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Archive for the ‘media’ Category

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Don’t Call Me Girl. I’m a Woman.

In Career, Guest Post, media, TV, twitter, Uncategorized, women on August 1, 2012 at 10:20 am

Is this how we wish to represent women athletes? (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Twitter has been abuzz since the start of the Olympic coverage, with the observation of Australian commentators’ use of ‘girl/s’ to describe women competitors.  The complaint that women have about this language is its capacity to diminish women’s athletic achievement and infantilise them.  Many disagree with this interpretation, pointing out that our male athletes are also called ‘boys’ or ‘lads’.  So why do many women feel so strongly about being called ‘girls’ in this context?

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Lawyers’ Lingerie League: Clothing as Control?

In Career, fashion, media, shoes, women on June 13, 2012 at 8:59 am
Cassie McRichie - page 8.jpeg

Single-sculler Cassie McRichie, founder of the Albert Park Lake women’s rowing club, wasn’t troubled by an overly sexualised costume in 1900.

The last couple of weeks has seen the Lingerie Football League (‘LFL’) in the news.  If you’re uncertain about what this entails, it is ‘Hot babes in lingerie playing footy!’ according to the Triple M website promoting it. (See also a spectator’s view here.)

Some commentators have decried the so-called sport as sexist, while others claim that this is snobbery.

So is it sexist?  If so, why?  Are there implications for women more broadly?

 

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Who Controls Women’s Bodies?

In Advocacy, Community, media, women on February 19, 2012 at 3:48 pm

My Body. My Business.

In my last post on Amicae Curiae in response to an article by Bettina Arndt, I described the way in which women were objectified in media whether or not they displayed their breasts.  It seems however that the media’s obsession with breasts is not going to go away.

In mainstream media, on Twitter and on Facebook, the last week or so has seen a constant stream of the kind of mixed messages and double standards that represent society’s view of women’s bodies. {read on} Read the rest of this entry »

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