On 24th May, Collective Shout is co-hosting an event, giving you the chance to hear from a world expert on porn and it’s affect on society as it becomes absorbing into pop culture. Come and meet Gail and hear what she has to say.
See the P*rnland Invitation for details. RSVP to Collective Shout
I spotted this Supre ad on a bus tonight
Here’s a closer look (from their website) 
You probably can’t see it but in the ad on the bus, on the bottom left it says ‘It’s all about jeggings”.
Let’s leave aside that jeggings are possibly the worst thing to happen to fashion ever, why isn’t this girl wearing a top?!?!?!? Seems like it’s actually all about a topless girl. A girl sexualised for the sake of selling pants.
And I say ‘girl’ quite purposefully – she is very young. If this picture was found on the computer of a middle-aged man wouldn’t we call it child porn? But driving around the city on the back of a bus it’s just good advertising right?
This biggest concern is that Supre’s main target is teenaged girls. Advertising like this teaches them that sex is currency and woman & girls are nothing more than objects. Way to go Supre.
Supre can be contacted here http://www.supre.com.au/Help—FAQ/Contact-Us.aspx – please get on board and tell them this is not acceptable.
Examining the Convergence of Sex, Violence, the Media, Commerce & Popular Culture, Its Impact on Our Children and What We Can Do About It
Details here.
Here’s a sneak peek of Kanye West’s new song Monster.
I find it very disturbing. It gets worse with the Behind the Scenes video I couldn’t finish watching.
Here’s what Melinda Tankard Reist on ABC Drum Unleashed.
Dead women a turn off? Not at all. Kanye West, on the bed with the two young white dead women, shows no hesitation. He moves the lifeless arm of one onto the leg of the other, before cupping the porcelain like face of the first woman to kiss her.
Hanging from the rafters in stiletto heels, standing rigid in lingerie, expired on a bed. The white women in these scenes are depicted as subordinated to the black man, reminiscent of the pornographic representation of black men who love to ravish white women, to tarnish and spoil their ‘pure’ bodies.
Limp, floppy, rendered powerless these doll-like bodies retain their seductive, sexual allure. Sure, they might be dead. Sure they can’t consent. Sure they wanted it.
I wonder who thought of this scene?
I wonder too. Read the whole article here.
UPDATE:
As bad as the videos are, it gets worse when you read the comments on the drum unleashed article. The number of people who think this is ok scares me. One even says ‘they don’t look dead to me, just stoned’. Frankly I can’t see why that makes a difference – the girl on the bed is being moved, literally controlled by a man, and whether she is stoned or dead she is helpless to stop him grabbing her face to kiss her, or moving her hand onto the leg of the stoned/dead girl beside her. Honestly its the stuff of horror stories. Of course the person who left this comment also said ‘I’m into the bed scene”. Sex with stoned girls. Hot. Apparently.
But what takes the cake is the person who says ‘Kanye West & Jay-Z are both intellectually refined & culturally astute musicians’. Wow. ‘Intellectually refined’ is definitely not the description I’d use of a man engaging in sexual acts with girls who (dead or stoned) are unable to consent to whats being done to them. The only word that springs to mind is rapist.
These attitudes are just plain scary.
From Collective Shout
This product was found in City Beach at Indooroopilly shopping centre in Qld. ‘Grow your own big tits’ – an adult novelty toy with a cartoon picture of a topless woman, a prominent R rating and warning label on the pack that this is not for children. Other text includes ‘Wow! knockout knockers!’ … ‘mmm….so pert!’ … ‘They’re bra busters’ … ‘I grow 6 x my size’ and ‘for huge honkers just add water.’
And of course, these items are placed together at child’s eye level, just below the counter.
You can write to City Beach here.
I’m sure you remember the fuss last year over the fb campaign to raise breast cancer awareness by putting the colour of your bra in your status. If you have no idea what I’m talking about your probably a guy, because it was a secret girls only campaign.
Well I’m about to spill the beans on this year’s scheme. This is the message I received in my fb inbox just a few days ago.
Remember the game last year about what color bra you were wearing at the moment? The purpose was to increase awareness of October Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was a tremendous success and we had men wondering for days what was with the colors and it made it to the news. This year’s game has to do with your handbag/purse, where we put our handbag the moment we get home for example “I like it on the couch”, “I like it on the kitchen counter”, “I like it on the dresser” well u get the idea. Just put your answer as your status with nothing more than that and cut n paste this message and forward to all your FB female friends to their inbox. The bra game made it to the news. Let’s see how powerful we women really are!!!
There’s so many things wrong with this I barely know where to start.
Call me stupid but I’m not sure what this actually achieves. Awareness means nothing if no-one does anything and this campaign doesn’t encourage anything other than the ridiculous sexualisation of a very serious issue. I want women to be encouraged to self examine their breasts, I want people to give money to research, I want women who have/have had breast cancer to have a voice and speak out about this issue but this silly campaign does none of this.
That’s my major issue but another question I have is why does this show ‘how powerful we women really are’? Because sex is power? Because having a secret over men is power? If that’s the case I suggest someone has a warped sense of power. If it’s not the case I’d love someone to explain it to me.
And speaking of having a secret over men, why on earth do we want to exclude men from breast cancer awareness? I know they don’t (as often) get breast cancer, but I’ll tell you who does: their mothers, and sisters, wives and daughters. This issue affects men too and its abhorrent that we would have an awareness campaign that leaves men out.
I myself have not had breast cancer but some people very near to me have. I want everyone to have an active awareness of it, but lets raise the issue in a way that it inclusive, sensitive and loving rather than sexualising it and objectifying women.
For more on the sexualisation of breast cancer campaigns read what Melinda has to say here.
CollectiveShout have had some great wins this week with campaigns that have resulted in action from Bonds, Gold Coast Turf Club and now Woolies, who have withdrawn from a Lynx promotion.
But the Lynx brand needs to hear more from women AND men who oppose its sexist and objectifying advertising. So CollectiveShout have launched the Lynx Stynx campaign.
Lynx is known for its sexist advertising, on billboards, in print, online and on TV. Lynx is a brand of deodorant, but what the company are also selling is the idea that women are there to be used and that men have an automatic entitlement to women’s bodies.
It’s time to send a strong message to Lynx and its parent company Unilever, that we will not tolerate this sexist, objectifying marketing targeted at teenage boys anymore.
One of the most offensive things about Lynx advertising is that its parent company, Unilever, also sells Dove and was responsible for the Dove, Real Beauty campaign. This is a company who, in order to sell products to women, claims to desire to
educate and inspire all young people on a wider definition of beauty.
Sounds great, except that it obviously means nothing to Unilever when it comes to selling products to men. This is hypocrisy at its worst and its effect on young boys and girls is devastating. It’s time for us to do something about it.
For more info on Unilever and Lynx and to find out how you can be involved visit CollectiveShout’s Lynx Stynx page.
Yesterday CollectiveShout published this post about Bonds range of ‘bralettes’ which start at size 6. Size 6, of course is for 6 year olds. Hopefully I don’t need to explain the problem there.
Today they have reported this media release from Bonds, in response to yesterdays concerns voiced by CollectiveShout and their members
Media Statement
Wednesday 29 September 2010BONDS WITHDRAWS GIRLS BRALETTE PRODUCT
Bonds has decided to withdraw all bra like products in girls sizes 6 and 8 from the market effective immediately.
Bonds takes its brand and product range extremely seriously, and is particularly conscious of the sensitivities of developing and marketing products for children.
The decision to remove these products from shelves has been made following recent consumer feedback regarding the “girls wideband bralette” product.
The rationale behind offering the range was to meet a consumer need of modesty, coverage and confidence.
In response of market sensitivities, we have instructed our retail partners to commence removal of these products from their shelves.
In light of this issue, Bonds has reinforced its children’s sizing policy for underwear, and will not be offering any children’s bralette or bra related product below a size 10.
Well done CollectiveShout and co. And well done Bonds for a good decision!
Collective Shout is a new grassroots campaigns movement mobilising and equipping individuals and groups to target corporations, advertisers, marketers and media which objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products and services.
Who should get involved?
Collective Shout is for anyone concerned about the increasing pornification of culture and the way its messages have become entrenched in mainstream society, presenting distorted and dishonest ideas about women and girls, sexuality and relationships.
Get involved. Join Collective Shout here.
a girl who speaks 