to not want to be bombarded by tits/porn (i.e. the sport/fhm etc etc when i go to the newsagent with my toddler?

[shazzg]

hello
i am getting more and more annoyed about the ammount of porn in every shop i seem to go in -it seems so in your face constantly and now that my 2 year old is asking questions it's making me really uncomfortabl and angry.
I don't want her growing up with this sad and warped view of girls and women.
I know other people feel the same - so why oes nothing get done.It can't be healthy for kids to be bombarded with sex/naked women/the sport/maxim etc every time they go with mum to buy milk/cat food can it???
Somoene elso tell me i'm not going mad!!!!???

For anyone interested
Claire Curtis Thomas MP Crosby is campaigning for lads mags and the Sport to be age resticted andmoved to top shelf.

Interesting article in today's Observer ...maybe there is a new wave of feminism coming.You never know.

how did it go at sainsburys

lots of great points here - so just adding another vote of support.

have found all this so depressing for my whole adult life, and it has just gotten worse and worse.

unfortunately it seems to be some sort of twisted backlash of feminism that sex is the way women now supposedly are "empowered."

stickybun - appreciate you feel you have to take a stand but can't believe you would imply to a shopkeeper he is verging on "grooming" for selling lads mags.Not on.

I have my own (long) opinions on the whole topic of the way that women are portrayed as sexualised object under the guise of empowerment, but think it is interesting that no-one ever objects to other means of feinforcing gender stereotypes, ones which don't involve naked breasts...mother & baby magazine, 100's of adverts showing women in traditional and outdated roles, articles about how children suffer if mothers work outside the home, articles about children being damaged by being brought up by a single mother, chat, take a break, bella = gossipy women only interested in domestic drama. You could argues that these are more insidious, potentially damaging messages, and ones which are much more difficult to challenge, because they don't lend themselves to shop counter confrontation or flashy protests. So, in the grand scheme of things, yabu. Loaded is the least of our worries. And fwiw 2 I do not believe for one minute a 2 year old would be asking questions about such images , certainly not ones which could make anyone feel uncomfortable.

totally agree shazzg
i have moaned in shops before whsmith to be precise

my babies had two girls breast to breast at eye level RANK

men would love a row of cocks when they take their daughter to buy a pencil case

The thread has extensively discussed the ways in which images in lads / lifelstyle / etc mags objectify women and can perpetuate unhealthy attitudes to women. My point was that there are many other, less obvious ways in which this is done - ones we actively collude in. I think a disporportionate amount of censure is directed at these images, becuase it is easier than addressing the fact that simply removing these magazines from newsagents would not automatically result in new and healthy respect for women. But I can see that it is probably not as much fun as complaining about FHM.

i loathe complaining about FHM

no not fun - you got that wrong

I hope, ladies, that you are all taking note of JemLs comments and that you feel suitably chastised for not being clever enough to see what the real problem is.

yes will just find an interesting article i read today...

Is this what a feminist looks like these days?

thanks not an otter

joined 'object' last night and going for some direct action today

thanks jemi for your comments you make a start on what you believe by doing smomething too eh???lets not waste time arguing and splitting hairs.life is short blah blah (i.e action not words)

will report back later

will anyone else join me in askng shop managers to move the sport/fhm and support
claire curtis thomas mp?????

Shazzg, can you give me some key words that will help me to find the article you mention that was in the Observer?

JemL - it makes me very sad when clever, dynamic, capable young women "actively collude" in pornification - by adopting a really sleazy, glossy porny style (socially and in their dress / general presentation) because it is apparently the primary mainstream way now in which women can present themselves as being good looking, fun and stylish.

When I was 20, dressing up to go out (or to look good at work, for that matter) could include looking porny. But it didn't have to.

It is my experience at work that the women who present themselves in this way do suffer a lack of respect from male colleagues (and some women too, unfortunately) and it is very hard to explain to them why, when as far as they are concerned all they have done is make an effort with their appearance. I work in a creative industry where you have to look a bit cutting edge to have credibility - an M&S suit doesn't quite give you the right image. Sadly, for young women, looking "now" all too often means looking porny. So they do, and then they suffer the consequences. And if I am managing them, and it is part of my role to mentor them, I try to explain these issues, and they don't understand because they have never known things any other way.

So yes I do find it very sad.

vezzie - good point - our teenage babysitter has never known anything else but a world of in yer face porn etc.sad really.

the lap dancing article was in yesterdays observer woman magazine (it should have been on the front page of the newspaper i think but hey )........

jeml - putting your head above the pulpit and saying unfashionable things - i.e i hate fhm - is absolutley not fun.

it takes a lot of bollocks and you spend a lot of time arguing,loosing freinds and going round in circles but thanks for the comment.

bump

agree shazzg

I would describe myself as 'very liberal' and as having a real love of my sexuality

standing in whsmith mouthing off about zoo and nuts would could be construed as uptight and undoubtedly to coin another deeply fashionable misogynistic phrase 'frigid' by the vast majority of onlookers

i will join your campaign - i have started threads about this before....

I will join your campaign too.

I will also say again about not only contacting Claire Thomas but also contacting your own MP.

Mps do take note when people contact them. They realise that generally for everyone person who has taken the time to conatct that their are many others who feel the same way who haven't.

I had forgotten quite what a response this elicited

JemL - interesting points, though I'm not sure what you mean by actively colluding. I can't stand Nuts and the like and I also can't stand Take a Break and so-called women's magazines. Agreed that they reinforce just a few bits on the spectrum of female existence.

incidentally I don't think there has ever been an intelligent publication geared toward women.

good night moon -
there are some good 'underground' women.s mags but you really have to seek em out.

also see
www.thefrontpagecampaign it's exactly what we're talking about......

i just asked my newsagent to move the sport so that it wasn't si in our faces and after getting defensive initially she said she didn't like it either and would move it up a couple of shelves.