Sexism everywhere you look
A recently released Just Jeans television commercial for "candy stitch" jeans shows three women moving along the conveyor belt of a production line. They are still and their faces shiny, as if they were mannequins. The women are all thin and tall.
Aimed at young women, the ad implies that if you buy candy stitch then you will be as attractive as the women on the conveyor belt. To be attractive is to be on display, inarticulate and thin.
The TV commercials for Dove chocolate are also particularly offensive. When the men in the commercial eat the chocolate they begin talking about things that society stereotypes as "feminine": they talk about hairstyles and clothing and cry over an ended relationship.
The ad perpetuates the idea that women only talk about trivial things, are obsessed with appearance and are overly emotional.
Conducting a survey of 100 Channel 10 commercials shown 4.30-6.30pm, I found that over 50% featured women cooking, shopping, cleaning or providing health care for their families. These commercials promote the notion that "a woman's place is in the home" — that women willingly provide these services for free.
The majority of Australians watch TV regularly. The images of women presented (especially repeatedly) impacts upon how women value themselves and what is expected of them
Women portrayed on television are overwhelmingly thin, or underweight. This body shape is unrealistic for the vast majority of the population. Constantly comparing themselves to these standards, women are set up for a roller-coaster ride of self-hatred, resulting in eating disorders for one in three women.
Sexist advertising is everywhere you look in today's society — newspapers, magazines, shop-fronts and on billboards.
Advertising is becoming more blatantly sexist and for the most part this sexism is accepted without protest. Such ideas are not being challenged consistently and therefore advertisers can get away with more and more sexist images of women.
Opposing sexism can have a positive impact, however. International Women's Day and Reclaim the Night are the main events that place demands on the government to end discrimination against women.
Brisbane feminists, outraged by sexist Windsor Smith ads, went on a graffiti campaign. Resulting support for the graffiti artists caused the ad to be withdrawn from circulation. In a protest building towards International Women's Day 2000, Sydney members of Resistance marched through a central shopping district yelling and pointing at sexist images and shopfront displays.
The worldwide mobilisations against institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, are also important. Women on the streets, fighting a system that ensures that women do 60% of the world's work and own 4% of the world's wealth, challenge the idea that women are inarticulate, obsessed with trivia and happiest in the home.
We can't allow this blatant sexism to go unchallenged. Demonstrating on the streets shows people that this kind of advertising makes us angry, and that we won't accept it. Demonstrating will counter the sexist ideas of society that are reflected in advertising. These are the kinds of positive steps — graffiti runs, marching on International Women's Day, joining the anti-corporate protests — we can take in the fight against sexism.
BY LISA LINES
[Lisa Lines is co-organiser of the Adelaide branch of the socialist youth organisation Resistance.]