You might remember that representatives from the End Violence Against Women Coalition (who worked with us on our We Believe You campaign), Eaves, Equality Now, and Object gave evidence to the Leveson Enquiry, arguing that sexism and misogyny was endemic in British newspapers. We thought you might be interested to know about some research the group has just published, which evaluated eleven newspapers over a two week period in September. They found that:
Reporting of violent crime against women frequently minimises the perpetrator's actions and blames the victim
Some tabloids contribute to the sexualisation of girls while purporting to condemn it
Women are persistently portrayed as sex objects
Women in public life are often subject to ridicule
The report details many instances of sexist reporting - but here are a couple of examples:
'Pop babe is latest upskirt conquest of papararsey Pete' (Sport): tabloid newspapers frequent use of 'upskirt' photography frequently present the images as exciting exactly because the subject is apparently not consenting to the photo being taken.
'CAVORTING provocatively in a tiny pink swimsuit, little Ocean Orrey struts her stuff in a British beauty pageant aged just FOUR' (Sun) - whilst apparently concerned for her welfare, this report on a toddler beauty pageant portrays a young child as acting in a sexy and knowing way.
So what do you think? Does the way women and girls are portrayed have an impact on our real lives? The groups want this issue to inform all proposals for the new press regulation regime - d'you think this is reasonable, or possible? And if you post on this subject, do let us know your URLs here - we'll be tweeting every one.