Honey I shrunk the girls' aspirations
One of the most memorable moments of my journalistic training was when a reactionary old hack-turned-teacher called Frank told the class: “I never thought I’d see the word fuck on the Guardian women’s page.”
Most of my politically active female friends read that page religiously.
It was the newsletter of feminism – designed to inform and liberate while confusing the enemy, like Frank.
You can read Polly Toynbee on the history of the Guardian women’s page here.
So it’s sad to see one of the Guardian’s sister papers – the Accrington Observer – taking us back to the fifties with its new Hyndburn Honey feature encouraging young local women to pose in their swimsuits.
Yet another generation of Lancashire lasses having their aspirations skewed by stereotypes.
And all to make profits for the Guardian Media Group.
posted by Action @ 04:15
8 Comments
8 Comments:
Surely the Acc Ob is ahead of the pack.
Feminists hate men appreciating the female form for...when you think of it, no reason at all.
I look forward to the time when women don't feel the need to tut tut whenever a man finds a female attractive. That, to my mind, would be true equality.
Everything goes round in huge circles and one day, I am sure, it will be considered liberated for women to flaunt their figures.
The Accrington Ob is surely ahead of its backward rivals on the Guardian women's page which will one day, I suspect, come to see how reactionary and narrow-minded it actually is.
Why should women be ashamed of their forms?
And another thing...
Men and women DO find each other attractive. There is no need to get ideological about it.
Oh deary me. Neil, which stone-age stone did you crawl out from under?
Perhaps you should nip back under and hibernate for a while until we get to the stage in one of your "huge circles" where MEN are randomly sexually objectified whilst being sytematically discriminated against in the workplace and seriously under-represented in parliament - just as starters for ten.
I am female, and pretty damn happy with my own form, which I have no problem showing off when I choose to... and I don't think the Accrington Ob's desperate attempt to find more readers is striking a blow for my equality. More like laying down a rock garden for a new generation of Neanderthal-wannabes to crawl out from under....
Wakey wakey Accrington Observer!
Hmm, Backofayak. It's hard to know where to begin with the many layers of confused thought you display.
If you are right (although you write so many non-sequiturs) it means that men and women can never be comfortable with their sexualities. What a very reactionary thought. I for one am depressed by such a Mary Whitehousian view of humankind. Must we always pretend we do not find the opposite sex attractive? Get out of the 1950s!
Why must such attraction be linked to discrimination in the workplace?
Why must it be linked to under-representation in Parliament? What, incidentally, is the cause of such under-representation?
There is no link. This sort of stuff was divisive and damaging in the 1980s - let us at least debate the issue today without confusing non-connected matters. Leave the 1980s behind!
The Accy Ob is guilty of gross disservice to the women of Accrington if it thinks the way to get readers and money is through this type of feature. There are amazing women doing amazing things in that town, and I hope they will join me in refusing to buy a copy for as long as the editor continues gratifying his urges in the paper for the profit of GMG.
And by the way, Neil, being ashamed, unashamed or unbothered about one's "form" does not require the validation of the male gaze. I am not convinced that anyone's freedom to ogle someone else, be it a member of their own, or the opposite sex, correlates to a victory for equality.
Poor deluded girls. In the age of showbiz wannabes they probably think it'll help them break into the big time!
Pervy Mervy should be ashamed of himself taking advantage of their naivety.
Local journalism seems to be getting increasingly desperate.
It depends on hat you mean by 'ogle' - a value-laden term. If you queried the right to 'look' or 'like', the answer would be clear.
Should we walk around in this day and age pretending not to notice each other? It sounds like a huge step backwards to me. It'll never work. Accept it.
Mervyn now proposes a Hyndburn Hunkz. What's wrong with that? He is ahead of the pack in stepping out of the desperate 1980s.
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