Published today on 
Virginia Haussegger is right to lament the status of women in other countries and the brutalities and indignities they suffer daily.
But attitudes towards women in our own so-called liberated western democracy desperately need an overhaul as well.
While I frequently write about the objectification of women and girls, this issue has been unrelenting of late. Sexism is alive and well. Is it really the 21st century?
Last Thursday global brand Unilever staged a ‘Pop-up spadate’ in Sydney’s Martin Place to promote its ‘man-cation’ travel destination, the Lynx Lodge. Young bikini-clad women splashed about in a hot tub. The amply breasted models had shower gel splattered across their chests (a reference to ejaculation, for those unfamiliar with the porn genre).
Nina Funnell described the scene in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday:
“… Martin Place was transformed into something resembling a cheap porn filmset…The hot tub was placed on a raised platform, blocked off by rails. Male suits pulled out iPhones to take photos through the rails…Other Lynx models pranced around in tiny French maid outfits. Another had set up a masseuse table and was busy giving a semi-naked man a massage. Unsurprisingly men ogled the women, slapping each other on the back, while making comments like “she’s a bit of all right” or “I wouldn’t mind a bit of that”. I felt like I’d walked into a middle aged man’s seedy buck’s night. It was 9am on a Thursday morning.”
Did Sydney City Council and its female Lord Mayor approve this sexual display in the middle of Sydney city? No qualms about sending men off to work all aroused? No second thoughts about the message to boys that they are entitled to ogle women in public places?
The Lynx Lodge appears to be parent company Unilever’s foray into the sex industry, with all the trappings of a brothel without identifying it as such. “Lynx Lodge – Get Laid Back” declares the website:
“The ultimate man-cation destination to get you back to your primal roots”
“Get laid back, as lodge staff pamper you with breakfast in bed and on-the-spot massages”
“Golf range: Grab your wood”
“Pool hall: Scared of being beaten by a girl? Some of our guests quite enjoy it.”
“Ball Games: Teamwork is everything, so be sure to focus on your partner’s backside to make out her block signals.”
Women are advertised as ready to do a man’s bidding and to entertain and excite him.
A video ad shows young women lonely and desperate for men to arrive at the lodge. Helpless and passive, they need a man to serve and give them attention. One girl wades naked into the lake waiting for him to arrive.
You can see just how mainstream sexism has become. Woolworths is in bed with Lynx, co-branding in the promotion of borderline prostitution at the Lodge.
Yet Woolies claims a “high level of social responsibility”.
How is supporting a view of women as subservient sexual slaves acting responsibly? Woolies, the women-as-fresh-meat-people?
Does this look like one of your fresh food mums, Mr Michael Luscombe, Managing Director and CEO?
Evidence of the Lynx Effect can be found on its Facebook page.
“DO I WIN A BLONDE , NICE ASS , LARGE NATURAL BREASTS,NICE EYES ” asks one man. About the spa girls:
“you no [sic] that you would ruin that all night long”
“nice PAIRsonality!”
The Gold Coast Turf Club is planning a special summer carnival in which women in bikinis take the place of horses. Herded into horse barrier stalls, they will be released to sprint down the straight for a prize.
The entry form calls entrants “mares and fillies”. The club takes no responsibility for “injury or death”. Women must wear a bikini and “acceptable running shoes”. Of course, her feet must be supported but her breasts need be free to bounce around for the entertainment of male punters.
The responses from Women in Racing and the Brisbane Women’s Club were lamentably weak. Women in Racing Director Jennifer Bartels said: ”We love anyone who will promote racing, but perhaps this isn’t quite racing. Good luck to them though.” Good luck to them?
Turf Club CEO Andrew Eggleston wants to see elite sportswomen take part. Just not in their usual sportswear.
Then I was sent this billboard image from a woman in Sydney. Another example of violence against women being promoted as sexy, with intimations of the gang rape of an inanimate young woman. Where the hell is the Advertising Standards Board on this and others like it?
Yesterday my sister contacted me from Byron Bay about the three Wicked Campers she’d just seen with slogans: “Jugs” “Random Breast Testing” and “Shaved Pussy” across their vans. Sexism on wheels.
Everywhere they look, women and girls get the message that they exist for male gratification and pleasure. Their reason for being is to serve men and meet their every need. They should enjoy sexual harassment.
Fortunately there is a grassroots uprising against this. You can find it at www.collectiveshout.org. We’ve had enough. Vive la revolution.
Read The Drum piece here.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/15384282[/vimeo]
6 Responses
Congratulations on the article, well said.
I have really briefly read a few of the comments and make the following very general observations :
1. A lot of men feel victimised or accused when these issues are raised. Clearly they have some identification issues themselves. Why do men feel they have to take responsibility for the marketing approaches of big corporate?.
2. I was surprised that some men who were supportive of the article defined themselves as “sissy” etc
3. While interpretation of the ad is very much individual, I was surprised that those who suggested it merely displayed consensual group sex, thought that was OK, ie they couldn’t see that the woman and indeed all women were being objectified by it. Really the issue of consent of the woman could go either way, but the objectification and exploitation is the point. How desensitised are we becoming? I think we call this “false consciousness”.
4. Also a lot of people adopt the approach that because money changes hands it’s all OK. People get paid for lots of things but that doesn’t make them right/ethical.
5. Isn’t it a pity (and just plain stupid) that when issues like this are raised people automatically pull out the “she wants us all in burqas” line. Give me a break!. Is that the best they can do?.
Again congratulations on this article, your blog and the whole thing. Good on you.
Thanks for this article. I am dumbfounded by all the negative comments on the ABC website..by men.
I guess what is most disturbing about the examples you used – especially the Lynx display – is that porn seems to have become mainstream. Seems that those marketing/advertising people have been watching too much Mad Men…
I think we need to (again) draw the line in the sand and stand up and say ‘this is not OK’ and I thank you for doing that Melinda.
My question to those men (and it is a paternalistic one I’m sorry but I think that’s the only thing that might get through to them….) is: would you be happy for your daughter to be objectified like that? For her to sit in a spa with gel sprayed across her breasts? If the answer is ‘no’ then that display has no place in a public space.
If people want to view porn then that is another discussion altogether but largely it is a private matter, done in a private space, it’s not something that should be thrust on the rest of the community in a public space.
As a psychologist working in the field of sexual assault I find the Calvin klein billboard chilling and just plainly criminal. I have sat in counseling with many women, often very young,(and therefore just beginning to define what they would like their lives to be)who have experienced the terror and unrelenting horror of rape and gang rape. It’s a struggle that goes on and on and on through years of rebuilding a sense of self, a world view and working out a way of being part of a society again that not only allows the vast majority of rapes to never be punished but allows constant ‘ in your face’ debasement and trivialization of their trauma in billboards such as this.
Where are the regulators? Where is the huge outcry?
Where are the minds and hearts of the people who get paid to make these offensive campaigns? Maybe they can spend just an hour or two in my office any day of the week…..