Collective Shout

Get porn out of corner stores

Take action! It's time to challenge the sale and display of pornography in service stations and convenience stores

Get porn out of corner stores

Take action! It's time to challenge the sale and display of pornography in service stations and convenience stores

Get porn out of corner stores

Take action! It's time to challenge the sale and display of pornography in service stations and convenience stores

Beauty standards no one can live up to

Posted by Team CS on September 1st, 2010

And women die for

Two items this week highlight the urgent need for cultural change, a complete revolution.

Unfortunately the word Revolution gets thrown around a lot and watered down in the process. However it has been defined as:

(n) revolution (a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving)

We insist on and push for drastic and far-reaching change in the way our culture portrays and values women. The oppressive, you-will-never-be-good-enough-unless-you-look-like-this beauty industry needs to back off. The sexist, degrading and pornified advertising along with the wallpapering of pornography in the public space needs to stop. We will not compromise by accepting half-hearted, protect-the-beauty-industry body image initiatives in place of the radical change really needed. Why? Because girls are harmed and women are dying. Literally.

The Beauty Trap

First we bring to your attention a segment on the most recent episode of 60 minutes, The Beauty Trap.

Melinda Tankard Reist wrote about it this week:

The program tells the tragic story of Lauren James, who died three years ago at the age of 26 following an $8000 liposuction procedure on her thighs in a Melbourne clinic. We hear from her bereft parents and boyfriend.

It also tells the story of Kerry who suffered life-long disfigurement as a result of undergoing a breast lift as part of a $25,000 “Mum’s Makeover”, also in Melbourne. Kerry bravely tells her story and shows the extent of the mutilation of both her breasts.

Read the rest of the article and watch the 60 minutes segment here.

Baby Beauty Queens

The second article from the Sydney Morning Herald relates to an upcoming BBC documentary, Baby Beauty Queens, which airs tonight on ABC 2 at 8.30pm. (September 1)

The moment you meet nine-year-old Madison and her mother, Moya, you sense that something’s not quite right. The guy in the sky has apparently given Madison an opportunity to prove herself, so here she is covering her young self in fake tan, glitter and acrylic nails in the hope of winning Britain’s first pre-teen beauty pageant.

And

Nine-year-old Tyla has already undergone cosmetic surgery at the urging of her mother, who believes her child is ugly. Seven-year-old Sasha has been roped in by her mother, who describes her daughter as “unusual” and reckons modelling will compensate for her learning difficulties and give her a break in life.

These young girls have learned the lesson taught by the toxic culture – a woman’s value is tied up with how she looks, her appearance is what counts, not her health and well being. What is so tragic is that the adults in her life have affirmed this as true, encouraged it and hope to capitalise on it.

And who in their right mind performs cosmetic surgery on a little girl?

So, what can we do?

Stay connected with Collective Shout as we continue to challenge the culture by naming and shaming those who use the bodies of women and girls to sell product, who propagate body shame, self hatred and self harm in order to sell products. They must be held accountable.

Support and promote those working with our young people, who encourage, support, educate and empower them. Some of these people and organisations can be found in the ‘interesting links’ on our home page, however we will also feature more information about them in upcoming blog posts.

Connect, love and affirm the women and girls in your life. Throw away the gossip magazines, do away with a focus on ‘beauty.’ Affirm and appreciate the enduring qualities of a person; love, respect, generosity, patience, kindness, humour, loyalty, compassion. Lets teach our daughters and sisters that they are valued simply for who they are, not how they look.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Resource – The Butterfly Effect

Posted by Team CS on August 27th, 2010

Lydia Jade Turner is a founding member of Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. She is also a Managing Director of BodyMatters Australasia; a specialist clinic established to both prevent and treat our current epidemic of disordered eating.

Below is Lydia’s review of Dannielle Miller’s book, The Butterfly Effect, which we recommend as a valuable resource.

Congratulations to Dannielle Miller for this much needed resource for parents and teachers. In a culture that has become increasingly saturated with premature sexualisation, bullying, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, The Butterfly Effect equips any parent or teacher with accurate insight and key strategies to help teenage girls navigate today’s social landscape. Sharing her own self-disclosures and tips to healthier, happier teens, Dannielle’s expertise as educator and mentor to teen girls is obvious to any working within the field. In contrast to other books, Dannielle does not take a hysterical nor dooms-day approach to current day crises faced by girls – instead her book is one that supports, inspires, and transforms its readers into positive role models in teen girls’ lives. As a psychotherapist specialising in disordered eating, I highly recommend The Butterfly Effect to anyone wanting to understand how to help teenage girls through the difficult challenges they face today.

Dannielle Miller is the CEO of Enlighten Education which conducts in-school workshops for girls. You can also catch her most mornings on Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Channel 9. The Butterfly Effect can be purchased here.

Sexism Sells T-shirts at Roger David and City Beach

Posted by Team CS on August 25th, 2010

Local Collective Shout group takes action

Members of the Collective Shout Group in Toowoomba have been actively opposing sexualised clothing items currently stocked in their local Roger David and City Beach stores.

City Beach

Roger David

The Collective Shout website has already highlighted the T.I.T.S (Two in the Shirt) t-shirt brand, which is available in City Beach stores. (Check out original post and discussion here.)

Letters were sent to various members within the City Beach Head Office, outlining disappointment that this retail chain was contributing to the prevalence of sexual messages in society. The purpose of these letters was not merely to communicate disapproval, but also to highlight the consequences of contributing to the early sexualisation of children and the objectification of women. A request was also made to discontinue the sale of this particular line of clothing.

The Collective Shout Toowoomba Group received a reply from Chris Somerville, City Beach Marketing Department. An excerpt from the letter:

We thank-you for bringing the concerns of Collective Shout to our attention and have engaged the City Beach buying teams in discussion regarding the points raised in your letter to ensure they are aware of your opinions on this matter.

We’d like to thank you for your feedback. As a retailer the feedback of our customers is extremely important to us as it provides valuable insight into what our customers do and do not like.

Unfortunately the shirts are still available for purchase.

While City Beach had the courtesy to reply to their correspondence, Roger David did not. Similar communication was sent to their head office, regarding their “Annie Hollywood” and “Blood is the New Black”, yet no reply was received.

Concerned that both stores were continuing to stock disturbing clothing lines, the Toowoomba group developed a new strategy – a boycott of both stores.

Posters were sent to each store, featuring the signatures and photographs of 50 young people who were unwilling to shop at either store until the offensive items were removed. Included on the posters (this one to Roger David):

Dear Roger David,

As young people of Toowoomba, we are deeply concerned by the highly sexualised clothing that is currently being sold in your store at the Grand Central Shopping Centre. We believe many of the men’s T-shirts sold in your store are demeaning to women and we don’t understand why you would choose to stock such a clothing style. Objectifying women is not art and it should not be labelled ‘trendy’. It is disgusting.

We’re in our teens. We are in our twenties and thirties – We’re not old prudes. We simply want something better for ourselves, our friends and our city.

We ask you to removed items such as the “Anne Hollywood” T-shirts and similar styles made by brands such as “Blood is the New Black” from your stores. We do not want to buy them, nor do we want to see them for sale in your shop. We’ve created this poster as a ‘protest’ against these items. We won’t be shopping in your store until these products are removed.

We ask that you carefully consider this matter and would greatly appreciate your response within 10 days.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned.

The 10 days have well and truly come and gone and the group has not received a response from Roger David. The poster sent to City Beach did not receive response, either.

Collective Shout would like to know why Roger David and City Beach feel comfortable in ignoring the concern of consumers. Perhaps they can afford to disregard the loss of 50 customers… but what if the boycott of their stores became more widespread? Would the loss of thousands of customers cause them to question the wisdom of stocking sexualised products?

Are you willing to shop elsewhere until these stores remove inappropriate items from their stores? Write to your local store and include a picture of yourself, advising them why you will no longer purchase from their store. Better yet, you could create a similar poster with a group of concerned friends. The greater the response, the greater the chance to move forward in cleaning up culture.

If you want to leave a comment at the City Beach or Roger David websites, please visit the links below:

City Beach Online Feedback Form

Roger David Online – visit contact us section

As always, if you do send either City Beach or Roger David a message, please also post in the comments below.

Lynx Hits a New Low

Posted by Team CS on August 20th, 2010

Lynx now include women in their range of products at the “Lynx Lodge.”

We already know that Lynx produces some of the most sexist and degrading advertising you can find (or rather – finds you). So I’m not sure why I was surprised to hear that Lynx is opening a resort called “The Lynx Lodge.”

As reported in the Courier Mail:

The Lynx Lodge, set to open later this year in Lake Macquarie, NSW, has been billed as the “ultimate man-cation destination”.

A team of models will make up the “friendly and flexible” lodging staff and will offer on-the-spot back rubs, breakfast in bed and “sexy wake-up calls”.

“From grabbing your wood on the golf course through to getting filthy on a dirt bike, every day at the Lynx Lodge will leave you utterly shagged,” the website states.

Evening entertainment will include mud wrestling and games of Twister.

Lynx is holding a competition to mark the launch of the resort, where the winner will get to stay at the resort with seven friends.

If you’re still using Lynx deodorants or buying them for the men or boys in your family, the time to boycott Lynx is now.

You might also like to let Lynx know what you think, which you can do through Unilever’s website.

Tell Lynx:

You’ve had enough of their sexist and degrading advertising.
The Lynx Lodge is degrading to women.
Most importantly – you won’t purchase Lynx anymore and where possible, will avoid other Unilever brands too.*

*Unilever is the parent company for Lynx as well as a number of other brands. If you choose to boycott Unilever brands, look for this Unilever logo on the label.

You can also view a list of Unilever’s brands at their website. (Yes, this is the brand which own’s Dove which produces the ‘campaign for real beauty.’ Perhaps they should rename it ‘campaign for real profits!’)

As always, please post any complaints you send, or responses you receive in the comments section below.

Soft core porn on Saturday mornings

Posted by Team CS on August 17th, 2010

Masquerading as ‘music videos’

Kylie Minogues former producer Mike Stock, formerly of Stock Aitken Waterman records which launched Kylie Minogue’s career has condemned today’s music videos as ’soft core porn.’

“The music industry has gone too far,” he said.

“It’s not about me being old fashioned. It’s about keeping values that are important in the modern world. These days you can’t watch modern stars like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga with a two-year-old.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the charts is R ‘n B and 99 per cent of that is soft pornography.”

Gaga’s latest music video Alejandro, complete with simulated group sex and religious symbolism,has been criticised as one of the most controversial.

Stock names Lady Gaga and Britney Spears as artists producing soft core porn music videos.

He could have also mentioned Katy Perry

Interestingly, Katy Perry is credited in this article as being one to speak out against sexualised music videos. This is not accurate. What she actually said through Twitter is, ‘Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke.’ It was believed she was referencing Lady Gaga’s video. She said nothing about sexualisation. This would certainly be a hypocritical position for her to take in light of ‘California Girls’ (featuring ‘Snoop Dogg’) where she spends parts of the video naked amoung all the things children love – lollies, cakes, bright colours.

Check out the lyrics:

Come on boys, hanging out

All that ass hanging out

Bikinis, tankinis, martinis,

No weenies, just to get in betweeny

Katy my lady….

Obviously rhyming is a strong point, not so much creativity, artistic integrity, originality (see, I can rhyme too). There is a strong focus on women and the physical pleasure they can provide for men. Not surprising since ‘Snoop Dogg’ admits to being a Pimp and produces hardcore pornographic films. Snoop Dogg is also known for showing up to an awards ceremony with two women on leashes.

From ‘I should be so lucky’ to ‘all the lovers.’ Kylie’s transition to porn pop.

When I was 11, I drove my mother mad playing Kylie Minogue’s record (“What’s a record?” asks my 11-year-old). I also really wanted that hat, the one with the top cut out of it and her voluminous curls spilling out. The following year I also got a spiral perm. Back then, Minogues music was cute and fun. I remember receiving a special Kylie Minogue magazine where she talked about all the things she loved – chocolate, the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe (book) and horses. I guess she knew who her fans were.

Twenty years later Kylie – who still looks 20-years-old - is passed around a mountain of writhing, half naked people while singing about ‘all the lovers.’ She is as half dressed and pornified as many other female pop singers. However it is still little girls who like pop music and watch music videos. As one tween put on her facebook status: “Kylie Minogues video is like, really ewwwww.” Well spotted. She knew that Kylie Minogues video was a bit ‘ewwww’ because she saw it on Saturday morning along with the rest of the primary school and teenaged population.

Mike Stock has spoken out about something that child advocates have been campaigning about for years.

So why has nothing changed?

The government response to the 2008 Senate Inquiry’s recommendations regarding music videos said:

Recommendation 4
The committee recommends that broadcasters review their classification of music videos specifically with regard to sexualising imagery.
Australian Government Response
The Government notes this recommendation.
The Government believes that the classification system is intended to reflect community standards. At present, complaints statistics indicate a low level of community concern about musicvideos. Statistics provided to the Government by Free TV Australia show that, of all complaints received by broadcasters over the past 5 years, only 0.8% have been about a music video program. Free TV Australia has also advised that there was no level of concern raised in the 1300 submissions to the last Code review.

Where to start with this flawed statement?

We have a system that relies on the public to make complaints to various (so-called) regulatory bodies to determine what is called ‘community standards.’ However the issue at hand is that of children watching music videos on Saturday morning. So, is the government expecting children to complain about these programs?

People would respond to this by saying “no, it is the parents who should be making complaints about music videos, or just turn off the TV.” Of course. Obviously it is adults who should make complaints. Yet most parents would not think they needed to monitor the television so closely on Saturday morning. They would hold the view that “obviously” a g-rated or pg rated program is not going to feature scenes of simulated sex. Right?

If only.

Make your voice heard

According to a Free TV representative at an industry seminar last year, only a small proportion of kids watch music videos’ and they hardly get any complaints. Therefore there isn’t a problem. However we know that many people recognise music videos as a problem and research on this issue validates their concerns. We have found that many people don’t know where to complain, or don’t think their complaint will make a difference.

It’s time to enlighten Free TV with the reality – music videos are very popular with young people, however children are unlikely to make a complaint themselves, nor should they have to. It is not for children to set ‘community standards’ it is for adults to uphold standards for them.

Here is what we are asking you to do:

Pay attention to what is on your television on Saturday morning.
When you see a music video with hyper-sexualised/pornified imagery and lyrics, write down the name of the song and artist and the name of the program you were watching at the time. (for example, ‘video hits.’)
Go to www.freetv.com.au and fill in the online complaint form.
Tell Collective Shout what you’ve done, send us a copy of your complaint and any response you receive. Other members love to read them.
Put pressure on your local MP’s to ask them what they are doing to help stem the tide of sexualisation of children. Check out our campaign here and follow the steps to make your voice heard.

Dreamworlds 3

This will hopefully motivate you to take action.

The Collective Shout team recently watched a documentary called ‘Dreamworlds 3.’ Dreamworlds examines the stories contemporary music videos tell about girls and women, and encourages viewers to consider how these narratives shape individual and cultural attitudes about sexuality. Here is a short preview of Dreamworlds 3. The video is confronting. *Trigger Warning*

‘Sex Sells’ Diesel Jeans, we’re not buying

Posted by Team CS on August 10th, 2010

Diesel Jeans scrapes bottom of creative barrel with ’sex sells’ campaign.

Julie Gale of Kids Free 2B kids alerted us to this campaign from ‘Diesel.’ As you can see, creativity isn’t their strong point, neither is respect. These images are placed in a shop front window.

Below is Julie’s complaint to the Ad Standards Board:

Description:

One of the adverts portrays a woman sitting on a couch. She is wearing only jeans, the fly is open and her legs are apart. One arm covers her bare breasts and the other is on her head which is extended backwards. The words “”Sex Sells – “” unfortunately we sell jeans’ are printed across her breats and stomach. The second is a man lying sideways on the couch arms above his head. He is bare cheasted and wearing only jeans. The words ‘Sex Sells – unfortunately we sell jeans’ are displayed at the top of this ad. The third is an image of two young people. She is wearing jeans and a red bra – he is bare chested and wearing only jeans. She is straddled over him laughing into the camera one hand on his shoulder. He is staring at her breasts and holding her hips. Their chests are covered with the printed words ‘Sex Sells – unfortunately we sell jeans’.

Reason for complaint:

Whilst not strictly a Billboard – that is the nearest category to choose from your options.

Kids Free 2B Kids is complaining about these images because of the adult sexualised images and text. The target market may well be for older teens or young adults – but it is displayed in the public arena and at children’s eye level.

Children are therefore held captive to these images and are involuntarily exposed. It is also significant that there is a kindergarten and day care centre in the street this ad features. Many of the parents at these centres are upset by the images, which they see as totally inappropriate for their children and their siblings.

The response from Diesel head office, when contacted by one of the parents, is typical of the industry. The response was condescending and lacked awareness and understanding about the impacts of the early sexualisation of children.

Sherri, a mother of 7 and 5 yr old girls was taking the youngest to Kinder with the eldest in tow and was confronted with questions pertaining to the above slogan. Sherri feeling that this billboard was inappropriate, contacted Diesel head office to air her concern. After being handballed a couple of times she was put in contact with who they felt was the appropriate party to handle this type of issue. Bernard from head office, returned Sherrie’s call saying.. whilst laughing…. “It should be seen as opportunity to discuss sex and sexual issues with your daughter and she should be open-minded and take it with a grain of salt. We don’t want censorship in Australia.”

Bernard appeared to find the whole issue both very amusing and a positive reflection on the overall campaign. He then proudly informed Sherri that …“we’re just about to start another great marketing campaign called ‘that’s stupid.’ Sherri, quite shocked by the lack of respect and empathy combined with Bernard’s amusement and dismissive approach to her genuine concern, was left speechless.

Kids Free 2B Kids would like to see industry – advertisers, marketers, retailers etc proactively responsible about what kids are exposed to in the public arena. The images in combination with the text are not appropriate for kids viewing.

Have you seen these Advertisements?

You might like to join Julie by writing your own letter to the Ad Standards Board here. Also when shopping for clothing for yourself or children (yep, they have a children’s range, though we’re not sure if it’s selling in Australia yet) check the label. If it’s Diesel, put it back.

What do you think of the Diesel Jeans campaign? Let us know in the comments below.