Don't diet!

Don't diet!

By Bea Brear

SYDNEY — Protesters gathered outside the Sydney Town Hall on February 26 to vent their anger at the increasing quantity of sexist advertising visible in the city. The action, organised by Resistance, was aimed at raising awareness of the "beauty myth".

Resistance member Bec Beirne told demonstrators, "Multi-billion dollar fashion, beauty, dieting and plastic surgery industries encourage women to feel unhappy about the way they look and benefit from it. Unrealistic and sexist images used in advertising reinforce the idea that women's real value is only as wives, mothers or sex objects. This is part of perpetuating women's oppression."

Protesters marched through the Pitt Street Mall, targeting stores and products such as cosmetic giant Revlon, Jenny Craig and clothing store Dotti, which rarely sells clothes larger than a size 12. Stickers declaring "this image is degrading to women" and "women are dying to look like this" were used to good effect.

The previous day, Resistance had performed street theatre, "The Ms Socialism 2000 beauty pageant", which depicted what ideas of beauty would be in a society that wasn't ruled by profits.

From GLW issue 396