Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Ryanair are at it again with their strip-off charity calendar

121 replies

MrsStomp · 04/11/2011 10:48

I don't know who has seen this www.ryanair.com/en/calendar but GGGRRRRRRRR - it has really got my goat. I think they've been doing it for a few years now. Here's some more of the coverage: www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3912561/Fly-Ryan-bare.html

The charity Debra are accepting proceeds from the calendar - obviously with being a 'charity calendar' it makes it all 'good fun'.

The first thing you see at the moment when you go onto Ryanair's website is a lot of women (cabin crew!!!) in bra and pants. It is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Here's the link for Ryanair's complaints section frd.ie/complaints/?language=en - well, you never know. Plus Debra's list of contacts in the UK: www.debra.org.uk/contact-debra.html

OP posts:
KRITIQ · 04/11/2011 15:51

It's interesting that there is no mention on DeBra's website about the tie-in. I would assume they know about it (although it's not unknown for companies to appropriate charity names for their own marketing purposes without telling them!) Cause related marketing - which is what this is - is a very tricky area for charities. It can back fire if, for example your beneficiaries or supporters aren't happy about either the company you are working with or their products, services, values or means of raising funds.

For what it is worth, I do not like any kind of "fundraiser" that plays on the sexual exploitation of any person. A firefighter in North Wales was disciplined a few years ago for appearing nude in a charity calendar. The Fire Service were not happy about playing up to the firefighters-are-sexy-not-professionals or the fact that it sends the message that firefighters are only male. In any case, in my book, two wrongs don't make a right, what's sauce for the goose doesn't make sauce for the gander, etc.

LeBOF explained pretty clearly the difference between sexualised and objectified and just plain nude, for any who don't "get" that. Spencer Tunick is not Ben Dover, geddit?

The problem is in the message that such depictions send out - that flight attendants are a.) female and b.) sexually appealing to men and c.) legitimate for sexual objectification as well as e.) if you are thinking of a career in this field, you've got to be all these things. It also demonstrates that as a company, Ryanair has no problems with its female staff being regarded as sexualised objects - and with even their CEO fondling the bottoms of his employees, I mean jeez louise, that's crass.

KRITIQ · 04/11/2011 15:52

Well yes Anon, your post sums it up very neatly without all the flannel of mine! :-)

Some will get it. Some don't "want" to get it.

AnonWasAWoman · 04/11/2011 15:53

Sorry, but I don't actually care if these women feel they're making an 'informed choice'. How is that relevant? The end result is still scantily clad women giving out the message that their bodies are a normal part of commerce and that women in the workplace are sex objects. Ta very much, I don't think!

AnonWasAWoman · 04/11/2011 15:54

Cross-post - yours wasn't flannel!

KRITIQ · 04/11/2011 15:56

Yeah, it was more of a beach towel! :)

buggerlugs82 · 04/11/2011 15:56

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

AnonWasAWoman · 04/11/2011 16:00

Eh? How was I rude? Confused

Kri - Grin

KRITIQ · 04/11/2011 16:01

How bizarre - are you suggestion that other folks here aren't "normal women?" Hmm (checks boobs - present and correct.)

Bugger, no one is saying you or anyone else is not "allowed" to post, apart from you. So long as folks follow site rules, they can post what they please. However, no one is entitled to a gentle pat on the head and acceptance of their views without sometimes being challenged or questioned. Wouldn't be much of a discussion if that didn't happen from time to time.

It sounds like you're trying to set it up so it looks like you've been pushed out and that's hogwash frankly. If you go, it's because you jumped, not because you were pushed. Heck, you weren't even slightly nudged for pity sake.

AnonWasAWoman · 04/11/2011 16:02

Btw, it's a little bit rude to imply you're 'normal' ... what does that make teh rest of us, freaks?

buggerlugs82 · 04/11/2011 16:02

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

MrsStomp · 04/11/2011 16:03

I think it is interesting that no female Ryanair cabin crew have spoken out against the calendar. Buggerlugs: do you think that is because it has 100% support? That every female cabin crew member thinks it is a good thing?

OR do you think that they know their job will be on the line for speaking out and that Ryanair management will adopt the same bullying tactics to shut them up as they have used to stiffle the debate so far.

OP posts:
EleanorRathbone · 04/11/2011 16:03

Hahaha. And that's an example of why normal women don't belong blah blah blah

You get several very erudite, polite, analytical answers as to why this is wrong and because you have no answers to counter them, you whinge about why normal women don't belong on feminist threads.

Hilarious.

Grin

(WTF is going on here, I can't see what I've written the print's so small and where the hell is the refresh button gone?)

MrsStomp · 04/11/2011 16:05

Sorry Buggerlugs - I posted that before a flurry of emails and feel you may be feeling targetted. Not intended.

OP posts:
KRITIQ · 04/11/2011 16:06

Ah, didn't mean to suggest that having boobs is an indication of being a woman either (thinking of friend who recently had a double mastectomy and is very much a normal - nope, a super woman!)

buggerlugs82 · 04/11/2011 16:07

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

buggerlugs82 · 04/11/2011 16:11

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns.

EleanorRathbone · 04/11/2011 16:13

Look it's not a question of whether the individual women involved, are responsible or not. Of course they are responsible for their own actions. I expect some of them are hoping for modelling contracts so that they can escape the hell that is working for Ryan Air.

The issue is wider than the invdividual choices of some women; it's also about the workplace environemnt that RyanAir is promoting, along with the impact that women being represented as sex toys has, to all the other women in the world who would rather be regarded as full human beings.

Sorry I'm not trying to slap you down here, I'm explaining how I see it, which is not how you see it and I"m not being rude or aggressive or nasty to you, but your immediate response to being disagreed with, is to comment how awful the feminist threads are. Why are you so defensive? Why not read the arguments with an open mind and if you disagree, say so politely without a strop?

MrsStomp · 04/11/2011 16:14

Have just received an email from Ryanair - APPARENTLY they will only accept compliments and comments by email. Complaints have to be submitted via the post - I think they want make it a bit like an obstacle course and test the stamina of complainers.

So by pen and paper to the following address (in case you're interested):
Ryanair Customer Service Department
PO BOX 11451
Swords
Co. Dublin
Ireland

OP posts:
EleanorRathbone · 04/11/2011 16:16

Oh and I agree iwth you that there prob isn't a direct link between this calendar and groping.

But there is an indirect one. Sexual assaults on women increase when lapdancing bars etc. open in an area. We know that there is an indirect correlation between women being represented as being there for sex, and women being treated as if they are there for sex.

thechairmanmeow · 04/11/2011 16:16

all the girls in this calender did it by choice, glamour models often say they love their work, and as their adults capable of making a choice we should let them , i certainly doubt they would put themslves up for this calender if every day they had to put up with a gauntlet of sexist remarks and gropeing.

looking sexy=victim? really?

leBof it isnt astonishing attall, is it equality that you want? if it is then both sexes must be treated equaly, simple right?

EleanorRathbone · 04/11/2011 16:17

Who said "looking sexy=victim?"

?

EleanorRathbone · 04/11/2011 16:18

It's not about whether we should "let them" or not.

It's about whether we want to live in a society where women are the sex class and where we are constantly reminded that we mustn't ever relax and assume we're actually human beings.

TheSmallClanger · 04/11/2011 16:21

Buggerlugs, cabin crew are not at all well-paid.

You're going to accuse me of making things up, too, but it is fairly standard practice for most employers, not just airlines, to have contract clauses preventing unauthorised talking to the press, or bringing the company into disrepute. I'd think it highly unlikely that any member of Ryanair staff would complain about this to the media, in case they were disciplined or sacked.

thechairmanmeow · 04/11/2011 16:22

being sexy doesnt stop you being a humane being

EleanorRathbone · 04/11/2011 16:23

Where did I say it did?

Swipe left for the next trending thread