
Katie at Customer Relations informed her.
(She didn’t say where they had been moved
to).
Divide between mothers a
fallacy
choices that the rest of us take for granted.
FASHIONING policies to improve conditions for working mothers at the expense of
stay-at-home mums, or vice versa, is a false
construct because most women switch readily between the two, social commentators
said yesterday.
Skinny stars drive mums
to diet
As some non-working mothers complained
Wayne Swan’s budget discriminated against
them by means-testing the Family Tax Benefit (B) at a $150,000 income limit while also
increasing the non-means-tested Child Care
Tax Rebate from 30 to 50 percent, a broader
debate emerged about whether Kevin Rudd’s
agenda overtly favoured working over stayat-home mothers.
The Australian, May 16, 2008
Crisis cuts choices for the
disabled
…There is a crisis in accommodation
services for people with a disability. The
Auditor-General’s report Accommodation
for People with a Disability confirms what
people, service providers and families and
carers already know — substantial government investment is urgently needed to tackle
the untenable shortage in accommodation
and other support services…
They do not have ready access to community services, respite care, in-home support,
aids and equipment and recreation. Many
people are being denied the support that will
enable them to live everyday lives with the
Page 6
statue of men baring their backsides and the
association of offensive behaviour of this
kind, which is commonly linked to immoderate alcohol consumption.”
The Age, March 14, 2008
Middle-aged women are developing eating
disorders to emulate youthful looking celebrities such as Madonna and Teri Hatcher,
experts warn…
Eating Disorders Foundation chief executive Amanda Jordan said women as old as
70 were being treated in Australia, but it
was more common in those in their late 30s
to 50s.
An Australian study published in the journal
PLoS One last month found the average age
of developing an eating disorder in women
was now late 30s to early 40s…
The Age, March 17, 2008
Study targets ‘toxic’ cyberbullying
THE West Australian Government will
spend $400,000 on a world-first five-year
study into cyber-bullying, amid growing
concern about the damaging effect on children being targeted by abusive text messages, emails and degrading digital photos.
Education minister Mark McGowan said
yesterday that up to 15 per cent of WA students were victims of “vicious” cyber-bullying, which was generally anonymous and
had potentially dire consequences.
The Australian, March 10, 2008
Scribblings March ‘08
Royal college warns
abortions can lead to
mental illness
offered through insurance giant ING, is the first
of its kind in Australia, possibly the world…
Women may be at risk of mental health
breakdowns if they have abortions, a medical royal college has warned. The Royal
College of Psychiatrists says women should
not be allowed to have an abortion until they
are counselled on the possible risk to their
mental health…
Alarming maternal death
rate for indigenous women
The Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends updating abortion information leaflets
to include details of the risks of depression.
“Consent cannot be informed without the
provision of adequate and appropriate information,” it says.
The Sunday Age, April 27, 2008
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
are almost three times more likely to die
while pregnant, during labour or up to six
weeks after giving birth than non-indigenous
women…
An AIHW report released today says 65 maternal deaths occurred in Australia between
2003 and 2005, with one woman dying for
every 11,896 births…Alarmingly, there
were 7.9 deaths per 100,000 non-indigenous
women, compared with 21.5 deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women…
The controversy intensified earlier this year
when an inquest in Cornwall heard that a talAAP, May 2, 2008
ented artist hanged herself because she was
overcome with grief after aborting her twins.
Kids’ sex in school ‘not
Emma Beck, 30, left a note saying: “Living
sign of abuse’
is hell for me. I should never have had an
abortion. I see now I would have been a
SOCIAL workers did not believe Aboriginal
good mum. I want to be with my babies;
children as young as seven who were simuthey need me, no one else does.”…
lating sex in the classroom after watching
pornographic films at home were victims of
The Sunday Times, March 16, 2008
child abuse.
Jail for teacher who made
student pregnant
Recommended
Reading
Artistic crowd the real
philistines
Miranda Devine, Sydney Morning
Herald, May 29, 2008
Art or not, it’s still
exploitation
Steve Biddulph, The Age, May 28,
2008
Prejudices stripped bare
Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun, May 28,
2008
Moral backlash over sexing
up of our children
Miranda Devine, Sydney Morning
Herald, May 22, 2008
Common misconceptions
Book Review: ‘The Porn Report’,
by Alan McKee, Katherine Albury
and Catharine Lumby, fails to
debunk current misconceptions
about pornography.
Antonella Gambotto-Burke, On
Line Opinion, April 1, 2008
…In her impact statement, the victim, now
25, said she had suffered “years of guilt and
disgrace” following her abortion. “It is not
merely the fact that he abused his power, it
is more the fact that he took me to the fertility clinic and allowed me to be put through
such physical distress and years of psychological shame,” she said.
Ted Mullighan’s…report on the Anangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands found
the APY communities were suffering from
an epidemic of pornography…”Pornography
on the lands is rife,” one teacher told the
inquiry.
“You can’t help but think that the kids -- and
the adults for that matter -- have this incredibly skewed view of sexuality, and also of
what happens in the white world.”
Rape in Brisbane: just
between friends
Courier Mail, April 18, 2008
The Australian, May 7, 2008
Insurer to cover birth
defects
EXPECTANT mothers will soon be able
to insure unborn babies against pregnancy
complications, birth defects and death.
Mothers whose children have disabilities
such as blindness and deafness or other
congenital malformations - including spina
bifida, Down syndrome and cleft palate
- will receive $50,000 under an insurance
policy launched this week…The baby cover,
Women’s Forum Australia
Truth and myths of sex
slavery
Helen Pringle, On Line Opinion,
April 11, 2008
Caroline Norma, On Line Opinion,
March 18, 2008
Mickey Mouse Operation,
Forget Miley Cyrus. Check
out Disney’s Chinese
underwear ad.
Daniel Brook, Slate, April 29, 2008
www.slate.com/id/2190209/
?source=cmailer
Want to read this newsletter on line?
Go to www.womensforumaustralia.org and you’ll find
this newsletter plus links to all these articles. Let us
know if you’re now on line so we can add your email
address to our records.
Page 7
Quoteable Quotes
From You!
“INSTEAD OF A WHITE, female journalist, imagine that the Footy Show mannequin
had been mocked up to be a Jew, a Muslim,
an Aborigine or a disabled person. Do they
think that would have been a fair go’? If not
in those cases, why is it OK in the case of
Wilson?
THANK YOU
FOR your work in
highlighting the
unacceptable nature
of Sam Newman’s behaviour...
I am due to have my first child this coming
August, and it’s people like you - pushing
for positive change - that make me less worried about the challenges and worries that I
know I would have, as a mother, if my child
is a girl.
Using the same reasoning, why hasn’t this
been a much bigger cause of outrage in the
media and community? It’s because symbolic and actual violence and disrespect
towards women is accepted like a silent,
beige wallpaper backdrop to Australian life,
public and private”- Michael Costello, The
Australian, May 9, 2008
“YET IT IS now clear that over the last two
years, the Australian public has woken from
its apathy and has become restive over the
exploitation of children by the marketers
and purveyors of popular culture. We should
not be surprised that this disquiet has boiled
over in response to the Henson exhibition”
- Clive Hamilton, Crikey, May 26, 2008
“KIDS DESERVE TO have the innocence
of their childhood protected. I have a very
deep view of this. For God’s sake, let’s just
allow kids to be kids” - Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd, quoted in The Australian, May
26, 2008
(To sign a letter of support to the PM for his
response to the Henson photos, go to:
www.bravehearts.org.au)
Many many thanks,
Karen, May 30, 2008
THANK YOU FOR this magnificent work
and giving us a voice!
Dr Christina Gatzastras, April 25, 2008
MY THINKING HAS been revolutionised
since that night [“Get Real!” Bunbury]. I’ve
become so much more aware of the way
women are portrayed in the media and I feel
more confident about speaking to people
about it. Thanks heaps.
Kate, March 27, 2008
I ATTENDED THE Get Real Forum in Perth
and was very impressed and inspired to do
what I can to encourage young women to
feel good about themselves, to challenge the
status quo and not just accept the way things
are. You had fantastic speakers and did such
a fabulous job of presenting the issues in a
very thorough way, backed up entirely by
research. I want to do more!
Jacqui Homer, March 9, 2008
Hmmm...
Donate!!!
Recommended
Reading (cont’d.)
Culture of Misogyny
Marie Cocco, TruthDig.com,
May 6, 2008
…There is a link between the
horrific violence committed
against the women of the captive Austrian family and the
apparent abuse of teenage girls
in Texas, and it is the same
unbroken chord that connects
them tangentially — but significantly — to Hannah Montana’s fall from grace. When
women and girls are routinely
viewed as objects, they are dehumanized. They can be seen
as chattel or animals, until
someone uncovers a horror so
complete that we recoil from
it. Yet every day around the
world, women are still sold
into marriage, shunned for
their husbands’ adultery, and
raped as sexual assault is used
as an instrument of war.
No, the degradation we have
seen…provides a chilling
reminder that history itself,
with our own culture of sexism
and misogyny feeding it, still
consigns women to fates no
man would wish upon himself.
HOW DO YOU decide who to marry? (written by kids, email post)
WE CONTINUE TO rely on the financial
help of our supporters. If you’d like to contribute, donate online or send your donation
to: GPO Box 555, Canberra City, ACT 2601.
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Page 8
“You got to find somebody who likes the
same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she
should like it that you like sports, and she
should keep the chips and dip coming.”
-Alan, age 10.
By Mail
PO Box 555, Canberra City, ACT 2601
By Email
[email protected]
Online
www.womensforumaustralia.org
Scribblings March ‘08