Perpetual sexism in media campaigns / Not Buying It!
This is a blog post from our social media coordinator/program assistant Rachel. The opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessary reflect those of Girls For A Change staff, management, or partners.
I’ve been working at GFC for well over a year now and have had the amazing opportunity to work on several projects and campaigns with various other organizations. One of my favorites has been working with the good people over at MissRepresentation.org on social action campaigns. Last year we launched #NotBuyingIt to encourage the public to call out sexism and sexual objectification in commercials, television, film, music, and the media in general. And we’ve found great success!
Last week MissRepresentation.org monitored and reported on the sexism and sexual objectification on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In particular, VOCO and Hyper were targeted for their particular brand of promotion. Hundreds of people (including Social Action Representatives but mostly the general public) Tweeted at these companies and left them Facebook messages telling them that they would not purchase their products until they stopped degrading women’s bodies for their own profit. As we reported last week, VOCO was forced to pull down their Facebook page temporarily to remove all the negative feedback they were receiving in response to their advertisements.
Hyper has also responded to the backlash on their blog: HYPER. They seem to think that this “Miss Representation” is a fringe activist group (or a sole individual?) that is maliciously attacking their company and “openly spreading hate.” I find their response bizarre, troubling, and most of all, sad.
Does calling out the sexual objectification present at the Consumer Electronics Show and countless other conventions seem frivolous and unnecessary? Perhaps to some. But I’d like to remind people who feel that way that the Not Buying It campaign was developed by MissRepresentation.org - a team of experts in the field of gender equity. Writer/director/producer Jennifer Siebel Newsom and the many staff members, consultants, and producers who made this film and organization a reality have been working for years to research and evaluate the effect that the sexualization of females has on young women. As anyone who has seen the film can attest to, the results are shocking. The facts show that the misrepresentation and rampant sexual objectification of females leads to self-objectification, which in turn has major repercussions. As Caroline Heldman reports in the film:
The American Psychological Association has found in recent years that self-objectification has become a national epidemic, a national problem. The more women and girls self-objectify, the more likely they are to be depressed, to have eating disorders. They have lower confidence. They have lower ambition. They have lower cognitive functioning. They have lower GPAs. How does this connect to women and leadership? Women who are high self-objectifiers have lower political efficacy. Political efficacy is the idea that your voice matters in politics, and that you can bring about change in politics. So if we have a whole generation of young people being raised where women’s objectification is just par for the course, that it’s normal, it’s okay, we have a whole generation of women who are less likely to run for office and less likely to vote.
Taking companies like VOCO and Hyper to task for their perpetuation of sexual objectification of women may seem silly to some. But those of us who are involved in creating social change are certain that these representations are extremely harmful. On another note, I find it bizarre that companies with big budgets for PR are content with repeating the same tired marketing techniques of using naked women to promote sales. It’s so completely unoriginal and uncreative…and has nothing to do with technology!
I will put myself on the line personally to defend the work of MissRepresentation and #NotBuyingIt. I’ve heard some people argue that women have it easy in America - the right to vote, right to a fair trial, “freedom” - but I think it is important to call out the sexism present at conventions like CES because they are evidence of a larger misogyny problem that is still extremely prevalent in our country. How many female presidents have we had? What’s the ratio of men to women in STEM fields? Why are we still talking about equal pay for men and women? Using naked women to stir interest in your tech company might seem innocuous, but these ad campaigns do not occur in a vacuum.
Need more evidence? Talk to middle and high school aged girls. Ask them how they feel about their bodies. Ask them if they feel shame around their sexual health and what their stomachs and vaginas and breasts look like. Talk to female gamers about how they’re treated online. Do a Google search for slut-shaming and victim blaming.
We live in a culture that is shadowed by sexism and violence against women. To believe that sexual objectification of women’s bodies in the media doesn't effect and reflect the problem of gender inequity is a problem.
This is what #NotBuyingIt is about. It’s about gathering the public and encouraging them to reflect on how sexual objectification is harmful and telling companies who use these tactics that it’s 2013 and we’re not buying into their harmful stereotypes. Criticism of the campaign will happen, and we welcome it. Today we have a chance to start a national conversation round these issues. Will you join us?
