tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/sexism-in-pop-culture-20301/articlesSexism in pop culture – The Conversation2022-03-31T13:29:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1797752022-03-31T13:29:42Z2022-03-31T13:29:42ZWho is Nigerian music star Wizkid – and why is he taking over the world?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454346/original/file-20220325-17-1cg2rdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global appreciation of West Africa’s Afrobeats music has grown significantly in the last decade. Afrobeats stars are touring the world, racking up record sales, winning awards and collaborating with big-name international artists. </p>
<p>In fact, seven of the <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/playlist-africas-2022-grammy-awards-nominees">nine</a> African artists <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/2022-grammys-complete-winners-nominees-nominations-list">nominated</a> for a 2022 Grammy Award – one of the world’s most sought after music awards – are West African. Most of these make music driven by Afrobeats sounds.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/afrobeat-history">Afrobeats</a> is a broad, generic term for African contemporary popular music with rhythmic and harmonic influences of West Africa’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/highlife-African-music">highlife</a> and <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/afrobeat-music-guide#what-is-afrobeat">Afrobeat</a> traditions and Euro-American funk and hip-hop.</p>
<p>For the 2022 edition of the <a href="https://www.grammy.com">Grammy Awards</a>, Nigeria’s <a href="https://www.grammy.com/artists/wizkid/20080">Wizkid</a> is nominated twice – for best global music album and best global performance. Wizkid <a href="https://www.grammy.com/videos/beyonce-blue-ivy-wizkid-win-best-music-video-brown-skin-girl-2021-grammy-awards-show">won</a> his first Grammy Award in 2021 for the video of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRFS0MYTC1I">Brown Skin Girl</a>, a track he made with US superstar Beyoncé.</p>
<p>The 31-year-old stands out as a leading Afrobeats artist from Nigeria whose music has already made a huge sway on the charts of many countries. Wizkid boasts over 32 hits, more than 70 music awards, 50 singles and four albums, as well as sold out concert performances across Africa, Europe and America. As a result, he commands a fan base of more than 30 million combined followers on <a href="https://twitter.com/wizkidayo?lang=en">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wizkidmusic">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wizkidayo/?hl=en">Instagram</a>.</p>
<p>His songs straddle the rhythmic texture of Nigerian pop that connects with West African diaspora communities across the globe. And when it comes to his career, he set his eyes firmly on America and strategically propelled himself to global fame.</p>
<h2>Career</h2>
<p>Wizkid was born Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun on 16 July 1990 in Surulere, Lagos State, Nigeria. He started singing and recording music at the age of 11 in a group called the Glorious Five. He joined Empire Mates Entertainment record label in 2009. </p>
<p>The songwriter, singer and performer worked hard in the early days of his music career in Nigeria’s highly competitive industry. In one of his hit songs, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7QiLceJSLQ">Ojuelegba</a>, he narrates his experience at Mo’Dogg studio in Lagos, where he toiled for a better life. He became famous in Nigeria in 2011 after the release of his debut album titled <a href="https://guardian.ng/life/music/celebrating-wizkids-superstar-album-seven-years-later-top-seven-songs/">Superstar</a>. The album opened up many more live performance opportunities.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Joro references Fela Kuti.</span></figcaption>
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<p>As a young star who foresaw his music traveling beyond Nigeria, Wizkid seized every opportunity to make connections across the music world. For instance, when US R&B star <a href="https://www.chrisbrownworld.com">Chris Brown</a> (also famous for allegations of sexual violence against women) performed in Lagos in 2012, Wizkid was with him on stage and subsequently collaborated with Brown on the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v17Ob7pCP8">African Bad Gyal</a>.</p>
<p>Unlike some other Nigerian popular musicians, Wizkid understood the power of transnational collaboration and worked hard to align his music within the structure and texture of American hip-hop and R&B. In a 2019 <a href="https://davidsmyth.co.uk/2019/10/wizkid-interview-evening-standard-11-oct-2019/">interview</a>, he is quoted as saying he did not make music just to be an African superstar. </p>
<p>In 2016, transnational appreciation of his music grew after his collaboration with <a href="https://drakerelated.com/#front">Drake</a>, the Canadian singer and rapper. It is a <a href="https://pan-african-music.com/en/one-dance-wizkid/">popular opinion</a> among Nigerian music analysts and journalists that Wizkid’s collaboration with Drake marked the genesis of his global appeal.</p>
<p>He has since collaborated with top-notch American stars such as Beyoncé, Akon, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj. </p>
<h2>Sexism</h2>
<p>Wizkid’s music career has not been without controversy. Like many of his contemporaries in the industry, he rose to fame amid worries over objectifying images of women in some of his lyrics and music videos. I have argued <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07494467.2020.1753479">elsewhere</a> that sexual objectification of women has been a useful strategy for publicity, and serves as a means of enhancing his social status and commercial viability in the Nigerian popular music industry. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/video-vixens-and-cash-how-nigerian-hip-hop-music-objectifies-women-149020">Video vixens and cash: how Nigerian hip hop music objectifies women</a>
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<p>Wizkid is particularly accused of emphasising and objectifying female bodies in the songs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YsSCQpJm7M">In My Bed</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQU99okRgvk">Expensive Shit</a>.
The <a href="https://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/04/17/olamide-wizkid-lil-kesh-banned-by-nbc/">public outcry</a> against sexist messages in his music culminated in the <a href="https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/nigerian-body-bans-songs-wizkid-nicki-minaj-and-others">banning</a> of In My Bed in 2015, by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. Despite this, his local and international appeal continued to grow.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">With fellow Nigerian star Tems.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Pop’s promised land</h2>
<p>Wizkid has won more prestigious local and international music awards than any of his Afrobeats peers. He has more than 100 nominations in different categories of music awards. Some of his big wins include Artist of the Year at the 2021 Apple Music Awards, two BET Awards for Best International Act, three Soul Train Music Awards, an MTV Europe awards for Best African Act, three Billboard Music Awards – and that 2021 Grammy. </p>
<p>For Africa, especially Nigeria, America is the popular culture promised land. To make it in America is to conquer the pop world. And a US Grammy is the most cherished music award. Following the global spread of West African migrants that consume and promote Afrobeats, the music will continue to gain more listeners across the world as more people yearn for new sounds from Africa. Likewise, the demography of its global consumers on Youtube and Spotify grows as top record labels – such as Sony and Universal Music – sign up and promote more Afrobeats artists.</p>
<p>Propelled by the growing spread of Afrobeats, Wizkid has achieved global fame through a strategic set of music goals throughout his career – and has boosted his image by courting controversy and big name collaborators, infusing Western pop with African flavour in the process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179775/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samson Uchenna Eze does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>His rhythmic sounds connected with the diaspora and his collaborations with stars like Drake and Beyoncé elevated his name.Samson Uchenna Eze, Lecturer, University of NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1227132019-09-08T20:00:57Z2019-09-08T20:00:57ZWhere ‘woke’ came from and why marketers should think twice before jumping on the social activism bandwagon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290857/original/file-20190904-175682-1l92pfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=116%2C271%2C4648%2C3049&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The woke concept has morphed from social licence to caricature. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/r1OQfUIw3ns">Samantha Sophia/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>First used in the 1940s, the term “woke” has resurfaced in recent years as a concept that symbolises awareness of social issues and movement against injustice, inequality, and prejudice. </p>
<p>But popularity has diluted its meaning and the idea has been cynically applied to everything from soft drink to razors, attracting criticism if too liberally applied. </p>
<p>One recent stretch for this term is the New Yorker magazine’s headline for a story about a vegan chef’s output, which read: <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/22/whats-in-a-woke-mcrib">What’s in a Woke McRib?</a> </p>
<p>Being woke was originally associated with black Americans fighting racism, but has been appropriated by other activist groups – taking it from awareness and blackness to a colourless and timeless phenomenon. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/woke-washing-what-happens-when-marketing-communications-dont-match-corporate-practice-108035">Woke washing: what happens when marketing communications don't match corporate practice</a>
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<p>Now, there are <a href="https://quillette.com/2019/03/07/the-rise-and-possible-fall-of-justin-trudeau-show-the-perils-of-woke-governance/">dangers</a> associated with appearing overly concerned with consciousness-raising – see Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau being described as seeming “<a href="https://quillette.com/2019/03/07/the-rise-and-possible-fall-of-justin-trudeau-show-the-perils-of-woke-governance/">like a social-justice Twitter account on two legs</a>” . </p>
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<h2>Woke history</h2>
<p>Black Americans in their ongoing fight against racism and social injustice have used the term “woke” at key moments of history. </p>
<p>In literal terms, being woke refers to being awake and not asleep. One Urban Dictionary contributor defines woke as “<a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woke">being aware of the truth</a> behind things ‘the man’ doesn’t want you to know”. Meanwhile, a concurrent definition signals a shift in meaning to “the act of being very pretentious about how much you care about a social issue”. </p>
<p>The Oxford dictionary <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/oxford-dictionary-woke_n_5952b1f7e4b02734df2e0e39">expanded</a> its definition of the word “woke” in 2017 to add it as an adjective <a href="https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/woke">meaning</a> “alert to injustice in society, especially racism”. </p>
<p>In the 1942 first volume of Negro Digest, J. Saunders Redding used the term in an <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=3RotAQAAMAAJ&dq=today%20%22Negro%20United%20Mine%20Workers%20official%22&source=gbs_book_other_versions">article about labor unions</a>. Twenty years later, a 1962 New York Times <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/05/20/140720532.html?pageNumber=332">article</a> was titled: If You’re Woke You Dig It: No mickey mouse can be expected to follow today’s Negro idiom without a hip assist. </p>
<p>On June 14, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr, gave a commencement address called <a href="https://incaseyoureinterested.com/2019/01/21/mlk-jr-on-getting-woke-audio/">Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution</a> at Oberlin College: </p>
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<p>There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution […] The wind of change is blowing, and we see in our day and our age a significant development […] The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake through this social revolution.</p>
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<p>Fast forward to 2008, Erykah Badu sang “I stay woke” in her popular song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=lJZq9rMzO2c">Master Teacher</a>. In July 2012, Badu tweeted a message to “stay woke” <a href="https://splinternews.com/how-woke-went-from-black-activist-watchword-to-teen-int-1793853989">in solidarity with Russian rock group Pussy Riot</a>, extending the fight for social injustice to another context. </p>
<h2>Hashtags and tweets</h2>
<p>From February 26, 2012 to April 19 2015, a sequence of incidents brought attention to the treatment of young black Americans by police and sparked an eruption in social justice and equality activism. In summer 2013, after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing teenager <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/07/31/631897758/a-look-back-at-trayvon-martins-death-and-the-movement-it-inspired">Trayvan Martin</a>, the hashtag #blacklivesmatter was created, urging people to stay woke and be conscious of race struggles. </p>
<p>A review of Google keywords shows the search for defining wokeness surged post 2015 with phrases such as “defining woke”, “woke meme”, “woke urban”, and “woke define” used. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291052/original/file-20190905-175691-suzegk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 2017, Black Lives Matter protesters made their presence felt at a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia USA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/august-12-2017-charlottesville-virginia-usa-1074591350?src=-1-2">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>By September 2016, the phrase Black Lives Matter had been tweeted <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/black-tweets-matter-180960117/">more than 30 million times</a>. The phrase “stay woke” gained strength and became a symbol of movement and activism. Staying woke became the umbrella purpose for movements like #blacklivesmatter (fighting racism), the #MeToo movement (fighting sexism, and sexual misconduct), and the #NoBanNoWall movement (fighting for immigrants and refugees). </p>
<h2>Woke marketing</h2>
<p>Big corporations on the look out for ways to develop attachment with their target audience, saw an opportunity beyond adopting human traits (humility, passion, sophistication) to adopt human behaviours (activism). </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Pepsi’s woke soft drink campaign starring model Kendall Jenner was pulled after public criticism.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Riding on consumer tensions, corporations became activists, fighting for injustice. Nike’s social injustice campaign (featuring Colin Kaepernick), Pepsi’s short-lived advertisement featuring Kendall Jenner, and Gillette’s take on toxic masculinity, were among the most talked about examples. </p>
<p>But brands without a clear moral purpose were perceived by an increasingly cynical public as inauthentic: lecturing in morality but not practising what they preached. This spawned the meme “get woke, go broke”. On the one hand, corporations triggered public debate on key issues, on the other hand, they damaged the woke concept. </p>
<p>Late last year, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/andrew-sullivan-americas-new-religions.html">Andrew Sullivan</a> wrote about woke social awareness as an equal but opposing position to Evangelical Christianity: </p>
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<p>And so the young adherents of the Great Awokening exhibit the zeal of the Great Awakening […] they punish heresy by banishing sinners from society or coercing them to public demonstrations of shame […] We have the cult of social justice on the left, a religion whose followers show the same zeal as any born-again Evangelical. </p>
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<p>Going forward, brands will likely balance activism with safer and perhaps less polarising consumer engagement. <a href="https://campaignbrief.com/gillette-shifts-focus-after-toxic-masculinity-backlash-with-new-australian-tv-campaign/">Gillette’s latest campaign</a> shifts the brand’s focus from big issues to more traditional local heroes.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">With its parent company recently writing down the value of the brand, Gillette appears to have pivoted swiftly from its woke marketing messages.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Fearful of global public backlash, corporations will first test their woke concepts and brand purpose ideas in more localised markets. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/05/pro-lgbt-coca-cola-ads-spark-boycott-calls-in-hungary">Coca Cola’s recent pro-LGBT ad campaign in Hungary</a>, or <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/08/22/cadbury-offers-four-in-one-chocolate-bar-to-unite-india-10612982/">Cadbury’s “united in one bar” campaign in India</a> are examples of this approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abas Mirzaei does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The “woke” concept peaked on the back of the Black Lives Matter movement, then became a marketing trend. Now being woke is tricky territory.Abas Mirzaei, Senior Lecturer - Branding, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1222582019-08-25T19:54:32Z2019-08-25T19:54:32ZDoes anyone have a pad? TV is finally dismantling the period taboo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289182/original/file-20190823-170931-1kk7f27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C21%2C4632%2C3294&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New attitudes show periods might finally be coming of age. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/menstrual-pad-red-glitter-on-pastel-1135607849?src=NcFPp2QQUPlZnu_RIfawig-1-1">July Prokopiv/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, menstrual pad brand Libra launched their Blood Normal commercial in Australia, running it during prime time television shows including The Bachelor, The Project, and Gogglebox. Australia is a little late to the party: Blood Normal first ran in the UK and Europe in October 2017 and won the <a href="https://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-lions/libresse-s-blood-normal-takes-glass-lions-grand-prix-cannes/313993">Grand Prix at Cannes</a> in 2018 for its de-stigmatised depiction of menstruation. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The new ad campaign features real-life influencers.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Breaking new ground in menstrual product advertising terms, the ad has received most attention for <a href="https://www.vcg.emitto.net/index.php/vcg/article/view/114">showing menstrual blood as red</a> and on the inside of a woman’s thigh, rather than as the bizarre blue liquid we’ve seen for decades being squirted onto a pad by someone in a lab coat. </p>
<h2>Busting period stigmas</h2>
<p>The ad bombards us with a rapid fire array of stigma-busting micro-dramas featuring fashionable young people (some of whom are well-known European cultural influencers). A hip boyfriend (Swedish fashion blogger Julian Hernandez) buys pads in the local supermarket; a young woman (French activist Victoire Dauxerre) stands up and asks “Does anyone have a pad?” across a dinner table of hipsters; a university student walks into a public toilet carrying a wrapped pad openly in her hand; a woman’s fingers type: “I am having a very heavy period and will be working from home today”.</p>
<p>Unpacking the ad reveals a combination of the old and the new in menstruation ad-land. There is the tired old trope of the menstruating woman engaging in boisterous and fun physical activity, echoing the freedom message of women dressed in (improbable) white, riding horses and motorbikes in ads from the 1960s on.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289164/original/file-20190823-170956-1hzu1kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wearing white without fear is the goal of menstruating women in this 1966 print advertisement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29069717@N02/14850953409">Photoplay magazine/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In Blood Normal though, the notion that a menstruating woman can do anything is taken into more intimate territory, with a scene of a couple having (gentle) period sex. A woman shown at the swimming pool looks serene and thoughtful, more as if she is taking time out for self-care than trying to prove menstruation doesn’t make any difference in her life and that she is as non-cyclical as a man. </p>
<p>The modern-day stance that menstruation should be suppressed emerged from the second wave feminist need to assert women’s equal rights within a still-masculinised world. </p>
<p>Where Blood Normal really breaks ground is by presenting all the moods and moments of the menstrual experience, including the pain and the turning inward. It also does a brilliant job of showing the sweetness of getting and giving support within a sisterhood and brotherhood, in an idealised setting in which everyone is menstrually-aware. </p>
<p>This vision may be nearer than we might think: the characters in Blood Normal are in their teens and 20s and recent reports indicate this generation is rapidly shifting in terms of menstrual norms. Young women are reporting much higher interest in <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-periods-became-big-business-txldjd9gq">menstrual cycle awareness</a> and it is now one of the “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mindful-menstruation-sound-bathing-and-meditation-raves-these-are-the-biggest-wellness-trends-for-autumn-9wc2pqs5t">biggest wellness trends</a>”.</p>
<p>In Australia, talkback radio reflected this shift, picking up on suggestions of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/should-we-have-paid-period-leave/10090848">menstrual leave</a>. Celebrity Yumi Styne’s book for first-time menstruators <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/welcome-to-your-period-by-yumi-stynes/9781760503512">Welcome to Your Period</a> was published this month. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289176/original/file-20190823-170931-fjq0zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A new book seeks to demystify menstruation for first-timers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/welcome-to-your-period-by-yumi-stynes/9781760503512">Hardie Grant</a></span>
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<h2>Menstruation is big business</h2>
<p>Despite this ad being touted by its makers as a public service, we cannot forget the corporate <a href="https://www.rienner.com/title/Capitalizing_on_the_Curse_The_Business_of_Menstruation">profit-driven self-interest</a> involved in menstrual product ad construction. Recent <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/05/20/1828964/0/en/Global-Feminine-Hygiene-Products-Market-2018-2019-Forecast-to-2023.html">valuations</a> of the “global feminine hygiene product” market (of which around 50% is menstrual pads), vary from US$20.6 billion (A$30.5 billion) to US$37.5 billion (A$55.5 billion), with projections of US$52 billion (A$77 billion) by 2023. </p>
<p>High profit margins along with environmental devastation are contained within those figures. Disposable products use up resources, clog landfill sites, and pollute oceans. In the past, manufacturers have been less than honest about product safety, such as in the infamous Rely tampon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Shock-Social-History-Biopolitics-ebook/dp/B07C5G1YD3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=toxic+shock+sharra+vostral&qid=1566531841&s=books&sr=1-1">Toxic Shock Syndrome scandal</a>.<br>
Menstrual product advertising has been shown to increase <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23293691.2018.1556428">self-objectification</a> and has cynically exploited and added to anxiety surrounding leaks and smells. </p>
<p>There’s a massive gulf between the sweet and loving world of the Libra ad and the uncomfortable reality of the disposable menstrual product industry. </p>
<h2>More work to do</h2>
<p>So, why now? Why has it taken the disposable menstrual product industry almost a hundred years to talk about menstruation as normal and in terms that actually match lived experience, rather than as an unspeakable problem that their products will absorb and conceal, allowing the menstruator to “pass” as a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Under-Wraps-History-Menstrual-Technology/dp/0739113852">non-menstruator</a>. </p>
<p>The answer partly lies in the process of cultural change: things take time, and menstrual stigma was a big chunk of patriarchal power relations for feminism to tackle. It also lies in the influence of the new “femtech”: new cycle tracking apps, and reusable pads, period underwear, and menstrual cups made using new technologies. These innovations are reshaping menstrual experience in ways that disrupt self-objectification based on stigma, while replacing it with new forms of control through data collection.</p>
<p>Blood Normal is a great ad campaign, and yes, menstrual stigma is being dismantled. But we’re not there yet. When all women have access to reusable, sustainable menstrual products; when menstrual self-care becomes a cultural norm in homes, schools and workplaces; when women feel free not only to jump around when bleeding, but to live with the cycle rather than against or in spite of it … then we’ll be there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122258/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Owen is a founding member of the Menstruation Research Network (UK) funded by The Wellcome Trust 2019-2020.</span></em></p>A new advertising campaign for pads that features blood marks a moment when new attitudes to menstruation are gaining traction.Lara Owen, PhD Candidate, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1087612018-12-18T13:20:50Z2018-12-18T13:20:50ZStand-up comics should concentrate on being funny: so don’t take offence if they are<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250634/original/file-20181214-185234-1qp8i4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Stand-up comedian Konstantin Kisin was recently expected to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46541002">sign a contract</a> promising to steer clear of a list of potentially “offensive” topics before playing a UK university gig. Meanwhile US comedian and Saturday Night Live writer Nimesh Patel was apparently “<a href="https://pjmedia.com/blog/ivy-league-students-kick-snl-comedian-nimesh-patel-off-stage/">forced off stage</a>” during a show at Columbia University for making “offensive” jokes. </p>
<p>Judging <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/16/we-could-all-do-with-being-a-little-less-sure-of-ourselves">by the reactions</a>, these incidents appear to be examples of comedians that are deemed too controversial for an audience of overly sensitive, “politically correct”, “snowflakes”. </p>
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<p>From Lenny Bruce and Michael Richards in the US, to Julian Clary and Frankie Boyle in the UK, comedians have often been accused of going too far. But a comedian’s overarching intention is to amuse, not to offend. Some may intend to shock – but apart, perhaps, for an example such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrTMhAO4ac">Stewart Lee’s attack on Richard Hammond</a>, it is hard to think of many mainstream instances these days where comedians deliberately set out to wound an individual with their words. No comedian has ever prospered by alienating their potential audience and, in general, the evidence suggests that few comedians seem to relish being accused of offence. </p>
<p>The fact is that truly offensive humour is seldom actually funny – and comedians are savvy enough to realise that unfunny acts with limited audience appeal get fewer bookings. Giving offence also invariably becomes a matter for repentance. Take, for example, US comedian <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/31/went-way-far-comedian-kathy-griffin-apologises-beheaded-donald/">Kathy Griffin’s apology</a> over her Donald Trump/severed head controversy.</p>
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<h2>Playing the joker</h2>
<p>They may just be being disingenuous, but when called out for being offensive, comedians tend to produce their “I was only joking” card – and this isn’t entirely unreasonable. The rules of the professional joker’s engagement are unambiguous and any taking of offence that is linked to a live comedy platform is misguided. Of course, material such as baldly racist or misogynistic “jokes” is understandably going to prove problematic for most audiences.</p>
<p>But it’s important to think about the comedian’s intent – there is, after all, some gap between a poorly judged gag and the making of deliberately derogatory statement masquerading as a humorous remark. This might explain the enforced premature retirement of acts such as that of the controversial British comedian “Dapper Laughs” whose attempts to joke about rape led to his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/11/dapper-laughs-tour-cancelled-itv2">ITV series being axed</a>.</p>
<p>Consider the context of the discourse: there is an audience and a stage on which a joker is expected to tell jokes. The audience should always be equally aware of this. Punters expect to hear comedians tell jokes – not state truths. Even if they may be often be based on real experiences, jokes are merely fictions and jokers are usually only trying to make their public laugh. </p>
<p>Due to its subjectivity, comedy is far too ephemeral and open to multiple interpretations for it to function as a vehicle for causing offence as, by its very nature, it traditionally (and paradoxically) confirms and subverts. When we laugh at the comedian’s self-deprecating comment about their body, love life or general failures as a human being, to what extent are we actually laughing at them or with them? </p>
<h2>Funny is as funny does</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Old-Comedy">Old Comedy</a> of physicality, for example, draws from excess and carnival but – like the <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/640914.html">licensed fool of the medieval court</a>, it undermines hegemony only ever within permitted parameters. Underneath its veneer of inclusion and celebration it defaults to the cruel mockery of stereotypes. Body shape, race, colour, creed and sexuality are all caricatured as difference and “othernesses” are lined up like sitting ducks to be laughed at. The comic servants of the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/comm/hd_comm.htm">Commedia delle'arte</a> mock the other characters through racist, sexist and misogynistic jibes and actions.</p>
<p>The New Comedy of stand up, meanwhile, is verbal, cynical, smart and cerebral. But it also relies on superiority in identifying a target as the butt of the joke. Sometimes this is the comedians themselves. But, as a vehicle for expressing a viewpoint, comedy relies too much on fakery and fiction to ever be truly contentious. For that reason, too, it is unrealistic to expect any comedian’s words to be particularly fertile ground for “real-world” ideas.</p>
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<p>When all is said and done, I don’t think comedy has the power to change people’s thinking for the worse. If we laugh at a joke we realise to be offensive, our laughter does not necessarily affect our opinion or feelings about the subject in any way. Nor does it fundamentally change us. This is possibly one reason why, as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BiwFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=freud+%22feeling+ashamed+over+what+one+has+been+able+to+laugh+at+in+a+play%22&source=bl&ots=vZsmuEW8mp&sig=A9JcAVf5crT-ckWUMoJagIFBiQ4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjii6Wi25_fAhWJHTQIHU8iAHAQ6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=freud%20%22feeling%20ashamed%20over%20what%20one%20has%20been%20able%20to%20laugh%20at%20in%20a%20play%22&f=false">Sigmund Freud describes it</a>: “Feeling ashamed over what one has been able to laugh at in a play.”</p>
<h2>Moving with the times</h2>
<p>That said, comedians and their discourse must always change with the mores of the time. The context of #MeToo, for instance, has changed everything about supposedly comic attitudes to men lusting after women. Moving with the times simply forces comedians to be cleverer and less lazy with their material. Sometimes the old ones aren’t the best.</p>
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<p>But designated forums for comic commentary should not be seen as platforms for taking offence and nobody should go to listen to comedians speak if they cannot accept that there will be jokes – some of which they may not find funny. In any case, alternative forums for non-ironic commentary exist. The internet and social media provide arenas where, unlike the speaker in a comedy venue, jokes are often not clearly signalled. Offence can more legitimately be taken when and if applicable. </p>
<p>Increasingly, this is where comedians are more often actually coming a cropper in the offence stakes – it’s more difficult to signal – and to detect – their intent. As a result, Twitter storms can blow up, such as that experienced by the <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/comedian-becky-lucas-kicked-off-twitter-plans-to-now-say-things-out-loud/news-story/138e95828b23a6c76a9b6abe424ce6b0">Australian comedian Becky Lucas</a> after her online remark about beheading the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, that led to her being banned from Twitter. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/roseanne-barr-saying-its-a-joke-is-no-defence-for-racism-97551">Roseanne Barr: saying 'it's a joke' is no defence for racism</a>
</strong>
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<p>Otherwise, offence related to comedy is irrelevant. Whatever you may think about the role of comedians using humour to make people think differently about serious issues, the bottom line is that comedians are there to make you laugh – not to be taken seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Wilkie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Comedians are being told to avoid joking about some things – and that’s not funny.Ian Wilkie, Lecturer in Performance, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1016152018-08-15T11:23:21Z2018-08-15T11:23:21ZMadonna: pop’s superlative shapeshifter turns 60 with style<p>One of the first albums I owned was a tape of Madonna’s 1987 remix collection <a href="http://www.madonna-decade.co.uk/you-can-dance.html">You Can Dance</a>. I’m not sure where I got it from – and I’m not sure I even liked it – but the bright red cover and Madonna’s hard, direct stare are etched in my mind’s eye even now, 30 years later. </p>
<p>What I know I <em>did</em> like was her previous studio album, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/true-blue-255348/">True Blue</a> – and especially the title track, which I played on repeat (of course, in the days before CDs, “repeat” meant endlessly rewinding the tape on my Walkman). But it turned out in years to come that what I was really enjoying about that track was what it was riffing on. She fused the rhythms, melodies and harmonies of 1960s pop with the iconic 1980s drum machine sound to create a soundtrack to the Marilyn Monroe look Madonna sported at the time, a look most visible in the video for Material Girl.</p>
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<p>This is what Madonna is known for – at best she’s an alchemist, repackaging signifiers from the fringes of popular culture, transforming them into nuggets of commercial gold. At worst – if you believe her critics – she arguably treats popular culture like “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/jul/06/heymadonnaleavethatbandal">one great big pick'n'mix counter</a>”, taking the bits she likes best and somehow making them her own. All the while, she’s a shape-shifting shaman, mutating her own image to accompany whatever soundtrack she’s peddling – whether it’s the 1960s hippy chick style (Ray of Light), the African-American drag scene (Vogue), S&M iconography (Human Nature) or any of the other dozens of iconic looks she’s sported over a 35-year career.</p>
<p>And, at each turn, she’s needled away at conservative conceptions of identity and “appropriate” behaviour. The black Jesus in the Like a Prayer video was one incident, strapping herself to a crucifix on the Confessions tour was another. She was <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/05/28/madonna-toronto-like-a-virgin-blonde-ambition-arrest_n_7459798.html">threatened with arrest in Toronto</a> in 1990 for simulating masturbation on the Blond Ambition tour <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6289038/britney-spears-manager-larry-rudolph-on-madonna-vmas-kiss">and kissed</a> both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the MTV Music Awards in 2003.</p>
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<p>But perhaps the most challenging of her metamorphoses is the one she hasn’t been able to orchestrate completely herself, the one that which we can mark every August 16 – her ageing. “Age is just a number,” we might proclaim (louder as each year passes), or “You’re only as old as you feel.” If we do go as far as setting store by a specific number, then let’s not forget that “life begins at 40” – or even, as has been asserted in recent years, that “60 is the new 40” (I turned 40 recently myself, so this is excellent news).</p>
<h2>Age as sexism</h2>
<p>So what does age mean for Madonna, as she turns 60 this week? Even as long ago as 2005’s <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/confessions-on-a-dance-floor-190195/">Confessions on a Dancefloor</a>, at the tender age of 47, she found herself at odds with the standards of the popular music industry – which often have operated at the intersection of ageism and sexism. </p>
<p>The video for the lead single from the album Hung Up saw Madonna writhing around on a dance studio floor in a pink leotard. This quickly turned out to be ripe for parody: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fWYyQcmxgU">pregnant mums</a>, <a href="http://funnyordie.com/m/2ddb">Naomi Grossman</a> and French & Saunders all had a pop. The parodies themselves are obviously not conclusive evidence of misogyny and ageism in the industry, but we should certainly pay them some heed – given that the video was voted the “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/6366152/Madonnas-Hung-Up-least-sexy-music-video-of-all-time.html">least sexy</a>” video of all time in 2009 by music video website Muzu.tv (and reported on with glee by the Daily Telegraph).</p>
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<p>And we should certainly start to get worried when we compare them with <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/3127817/david-hasselhoff-64-goes-topless-and-flashes-his-abs-as-he-films-new-scenes-for-knight-rider-with-fiance-hayley-roberts/">The Sun’s</a> description of a 64-year-old topless David Hasselhoff as “flashing his honed body”. Or how about <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3134933/Richard-Gere-65-puts-amorous-display-bikini-clad-Spanish-socialite-girlfriend-32-relax-Italian-beach.html">The Daily Mail’s</a> reassurance in 2015 that Richard Gere had “still got it” at 65 as he was spotted sunbathing with his 32-year-old girlfriend. </p>
<p>Popular culture points to these men and so many others like them with admiration, framing the visible signs of their ageing as evidence of sophistication, not degeneration. Nobody’s telling them to “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1126410/JAN-MOIR-Oh-come-Madge-Isnt-time-away.html">put it away</a>”, like (oh, so predictably) the Daily Mail did to Madonna nearly ten years ago.</p>
<h2>Age as triumph</h2>
<p>But Madonna remains visibly physical at 60. She emphasises her body instead of hiding it “gracefully” – in outfits like the one she wore at the <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/2016/05/02/madonna-dress-met-gala-2016-ball-butt-breasts/">Met Gala</a> in 2016, or by spreading her legs for a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1106024/Put-away-Madonna-Singer-strikes-raunchiest-pose-Louis-Vuitton-ad-campaign.html">Louis Vuitton ad</a> in 2009. She sets out to situate herself in a provocative position in popular culture – as has been her trademark ever since Like a Virgin.</p>
<p>Although the Twitter storms of disgust rage on in response to her persistently unapologetic embodiment, there is in turn a backlash against those storms, with <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/brogan-driscoll/madonna-met-gala_b_9827558.html">The Huffington Post</a> reminding readers that the underlying cause of the discomfort is the lack of potential to commodify the body in question.</p>
<p>Madonna has consistently railed against contemporary taste, battling fiercely on the fronts of race, religion, age, gender and sexuality. In so doing, she paved the way for the likes of Lady Gaga, who will carry the torch as we continue to explore new expressions of identity in all these areas. But Madonna still has the edge, simply because what she’s doing now cannot be done by someone younger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101615/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Freya Jarman received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board from 2000 to 2005 to undertake a PhD in which she worked on Madonna's changing sonic and visual image. </span></em></p>Happy birthday Ms Ciccone – you redefine age.Freya Jarman, Reader in the Department of Music, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/939232018-04-06T15:02:35Z2018-04-06T15:02:35ZJames Bond: don’t sanitise 007’s sexism, confront it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213575/original/file-20180406-125155-14bsjo9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.thebookbond.com/2012/01/james-bond-uk-first-edition-paperbacks.html">The Bookbond</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Director Danny Boyle <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2018/03/16/danny-boyle-promises-bond-girl-reflect-metoo-era/">has recently said</a> he wants to bring James Bond up to speed with “the modern world”. He was responding to a question about the impact of the current #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns on the new Bond film due to be released in November 2019 – and the expectation that this will affect the portrayal of the obligatory “Bond Girl(s)” in the forthcoming movie.</p>
<p>Accusations of sexism against 007 are far from new – and far from unfounded. But in the light of rekindled feminist activism, dismissals of female agency in the Bond film franchise display a deeply conservative approach to the representation of female sexuality and oppression in the arts industry.</p>
<p>Take the villainous Fiona Volpe in the 1965 adaptation of Thunderball, who chastises Bond’s sexual arrogance and establishes herself as a woman to be reckoned with. In a post-coital moment she delivers this withering put down:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I forgot your ego, Mr Bond. James Bond, who only has to make love to a woman and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents and immediately returns to the side of right and virtue. But not this one. What a blow it must have been, you having a failure.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fiona’s pungent sarcasm is a fit riposte to Bond’s sexual innuendos and patronising attitude to women. It is <em>her</em> desire that threatens Bond – he previously tells her “she should be locked up in a cage” – rather than the other way around.</p>
<p>In GoldenEye (1995), Xenia Onatopp’s assertive sexual preferences – “Straight up, with a twist”, she says when Bond asks her how she takes it (her Vodka Martini) – mean that her satisfaction frequently comes from sadistic violence and, in particular, her ability to strangle men with her powerful thighs. </p>
<h2>Silly names, skimpy clothing</h2>
<p>In response to Boyle’s statements, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5511999/James-Bond-respect-Times-movement-latest-film.html">The Daily Mail’s</a> suggestion that “Movie spy’s women will now be written ‘with the modern world in mind’ rather than with ‘silly names and skimpy clothing’”, draws a simplistic link between the display of the female body and sexism. But to associate the display of beauty with oppression denies women any form of agency. Bond Girls do not “primarily exist to look sexy and impressed”, as Barbara Ellen suggests in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/18/danny-boyle-new-james-bond-film-me-too">The Observer</a>. On the contrary, they dress to impress (and kill).</p>
<p>In a 1975 seminal study, British film scholar <a href="https://academic.oup.com/screen/article-abstract/16/3/6/1603296?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Laura Mulvey</a> proposed that in classic Hollywood cinema the male gaze controls and reduces on-screen female presence to a passive object of desire. In response to this position, British Film theorist <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Screening_the_Past.html?id=gDj2B2PcKRgC">Pam Cook</a> has argued that in Mulvey’s argument:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Display is seen as passive; it is simply a reflection of the male protagonist/spectator’s obsessive anxieties focused on the female body. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thinking, instead, of female exhibitionism in active terms grants female actors and characters – as well as women across the world – more agency than any sartorial censorship.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"974826922541662208"}"></div></p>
<h2>Nasty books, nastier films?</h2>
<p>Australian feminist writer <a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151014-bond-women-sexy-or-just-sexist">Clementine Ford</a> comments that Bond’s women “are beautiful, intelligent, often duplicitous – and all highly discardable”. But the fact that some have to die – directly or indirectly – at Bond’s hands is further proof of 007’s profound anxiety about, rather than being a dismissal of, women’s sexual emancipation.</p>
<p>Violence and sadism may in fact alert female spectators to the manipulative ways in which patriarchy can and does oppress women. Discussing misogyny in Hitchcock’s films, American scholar <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2fBWCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=tania+modleski+the+women+who+knew+too+much&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjP-qSO3ofaAhXGPhQKHWZQCWEQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=tania%20modleski%20the%20women%20who%20knew%20too%20much&f=false">Tania Modleski</a> argues that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Insofar as … films repeatedly reveal the way women are oppressed in patriarchy, they allow the female spectator to feel an anger that is very different from the masochistic response imputed to her by some feminist critics.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For instance, in relation to the Bond films, in 2005 American sociologist <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XcVDAgAACAAJ&dq=Linda+L.+Lindsey,+Gender+Roles:+A+Sociological+Perspective&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_9PLOoYfaAhVN66QKHavjBzYQ6AEILDAB">Linda Lindsey</a> claimed that: “In four decades of James Bond films … women are depicted enjoying rape.” Such a statement relies on a dubious notion that rape can ever be an enjoyable experience beyond the realm of sexual fantasy, and does not take into account the complexity of female desire.</p>
<p>Lindsey is not alone in drawing attention to the violence of the Bond cultural products. In his influential 1958 article, “Sex, snobbery and sadism”, <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/society/2007/02/1958-bond-fleming-girl-sex">Paul Johnson</a> famously called Fleming’s Dr No “the nastiest book I have ever read”. </p>
<p>There are many uncomfortable moments in the films, too. In order to gain their insider knowledge, Bond hits Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (1963) and Tracy di Vincenzo in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). Villains frequently display sadistic tendencies. Jill Masterson’s gold-coated corpse in Goldfinger (1964) is later echoed in Strawberry Fields’ body covered in crude oil in Quantum of Solace (2008). In Moonraker, Corinne is brutally killed by Hugo Drax’s dogs; in The Spy Who Loved Me, it is a shark that graphically devours Stromberg’s assistant.</p>
<h2>Challenge misogyny</h2>
<p>Ben Child has recently argued in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/30/times-up-for-james-bond-is-007-too-brutish-for-the-me-too-era">The Guardian</a> that the negotiation of the darker side of Bond “would be much easier to accept … if the dapper secret agent were not sold as the epitome of British suavity and a role model for young men”. But while the avoidance of its glorification seems crucial, the elimination of violence from the films is not. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/prostitution-and-torture-censored-from-skyfall-to-appease-chinese-market-8455547.html">Skyfall</a> was released in China and references to prostitution and torture were cut to comply with the country’s censors, it is less likely that this was done in aid of women than to hide a damaging image of Chinese treatment of human rights.</p>
<p>In fact, a politically correct Bond movie would be detrimental to the pursuit of gender equality. Thriller writers including Sarah Hilary and Val McDermid have recently displayed concerns about the newly launched <a href="http://staunchbookprize.com/about-2/">Staunch Prize</a>, awarded for a thriller novel not featuring any violence against women. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/31/staunch-prize-thrillers-no-violence-against-women-sophie-hannah">Sophie Hannah</a> puts it: “Ignoring brutality may sound like a good idea but it won’t make it go away – we should challenge prejudice, not celebrate it.”</p>
<p>That’s exactly what the next Bond film should do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monica Germana received an Everett Helm Fellowship to research the Ian Fleming Archive at the Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington, 2011).</span></em></p>Anyone who thinks that Bond women can’t fight back have not been watching closely enough.Monica Germanà, Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/832472017-09-07T13:32:19Z2017-09-07T13:32:19ZIt makes perfect sense that Princess Leia should have a PhD – but we need more female academics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185070/original/file-20170907-8353-1y9o3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimivr/2103448839/in/photostream/">Jmivr/Disney</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="http://www.starwars.com/databank/leia-organa">Princess Leia</a> – older, wiser and tougher than ever – returned to the big screen two years ago in the latest <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/how-star-wars-changed-movies/">Star Wars</a> instalment, <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/category/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens">The Force Awakens</a>, fans around the globe cheered. </p>
<p>Played with great wit and charisma by the late <a href="http://carriefisher.com/about/">Carrie Fisher</a>, the fictional Leia – known variously as princess, senator and general – is leader of first the Rebel Alliance, then the Resistance, fighting the monolithic forces of oppression that threaten her galaxy. </p>
<p>But when fans learned that Leia might have a PhD, thanks to a throwaway remark made by creator George Lucas on a 2004 DVD commentary that resurfaced when I tweeted about it <a href="https://twitter.com/BeccaEHarrison/status/893483808309231616">recently</a>, adoration for the <a href="https://www.womensmarch.com/global/">Women’s March</a> poster girl exploded online and in the press.</p>
<p>The Hollywood Reporter <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-turns-princess-leia-got-her-phd-at-19-1027099">said</a> fans were “shocked, but delighted” at the news, and Teen Vogue <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/star-wars-princess-leia-phd">celebrated</a> Leia as “a genius who somehow managed to get a PhD at age 19”. Even Mark Hamill, Fisher’s onscreen twin, Luke Skywalker, was “<a href="https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/894310259321208832">freaking out</a>” about the story. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"893483808309231616"}"></div></p>
<p>Sadly Lucas’s comment, which also appeared in Carolyn Cocca’s <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/superwomen-9781501316586/">book</a> on female superheroes, Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation, is not considered a canon in the Star Wars universe, so theories about Leia’s academic prowess and the subject of her thesis will not be addressed in any forthcoming films or novels.</p>
<p>That regret aside, the news sparked enormous excitement in the public imagination and raised questions about how we address women academics and how often their titles are ignored – and shows that we need more women PhDs as role models to challenge patriarchal stereotypes. Dr Organa, aka Princess Leia, is a good place to start.</p>
<p>My tweet intended to draw attention to the inequalities women face in higher education. Referring to the fact that women with PhDs are less likely than their male counterparts to be called doctor or professor, I suggested that Leia would have resented being called “princess” (a hereditary title) instead of “doctor” (one she had earned).</p>
<h2>The female empire fights back</h2>
<p>Many women will recognise the frustration, especially pertinent at the start of the academic year, when students and colleagues demote women lecturers to Miss, Ms or Mrs in emails and the classroom. A 2017 <a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jwh.2016.6044?journalCode=jwh">study</a> in the US revealed that men are more likely to be introduced as “Doctor” by colleagues, and women academics on average <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/genderpay">earn 12% less</a> than their male counterparts in British universities.</p>
<p>Ironically, the press response to the Leia story only emphasised the problem. While my biography on multiple websites states that I have a doctorate, I was initially presented by journalists as a “student”. The same news outlets that announced that a fictional woman character had a PhD failed to accurately report that I do, too. Indeed, one article erased both Cocca and me from the narrative, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/07/we-need-to-talk-about-princess-leia-phd/?utm_term=.2ad4cc424b78">attributing</a> the story to a male journalist instead, while <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4766142/Princess-Leia-earned-PhD-age-19-says-George-Lucas.html">another</a> snidely cast aspersions on my qualifications.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The late, great Carrie Fisher who played Princess Leia/Dr Organa with great gusto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-april-19-2016-carrie-419322421">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unfortunately, the rare examples of women with PhDs in media aimed at general audiences do little to challenge these attitudes. Dr Barbara Gordon, also known as Batgirl in Batman, is sexualised and subject to extreme physical violence. Neither Dr Maru, the mass-murderer chemist in Wonder Woman, or Dr Elsa Schneider, the evil archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, are positive role models. Brainy women are bad.</p>
<p>And, to add insult to injury, a woman character who actually does have a PhD in the Star Wars universe, <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-who-is-doctor-938244">Doctor Aphra</a> from Marvel’s Star Wars comic book series, has a fake doctorate that she obtains by bribing her supervisor.</p>
<p>A competent woman with a PhD, it seems, is harder to believe in than a metaphysical force that governs the universe, a weapon that harnesses a planet’s molten core, or the friendship between a man and a “walking carpet” (the big hairy co-pilot character Chewbacca for the uninitiated). </p>
<h2>The force awakens</h2>
<p>However, there is hope. Despite the biases against educated women evident in print and screen media, fans’ responses to the news about Leia’s PhD were overwhelmingly positive.</p>
<p>My Twitter notifications alone (nearly 6,500 retweets and 13,000 likes) are testament to a widespread desire to celebrate women’s academic achievements, and the need for women role models to inspire young people.</p>
<p>Having characters like Leia to look up to will enable boys, as well as girls, to challenge patriarchal notions about gender roles, and the possibilities for fan fiction to explore Leia’s education may encourage Star Wars fans to rethink who they identify as a doctor in future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The latest incarnation of Ghostbusters saw all the main characters played by women. LEGO loved them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brickset/27835472155/">Brickset/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond Star Wars, there are comics featuring women PhDs and grad students (<a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/09/05/jill-trent-science-sleuth-the-most-radical-comic-character-of-the-1940s/">Jill Trent</a> in Jill Trent, Science Sleuth; <a href="http://www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/aboutcat">Cat</a> in My So-Called Secret Identity), and onscreen, the recent <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/ghostbusters-backlash/491834/">Ghostbusters reboot</a> depicts three successful women PhDs, which might also contribute to a shift in our attitudes toward women.</p>
<p>Of course, simply reimagining academics as white women does not solve the problems of race, disability, or sexuality that shape our understanding of authority and cause inequalities in higher education. But as the positive response to Leia’s PhD demonstrates, there is an appetite for better and more diverse representation, and change needn’t be so far, far away, after all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Harrison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Leia’s little-known academic standing can help challenge patriarchal notions about gender roles.Rebecca Harrison, Lecturer in Film and Television, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/802212017-06-29T12:54:52Z2017-06-29T12:54:52ZDon’t believe the hype: sexually-charged advertising is not the best way to push a product<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176227/original/file-20170629-16053-1gsk88n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=148%2C0%2C2505%2C1360&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The infamous 1994 Wonderbra advert featuring Czech model Eva Herzigova.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">TBWA/Wonderbra</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the decades, people have been taken on a sexual liberation tour that has challenged sexual norms. During the 1970s and 1980s, pop bands such as Queen tantalised audiences by singing “I am like a sex machine ready to reload/ Like an atom bomb about to oh oh oh oh oh explode,” and manufacturers of everything from cars to cigarettes featured pretty women in their advertising, hoping to boost sales. More recently, we have seen Marks & Spencer create saucy adverts for its food, a style dubbed “<a href="http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/03/marks-spencer-is-bringing-back-its-food-porn-ads-and-we-want-to-eat-all-of-it-4855111/#ixzz4lCUpaBfn">food porn</a>”. It would be easy to think that sex is the key to selling almost anything. </p>
<p>In the past, it has been claimed that sexually-laden advertisements grab consumers’ attention, enhance memory of the brand, establish positive attitudes, and increase the likelihood of purchase. But sexually-themed adverts don’t attract as much attention as they used to – indeed, it’s been a while since we’ve heard of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/03/31/hello-boys-billboard-voted-most-iconic-advert-image-of-all-time_n_7410644.html">drivers becoming distracted by roadside billboards of women in underwear</a>. So does sex still sell? According to a recent study, it appears not.</p>
<p>Published in the International Journal of Advertising, a new analysis that compared the results of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2017.1334996">78 research studies between 1969 and 2017</a> found that while people remember adverts with sexual appeal more than those without, the enhanced recollection does not extend to the product or brand that advert is selling. Not only that, but the sexual ads can have a negative impact on how a brand is perceived. While, overall, men view sexual imagery in advertising more favourably, and women view it more negatively, in neither case is there any evidence that the ads generate a greater chance of purchasing the product. </p>
<h2>Conditioned to react</h2>
<p>Some of the past success of using sexual imagery in advertising has been attributed to what psychologists call “classical conditioning”, a method that can, if used correctly, enhance attention and memory. Classical conditioning happens when the sexual arousal prompted by the advert is subconsciously transferred to the product or brand, leading to a feeling of arousal when exposed again to the product or brand, generating a “feel-good effect” for the product. </p>
<p>The problem is that if people are continuously faced with a large volume of sexual imagery, they eventually <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-bul0000018.pdf">become desensitised</a> to it and so no longer experience physiological arousal. This is what has happened as a barrage of sexually-charged advertisements have become a permanent feature of the advertising landscape. What started out as something novel – in step with the sexual liberation of the 1960s and 1970s – has now turned into something mundane and everyday, even frowned upon. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176218/original/file-20170629-16051-1vlax1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scantily clad Pamela Anderson in an advert for Peta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peta</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is particularly true for charitable advertising. Numerous female celebrities have stripped for charities such as PETA, but it has been found that using <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083311">sexualised imagery can be seen as dehumanising to women</a>, leading to a subsequent decrease in support for the brands or companies in question. Interestingly, both men and women adopt negative views of ethical causes “exploiting” women in this way, as the audience ends up questioning the integrity of a charity which would seemingly benefit from taking advantage of women.</p>
<h2>Seen it all before</h2>
<p>As we now live in a world where sexual imagery can be found easily online, scantily-clad men and women in advertising are not going to capture the attention and generate the arousal they once did. Society has changed, and so has advertising. Overtly explicit sex adverts are no longer deemed fashionable. Consumers want advertising that feels up-to-date. There has been a big political shift that is altering peoples’ interest and focus, and a big part of this is the recent political upheaval in the US. </p>
<p>To capture consumers’ attention something less frivolous is needed, as people feel a need to right the wrongs in the world. Racism, sexism, and environmentally friendly products are examples of topics that consumers now zoom in on. For example, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkyxpuSd5u4">Kenco coffee</a> has cleverly tapped into the newfound consumer interest in social politics, with adverts that suggest that drinking their coffee will rescue young men in Honduras from becoming gang members. This allows people to feel socially active while still indulging in consumerism. There are many examples of products and brands that are willing to use <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/5-brands-political-oscars-ads-ny-times-cadillac-ge-hyatt-audible-2017-2?r=US&IR=T">politically-based messages</a> to further their image.</p>
<p>Consumers also want “experiences” as their expectations of what a product should do have increased considerably through the years. Of course, this is difficult to deliver through traditional advertising. This is why we have seen a shift in marketing towards more “hands on” communication, using <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/01/18/top-sensory-marketing-trends-for-2016/">in-store virtual reality, or smell and taste to evoke memories</a>, as it is often more persuasive. </p>
<p>And with these shifts in audiences’ expectations, the sexually-based advertisements are on their way out. Sex is unlikely to ever go away, of course, but it is much less likely to be featured in mass media messaging once it no longer gels with the modern consumer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathrine Jansson-Boyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The old adage that ‘sex sells’ is past its sell-by date, as consumers now sport a more socially-conscious mindset.Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Reader in Consumer Psychology, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/584202016-07-12T19:44:38Z2016-07-12T19:44:38ZHarder, faster, louder: challenging sexism in the music industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130173/original/image-20160712-9289-4rjalu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After the likes of Joan Jett, Janis Joplin and Debbie Harry, why are women in rock still marginalised?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Triple J’s Hack program recently put together a snapshot of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/girls-to-the-front/7223798">female participation in the Australian music industry</a>. It showed a predictable picture of women’s continued marginalisation in all roles, whether as performers, songwriters, record company owners or on boards. </p>
<p>Only one in five members of the Australian Performing Rights Association are women, for instance. And 61% of the artists played on Triple J are male-only bands or male solo performers. Artist management is the only industry area with something approaching equal representation. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130153/original/image-20160712-9302-1xlna1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Courtney Barnett remains one of the only Australian, female rock musicians making a mark on the international stage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rberr11 via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>Last month, the line up for the Australian “bush doof” festival, Strawberry Fields was announced. It was <a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/481876/strawberry-fields-female-organiser-responds-to-critics-of-all-male-lineup.htm">exclusively male</a>. The <a href="https://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?850435">news</a> prompted a vigorous debate on social media (“Cool all-male lineup so far bros”, wrote one woman on Facebook,) reigniting discussions about the underrepresentation of women in pop music, and what can be done about it. </p>
<h2>Fighting the canon</h2>
<p>There are many subtle and complex reasons why women find staking a claim in music harder than men. One of these is to do with how the value of music is talked about, and who talks about it. The dominance of (white) men in music criticism is well illustrated by the title of Pitchfork critic Jessica Hooper’s 2015 book <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/05/jessica-hopper-the-first-collection-of-criticism-b.html">The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic</a>.</p>
<p>Male critics were particularly prevalent in the early days of rock and roll. And these men writing about music have tended to write about men making music.</p>
<p>Some male critics might explicitly think women can’t make good music and exclude them for that reason. For the most part, though, critics do what everyone does – they are drawn more towards music that they relate to because it reflects something about themselves and their life experiences, mirroring their understanding of the world. </p>
<p>This writing, in the 1960s, in particular, established the basis for the canon of popular music – the works that are considered the best in the field – which continues to have an impact today.</p>
<p>While there is no one agreed upon version of the popular music canon, one study examining many different “best of” lists produced by music publications at the turn of the century found they were very homogenous. The <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3877541?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">researchers reported</a> that the songs in the list:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>have a four-four time, very rarely exceed the time limit of four minutes, were composed by the musicians themselves, are sung in English, played by a ‘classical’ rock formation (drums, bass, guitar, keyboard instruments) and were released on a major label after 1964. The fact that nearly all musicians are white males from the USA … or Great Britain … is striking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were consecrated as musicians of value by critics in the 1960s, they created a blueprint for what would be thought of as valuable in the future. This means it is easier for bands that are similar to those bands already in the canon to be later included (think Nirvana, Radiohead). It also influences the practices of aspiring musicians. </p>
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<span class="caption">The Rolling Stones are credited for pioneering 1960s rock music.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>For women, questions of representation become important here – if you don’t see anyone like yourself being presented in the canon, it is harder to imagine you can make good music. Thus a male-dominated canon works to exclude potential future women musicians.</p>
<p>Those <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/11/taylor-swift-tops-forbes-celebrity-rich-list?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">women who are successful</a> are more often in the pop genre. Pop success often entails having a highly sexualised image, and is generally not taken seriously by critics.</p>
<p>Young women trying to break into music also have to deal with the way social spaces connected with music are often marked as masculine and policed by men in various ways. </p>
<p>Many women musicians have reported belittling and dismissive attitudes by men in live music venues, music stores and when learning music. It seems few female musicians have not been asked at one time or another whether they’re “with the band”, or if they’re just there to watch their boyfriend, or had their technical or musical abilities called into question. </p>
<p>The experiences shared during the second half of this talk by Jessica Hopper may give some insight into the way being around music is made hard for women.</p>
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<h2>Spotlight on social media</h2>
<p>Recently, however, a new spotlight has been cast on the way ugly, and sometimes criminal sexism is embedded in the music industry. The renewed discussion of feminism in the 2010s and the existence of social media have given women new ways to call attention to the unacceptable behaviour of some men.</p>
<p>The most high-profile recent example has been the case of Ke$ha, who went to court to try to get out of her contract on the basis that her producer had <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/kesha-and-dr-luke-everything-you-need-to-know-to-understand-the-case-20160222">sexually assaulted her</a>. While Ke$ha lost this case, the fallout from it highlighted some positive trends.</p>
<p>First, we saw other high-profile women in the music industry, rallying behind Ke$ha. While there were voices in the media accusing Ke$ha of lying for her own benefit, the support she received from women like <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/taylor-swift-donates-250-000-to-kesha-after-court-ruling-20160222">Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift</a> sent the message that if you speak up, you will be believed. </p>
<p>We have also seen how women speaking out can lead to others speaking up. Earlier this year, for instance, high-profile music PR executive Heathcliffe Berru resigned from the company he’d founded after musician Amber Coffman tweeted about <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6844211/dirty-projectors-amber-coffman-sexual-harassment-heathcliff-berru-life-or-death-publicist">his inappropriate behaviour towards her</a>. Many other women quickly emerged to tell of similar experiences. </p>
<p>Runaways bassist Jackie Fuchs, meanwhile, released a memoir that detailed her <a href="http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-lost-girls/">rape by the manager of the band</a>, Kim Fowley, when she was 16. This led to other women coming forth with similar stories about Fowley. </p>
<p>These accounts paint a picture of men who had been serial abusers for many years, but who were protected by the culture of the industry. (It should be noted that this is by no means unique to the music industry; very similar behaviours by men in positions of power have recently also been highlighted, for example, in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/she-wanted-to-do-her-research-he-wanted-to-talk-feelings.html?_r=0">STEM professions and academia</a>).</p>
<p>What has helped short-circuit the protection of abusers in these situations is social media. Social media allows for expressions of belief and support to be publicly performed in new ways. That the circulation of these stories is having actual consequences for men, who for decades have been protected by the homosocial nature of the industry, and the expectation that “girls” were one of the perks you got for being a rock star (or hanging on their coat tails), is important. There is the potential for a cultural change to take place. </p>
<p>This change is driven by feminist activism in the industry as well as by individual women brave enough to speak up about what has happened to them. There exists a long history of women musicians speaking out against sexism (see, for instance, women punks or Riot Grrrl), although lasting, widespread change has proved elusive. </p>
<p>In Melbourne now, the <a href="http://www.listenlistenlisten.org/">LISTEN collective</a> is challenging sexism in the music industry. One project its members have pursued, led by the DJ Katie Pearson, is <a href="http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/victoria-launches-government-taskforce-to-combat-sexual-harassment-at-live-music-events/">working with the Victorian government</a> to change training for security guards in venues to ensure women who are harassed or assaulted are taken seriously and helped appropriately – something that in the past has often not happened.</p>
<p>LISTEN has also been helping women release albums on the LISTEN label and organise gigs. The end goal is to normalise the idea that women have a right to exist in music-related spaces – neither as accessories to men, or as a sexual prize to be scored (willingly or not).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Strong is affiliated with LISTEN.</span></em></p>Why are women still marginalised in the rock industry? There are many reasons - from a male dominated music canon to belittling attitudes - but women are speaking up and lobbying for change.Catherine Strong, Lecturer, Music Industry, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/474172015-09-16T20:17:50Z2015-09-16T20:17:50ZScarcity and sexism: does watching The Bachelor make you a bad feminist?<p>Until about two years ago, I’d been living in a bubble of oblivious bliss where the (not so) fine art of pick-up artistry was far from my radar.</p>
<p>And then I was introduced to the dark arts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Strauss">Neil Strauss</a>. Strauss wrote <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game:_Penetrating_the_Secret_Society_of_Pickup_Artists">The Game</a>, a book which, alongside Bret Easton Ellis’ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho">American Psycho</a>, is among the most disturbing I’ve ever read.</p>
<p>The “genius” behind pick-up artistry is the crude-but-nevertheless-logical application of some of the most basic tenets of psychology, sociobiology and anthropology to the dating game. According to Strauss, most mating is initiated in nightclubs, a space where humans act not unlike impala on the Serengeti. Think <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peacocking">peacocking</a>, unwanted physical contact and … um … magic tricks.</p>
<p>One of the themes consistent in works like The Game is scarcity – a principle as relevant to psychology as it is to economics. Scarcity spotlights our desperation for those things that seem in short supply. </p>
<p>Whack a “limited edition” sticker on a car, a bottle of perfume or a tub of icecream and our yearn for it increases manifold. Get told that the dress is the last one in stock, that the manufacturer has stopped making those shoes, and suddenly our want is insatiable. </p>
<p>Seat a man in a bar, have women poised around him to laugh at his jokes and gawk wide-eyed at his sleight of hand and his value to a lady passerby suddenly skyrockets.</p>
<p>I don’t subscribe to a doctrinaire branch of feminism and thus don’t feel even slightly comfortable with to-do, to-be or to-think lists. It’s thus, no surprise, that I don’t think taking righteous stances against TV shows is necessary. </p>
<p>I’ve no interest in shaming the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guilt-pleasure-and-dirty-pop-culture-secrets-9474">guilty pleasure</a> of reality TV. Nevertheless, the gender politics of The Bachelor – which concludes its current Australian season on Thursday night – are certainly worth considering.</p>
<p>The premise of the show is a world where wealth and a well-cut suit is at the heart of sex appeal. And a man boasting such attributes is, apparently, more than enough to coerce a harem of ladies to sign up to win his affections. </p>
<p>They may not love him yet, hell, they may not even <em>know</em> him yet. But if there’s only one of him and every other woman wants a piece, <em>surely</em> he’s worth throwing one’s panties into the ring for.</p>
<p>And thus, we have women – gorgeous, neurotic, insufficiently self-reflective – plotting and scheming and grooming-within-an-inch-of-their-life in the hope of being <em>chosen</em>. To have one’s existence validated by a chap whose worth has become alarmingly inflated based purely on each contestant’s willingness to grovel for his table scraps. Curiously, the why of this “catch” needing Channel Ten to provide him a social life goes unquestioned.</p>
<p>The presence of the catfight in media is nothing new. Any sporting/political/corporate contest involving two women, any commentary involving one women daring to criticise another, and news reports will either explicitly use the term, or at the very least, decorously tapdance around it. Because the catfight frame is one we all know well. </p>
<p>In the <em>girls will be girls</em> mythology of media, women are seemingly only ever biding their time – waiting for their nails to dry – before seizing an opportunity to tear out their rival’s hair.</p>
<p>Claims of sexism in the media will inevitably be met with the obvious oh but men are sexualised/objectified/made a mockery of too. And thus the counter to any criticism of The Bachelor always takes the form of <a href="http://www.bandt.com.au/media/ten-announces-australias-first-bachelorette">The Bachelorette</a>. </p>
<p>However, slotting a woman into a role traditionally occupied by a man <a href="https://theconversation.com/trainwreck-and-popping-the-cultural-bubble-45558">does not a feminist triumph make</a> and those men wanting to woo a bachelorette need to be considered – and critiqued – as a completely different beast than women wanting desperately to be validated, made <em>whole</em>, made worthy by the bachelor. </p>
<p>Men on TV don’t engage in bitchin’ and back-stabbin’ in the hope of getting “picked”. Men don’t take life breaks to go on a TV show in the hope of being anointed as the very best/prettiest/sweetest. Men don’t grow up with the all importance of coupling-up-before-their-expiry-date rammed down their gullets. </p>
<p>The Bachelor is just a television show and it’s only one of a deluge of cultural messages we receive. So there’s no need to exaggerate its influence on our collective sexual politics. </p>
<p>But equally, it would be naive nonetheless to pretend it isn’t the perfect screen depiction of the male masturbatory fantasy of scantily clad women pillow-fighting for his affections. And a poignant encapsulation of the lingering sexism in pop culture to boot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Rosewarne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Bachelor is the perfect screen depiction of the male fantasy of scantily clad women pillow-fighting for his affections.Lauren Rosewarne, Senior Lecturer, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.