Published today on Sexism: alive and well in Australia 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 […]
Why would Woolworths associate itself with the objectification of women? It’s not news that Lynx’s revels in degrading representations of women to promote its body spray. I’ve talked about the company’s ‘Spray More Get More’ campaign which features women transforming into out-of-control-sex-maniacs the second they smell Lynx on a man. Collective Shout has also exposed the sexism […]
Mainstream media takes up the issue The Lovable/Jen Hawkins/body image issue has now gone well beyond these humble blog pages. I spent a significant part of yesterday being interviewed on the subject. Susie O’Brien gave it a good run both as a news piece and a comment piece spread across two pages in the Herald Sun. […]
Damaging the things I hold dear Yesterday, Sydney man David Ould wrote to Australian underwear company Lovable. He’d read my post on Lovable’s contradictory behaviour and felt he had to do something. It’s good to know there are men who care about the impact of unrealistic sexualised representations of women on the women they love. […]
Dear Lovable, Yesterday I wrote about your ad campaign featuring Jennifer Hawkins. I hope you read the piece. If you missed it, and you’re on the home page, scroll down a little and you’ll find it (it’s got lots of pictures of Jennifer Hawkins looking thin and sexy in bra and knickers and there’s a […]
More double standards and mixed messages for Body Image Awareness Week According to its website, Australian underwear brand Lovable says it is “dedicated to changing the culture surrounding eating disorders and body image”. It does this “by using happy, healthy models in our campaigns and promotional activities and by continuing to design intimates that are […]
GF’s ‘reality check’ needs a reality check Revolution: a: a sudden, radical, or complete change b: a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed c: activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation d: a […]
The Miss Universe competition shows us just how far we haven’t come Miss Universe has come round again. The swimsuit parade is tomorrow. That’s where the competitors – all conforming to unrealistic body types and the thin ideal – get to parade in a swimsuit just before they tell us their plans for world peace […]
And not insist on airbrushing disclosure for her own photo shoots? Recently I have had cause to ask Sarah Murdoch a few questions. They were picked up in the media the past couple of days, by NineMSN and the SMH. Sarah is co-host and executive producer of Australia’s Next Top Model. She also sits on the Government […]
Promoting white supremacy Here at the MTR blog we’re not exactly what you’d call fans of the global corporation Unilever. Unilever has been named and shamed here before for its sexist advertising through the Lynx/Axe brand as highlighted here and here, for its hypocrisy in promoting so-called “real beauty” through its Dove brand while presenting women in […]
Lydia Turner on the voluntary body image code Eating disorder specialist Lydia Turner from BodyMatters Australasia, who has become something of a regular here on the MTR blog, has a piece worth reading in The Drum Unleashed on the Government’s new voluntary body image code (no, we’re not done with the critique of that yet, see […]
No Seatbelts? Bad! Objectifying women? Who Cares A few days ago I posted on the Brut ads which feature a group of boys ogling a woman, as part of the ‘Brut code’ to ‘spot and share’. I also commented on ‘lads ads’ on the Channel 7 Morning Show Friday, saying that Brut was brutally sexist […]
