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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

This really pissed me off. Typical media attitude.

26 replies

JustGiveMeFiveMinutes · 12/02/2013 13:23

Chris Addison, the comedian was talking about his new film which is about porn. I'm not slagging the film off (yet) because I'll reserve judgement until I've seen it but when asked who was in it, he reeled off about half a dozen names, all men.

So Chris, there are no women in the film then Hmm

OP posts:
Sunnywithshowers · 12/02/2013 13:33

What an arse.

Of course, we know there are no women in porn...

BeerTricksPotter · 12/02/2013 13:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnyFuleKno · 12/02/2013 13:50

It's not fair to judge on that alone. I follow him on twitter. He of all people is very enlightened IMHO.

harryhausen · 12/02/2013 13:56

I follow him on Twitter too. He's extremely open minded and intelligent. A very harsh judgement on small list of names from a film.

Original poster
JustGiveMeFiveMinutes · 12/02/2013 14:05

If he's so enlightened and open-minded why the insidious sexism?

OP posts:
TunipTheVegedude · 12/02/2013 14:08

That's the thing though isn't it - sexism is so embedded that even people whose conscious opinions are open-minded can still display it.

harryhausen · 12/02/2013 14:09

Oh purlease. Are you talking about his appearance on the One Show?

harryhausen · 12/02/2013 14:12

I think of all the people to claim is sexist, Chris Addison is just not the right target.

MurderOfGoths · 12/02/2013 14:12

"If he's so enlightened and open-minded why the insidious sexism?"

If he's generally not sexist then surely this is likely a slip up rather than something "insidious"?

FireFoot · 12/02/2013 14:17

Do you actually think this was an attempt to denigrate the women in the movie and not just him naming the people that he hung out with on set? If you asked me to name the people I work with, I'd name the people I talk to most, and they'd nearly all be women. I would think it was insane if a man tried to say I was being sexist by not naming any men.

harryhausen · 12/02/2013 14:20

I agree Firefoot.

The film is about a Male Porn Editor in 1970's. Most of the characters in it ARE men. I don't think for a second he was making a social comment on the porn industry by deliberately leaving out the names of any female actors in it.

If it was the One Show (where he was on) Alex simply asked him to name a few people in it.

This is a stupid thing to get the hump with IMO.

Original poster
JustGiveMeFiveMinutes · 12/02/2013 14:42

The film industry treats women terribly and if you look at the numbers of women in the film industry and the inequality in pay etc, I think it's reasonable to say sexism exists within it. The fact that an actor promoted a film by naming men only, did indeed give me the 'hump.'

OP posts:
TunipTheVegedude · 12/02/2013 15:04

It's funny how affronted some people get when you notice someone they like being sexist.
Maybe he isn't normally. Maybe he is a really good bloke, I like him personally, but I just checked and there are 3 well known actresses in the film so if he really manage to not mention any of them in the interview then that is worth pointing out IMO.

This idea that so-and-so is normally a good bloke so they can't possibly do anything sexist ever and if they do you mustn't mention it is ridiculous.

harryhausen · 12/02/2013 15:22

I never said that sexism doesn't exist within the film industry. It does. I also don't have a problem with someone I normally like saying something I disagree with.

It's just I think this is blown out of proportion. If its indeed the programme/interview I saw. He wasn't asked to name everyone in it - he was casually asked about some names/people that were in it. Maybe the female parts are small? Maybe he didn't work personally with any of them. Maybe it slipped his mind? Maybe he didn't like them? I don't know, there could be any human reason other than - he's inherently sexist.

But, if some people see it differently then so be it. Shrug.

harryhausen · 12/02/2013 15:23

Turnip, I'm really not 'affronted'. No more than some people (IMO) are too easily 'offended'

AnyFuleKno · 12/02/2013 15:32

I'm not affronted, I just don't agree with you.

ecclesvet · 12/02/2013 16:49

www.chrisaddison.com/points_of_interest/the-look-of-love

Trying very hard to find something offensive, imo.

SplitHeadGirl · 12/02/2013 18:42

I saw him on This Morning today, and he said very clearly that he did not believe in generalising the sexes, (when Ruth made a joke about him sounding typically male) so I thought that was good.

Fillyjonk75 · 13/02/2013 14:29

I don't know about him being particularly enlightened. To me he comes across as rather laddish in a 1995 Loaded kind of way.

FastidiaBlueberry · 13/02/2013 14:46

I've never heard of him.

Biscuit
FloatyBeatie · 13/02/2013 14:57

I often feel a bit annoyed about male comedians who wear their anti-sexist credentials on their shirtsleeves whilst participating in what seems to be an incredibly and increasingly testosterone-dominated man-friendly world of TV comedy.

I'm guessing that all of the men involved in Thick of It, for example, are anti-sexist, but the show itself is largely a hypermasculine affair. It gets a huge weight of publicity behind it while the gentler, female-made series Getting On (just as funny IMO but not so oversold) takes its women's place in the background.

More and more I think that male comedians should make more of an effort if they want to pride themselves on anti-sexism. It isn't enough just to avoid offensive jokes -- they ought to refuse to appear on all those panel shows that predictably have either no women or just one token women trying to be polite in the face of oh-but-its-ironic sexism.

harryhausen · 13/02/2013 15:24

Nice idea Floaty. However, I heard a comedy series interview on Radio 4 a few months back with Sarah Milligan. She was asked why there were few women on TV panel shows and TV etc. She said something along the lines of (forgive me I can't remember exactly)

"I've never (personally) felt any sexism in the industry. The fact is there ARE fewer woman on the circuit. So if you're a half decent comedian you tend to get snapped up quickly to do the panels, which can be a gateway to your own show. It's really just about if you're funny"

So if she's right, and there really aren't as many women on the comedy circuit, is it any wonder that there's only a few on panels shows? I'm by no means saying that this is OK - it's just the female ratio is just reflecting the actual reality of what's going on. We need to ask why there aren't more - not blame the people already successful within it.

I love the programme Getting On as I love In the Thick of it. Getting On has won awards, had great reviews critically and was permanently supported by Richard Bacons TV review slot on 5live. In the Thick of it started off on BBC4 (as Getting On did). I don't remember a huge fanfare or marketing when it began. It just gained audience figures because people liked it. Yes, there's lots of men in it - but we are talking about Westminster which is hugely unequal in the sexes. Indeed, one of its main characters was a woman. Again, Westminster needs to have more female MP's, but again the programme is surely trying to reflect the reality of what exists now?

FloatyBeatie · 13/02/2013 15:31

All good points Harry (love your films, by the way, especially the scary skeleton army). I suppose I have been influenced recently by listening to the News Quiz when it has had at least two women (on one occasion I think there were three -- and just one man!) The dynamics are different when the female presence isn't a solitary one that has to stand in for all women. I appreciate that its really hard to get enough women in. So I think it would be great if there could be just one or two panel shows that aimed at having at least as many women as men (and we could still accept that, overall, for now, men will predominate, being thicker on the relevant ground).

harryhausen · 13/02/2013 17:59

Oh I totally agree (I love the news quiz). I would also consider leaving my DH briefly for a fling with Sue PerkinsGrin

I would be great to see more women in comedy. I think it's a really interesting point as to why there aren't as many as men? I don't know if its as simple as saying 'sexism'.

My DH works in film & TV. There are scant women there too (in his field anyway). I'm not sure why this is either. Could it simply be the lack of flexible hours? Late shoots? Maybe we're down to the childcare issue again.

Interesting to mull over though.

AnyFuleKno · 13/02/2013 18:50

Re the thick of it; The film version 'in the loop' is one of the few recent British movies I can think of that passes the bechdel test, and the thick of it has excellent female roles.