women in london

Sexualisation Review

On Friday 26th Feb, the Home Office published its Review on the Sexualisation of Young People with wide-ranging recommendations to address the media.

The Review specifically cites OBJECT and recommends many of the measures OBJECT has long sought for addressing media stereotyping, inclulding those that stem from evidence given by OBJECT to the report’s author, Dr Linda Papadopoulo.

Recommendations for improved media regulation include:
* Lads’ mags to be age restricted and for regulation of their display by mandatory codes with a clear complaints procedure
* The powers of the ASA to be extended to the internet
* Local authorities to pre-vet billboard advertising as part of their gender equality duties
* Applying the ‘watershed’ to highly sexualised music videos
* An end to the advertising of the sex industry in Job Centre Pluses

The report also calls for :
* Increased corporate responsbility in the sale of sexualised merchandise
* Further multi-discplinary research into the impact of media stereotyping
* And a working group to address the sexualisation of women and girls in the media.

The report also contains a slew of recommendations to address sexism, sexual bullying, sexual education and media literacy in schools.

Download report from Home Office site here http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/sexualisation-young-people.html

OBJECT Charter: Women and the Media

OBJECT has launched its pre-election Charter to coincide with the publication of this report. Our Charter calls for politicians to:
* Commit to the need for a socially responsible, gender aware media
* Recognise the need for independent regulatation of the media with mandatory codes on the sexual objectification of women and girls.
* Set in place a mechanism to achieve this
* Take specific steps to address the sale and display of lads’ mags and the Sport newspaper

View the Charter here http://www.object.org.uk/files/OBJECT Media Charter1(2).pdf

Pyjamas or Porn?

We also marked of the review with ‘pyjama power’. Pyjama-clad OBJECT protestors protested outside regional Tescos on Friday to raise awareness of the fact that some stores recently banned shoppers from wearing pyjamas on the grounds of causing ‘offence’, yet continue to sell pornographic lads’ mags alongside comics and magazines.

We will be polling shoppers to ask ‘which would you rather see in your shop – pyjamas or porn?’

Full details here http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=300721606903&index=1