OBJECT January 2015 Newsletter Dear Supporter, What a start to the year! Last week brought some significant ups and downs, and ‘The Sun’ showed its true contempt for 51% of the UK population, with its manipulative actions surrounding the rumoured removal of, and reinstatement of, Page 3. We are delighted to be part of a movement of feminists and feminist allies which is working together to effect real and positive change, BUT there is still much more to be done, and OBJECT has started taking the next steps towards ending media sexism including a focus on page 3 of another ‘redtop’, the Daily Sport. Sexism isn’t just present in The Sun, it is endemic across the UK national press. OBJECT has always campaigned for an end to media sexism, both in the form of Page 3 style tabloids, and other objectifying practices in the press - our historic work in this area has included:
Giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, which resulted in the (then) editor of The Sun, Dominic Mohan, being recalled to give further evidence to justify the existence of Page 3, and which also influenced many of the Leveson Report’s recommendations about the representation of women in the press and the reporting of violence against women.
Organising direct actions and protests, including the creation of our well known 'Spot the Difference' birthday card (in 2012) video here,
Producing the ‘Just the Women’ report (co-written with Eaves, EVAW and Equality Now), published to coincide with the publication of the Leveson Report. To view the report, please see here: Just the Women
Current Media Sexism Work Object is continuing to press for a broader response to media sexism than the Sun’s Page Three, through our media sexism campaign, details of which can be seen here: Object media sexism campaign Our demands include:
Calling on retailers to implement the Bailey Review recommendation 1 (ensuring that magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers are not in easy sight of children).
Celebrating retailers who have acted with social responsibility.
Requiring the Sport and Weekend Sport to be placed on the top shelf.
Calling local regulators (Trading Standards and Police) to enforce the Indecent Displays Act
Asking Northern and Shell to end Page 3 of the Daily Star. Please sign and share the petition
Stripping the Illusion
Protest Against the Paul Raymond Awards We have continued to work to tackle lap dancing clubs’ attempts to get round regulation, including a protest outside Spearmint Rhino in London, at the end of 2014, which highlighted broader links to the sex industry. Feminist comedian Kate Smurthwaite joined us at the protest and you can watch an interview with her here: OBJECT’s protest took place on the day of the Paul Raymond Awards, which were held on 24th November. The awards ‘celebrate the pornography industry’, and were, we were disappointed to note, hosted by Russell Kane. OBJECT’s position is anti-pornography, as we believe it objectifies and degrades women, and trivialises and eroticises violence against women. An example of this is the website FakeTaxi.com, which shows scenarios of extreme coercion and degradation of women, making light of genuine concerns about the dangers of unlicensed taxis.
We have been pleased to have received support from the section of the trades union Unite that organises taxi drivers. On the subject of the ‘fake taxi’ porn genre, Bobby Morton issued the following statement: “On behalf of the Taxi section of the Unite the Union Passenger Transport Sector, I wish to condemn the award nomination of FakeTaxi.com, as well as UKAP who are hosting the awards ceremony for best porn sites for XBIZ EU. Normally I would not sully my hands by writing about such an event, however the FakeTaxi.com site is extremely distressing and demeaning to women, and should be avoided at all costs. Further to this, it is also disrespectful to the thousands of taxi drivers in this country, both members and nonmembers, who are respectable people giving a service to the general public and who would never dream of taking part in the distasteful activities depicted in FakeTaxi.com.” Thank you to all our activists and supporters who gave their time and energy to this protest. Lap Dancing Club Licensing Update The Spearmint Rhino lap dancing club on Tottenham Court Road in London is applying to have its licence renewed. OBJECT provided evidence in support of the White Ribbon Campaign’s formal objections, and we were really pleased that so many of our supporters took action and made their objections during the consultation period (which ended on 26th November). As a flagship branch of the chain, this is a significant licensing case. We were pleased that the outcome of reduced hours and additional requirements associated with dancer welfare were imposed. We continue to provide advice and technical information about the licensing regime to local objectors across England and Wales. If you would like advice on how to object to
lap dancing clubs in your area, please email campaigns@object.org.uk
OBJECT in the Media Sexism in Music Videos At the end of 2014, Eminem released a track in which he threatens Iggy Azalea with rape, to promote his album, and also said that he would punch Lana del Ray, just like the NFL footballer who punched his wife unconscious. Betiel Baraki, OBJECT’s Campaigns and Outreach Officer, commented on BBC’s Newsbeat that Celebrating violence against women is often trivialised and treated as entertainment. We know the impact of a culture that constantly trivialises rape and treats it as entertainment contributes to a climate where violence against women is further normalised and entrenched and the voices of rape survivors are further silenced. VAWG is never OK or entertaining. If we care about equality, it is time to take a stand against misogyny and the trivialisation of violence against women and tell the music industry and artists to end producing music videos with misogynistic and racist content. To see the article about this, click here http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/30143562 Julien Blanc and Dapper Laughs We objected very strongly to the planned visit to the UK by Julien Blanc, a self-styled ‘pick up artist’, who runs seminars teaching men abusive and misogynistic tactics for meeting women. OBJECT and its supporters garnered much public support for a petition calling on the Home Office to revoke his Visa, and our CEO spoke on Radio 5 Live on the subject – you can listen on our YouTube channel. We are very pleased that the Home Office took the decision not to allow Julien Blanc the opportunity to share his reprehensible views in the UK.
OBJECT was also very much involved in the call to ‘#take down Dapper Laughs’: we supported the petition organiser, and called on supporters to tweet and speak out against the ‘comedian’s’ ITV2 show. Our calls were successful, and show the power of speaking out against misogyny. Our Chief Executive was quoted in the Daily Mail
Please see OBJECT’s YouTube channel for more media appearances and updates. OBJECT Outreach OBJECT has been very busy, speaking at many events and running workshops over the past couple of months. Here’s a selection of some of the things we’ve been up to… UKMusicVideo Conference and Awards Betiel Baraki attended the UK Music Video Conference and Awards. The event hosted directors, producers, commissioners and artists. The talk focused on the economic difficulties the industry is facing. There were various opinions with some individuals from the music industry sharing our views on the sexual objectification of women and girls in the music industry. NUT ‘Challenging Sexism’ Conference Betiel Baraki also participated at the NUT Challenging Sexism Conference that took place on in November. It was a great day with inspiring speakers, and workshops organised by a host of feminist organisations. NUT President Max Hyde (@NUTMaxHyde) attended OBJECT’s workshop and shared her support for all our work and campaigns. She closed the conference
and inspired the audience to keep challenging sexism and supporting for call for SRE to be compulsory- “it is what our children deserve”- she added. Man to Man, White Ribbon Campaign event On 21st November, OBJECT was pleased to speak at this event. UCU Women Members’ Conference: “Women Against Oppression” OBJECT’s CEO, Roz Hardie, spoke at this conference in Manchester, about our media sexism work. Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom On 1st December, Roz spoke at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom’s event in Parliament. The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and the Media Reform Coalition publicly launched an initiative to promote communication rights and media reform in the run up to the General Election. At the event on 1 December they launched a short consultation document in advance of a Media Manifesto to be published in March 2015. Inviting comments by 31 January, the aim is to present a set of proposals that have support from a wide coalition of civil society organisations. Other speakers at the event included Chris Bryant, John McDonnell, and other MPs and speakers from various media reform groups, trade unions and other civil society organisations. For more information, please see here: http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?subject=media%20ownership&doctype=events&id=3159
Reclaim the Night OBJECT marched in solidarity with our sisters, to speak out against violence against women, at the Reclaim the Night march in London on Saturday, 22nd November. We were very proud that Beti, our Campaigns and Outreach Officer, spoke at the rally after the march. Her rousing speech was very well received, and you can read it here.
Domestic Abuse Scotland: Equality and Respect For All OBJECT’s CEO, Roz Hardie, was very pleased to speak at this conference in Edinburgh, in December. Outreach and education work is a very important part of our work, and we plan further activities in this area in the coming months. If you would like OBJECT to speak at an event, school or college near you, please contact ido@object.org.uk Other Updates New Regulations surrounding the production and sale of pornography in the UK. As most of our supporters will be aware, the regulations about restrictions on the content of pornography sold online and over the counter in the UK, were updated in December 2014. OBJECT welcomes these new regulations, whilst acknowledging that there are discrepancies in some of the restrictions, and we believe that they will be helpful in the control of coercive and very violent pornography. In the longer term, we believe that definitions need to be improved and that future governments need to adopt harm based definitions in future regulation. Call for compulsory SRE in schools Thank you to our supporters who took part in our call to action, and contacted their MPs to ask for their support in calling for compulsory sex and relationship education in schools. Two bills on Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) were brought by MPs Caroline Lucas and Diana Johnson, and were due to
have had their second reading in the House of Commons in October and November. Both bills’ second readings have been postponed until February 2015, so please watch this space for more information. While we wait for the second reading, you can continue to lobby your MP to ask them to support the bills, and you can continue to sign and share the petition: Please support this important campaign by signing the petition here:
OBJECT Actions - Take Action and Get Involved! Tell the Government Your Views OBJECT supporters have a chance to tell the Government their views on priorities for gender equality, and what has got better and worse in the last five years. Please see the survey below. There are two ‘free text’ boxes near the end of the survey, which can be used as spaces to highlight some of the issues that OBJECT campaigns about: for example, the harms of prostitution (an area which women are often forced into due to poverty and financial insecurity) and to call for the adoption of the ‘Nordic model’ to challenge demand and offer support services for women who wish to exit the sex industry. Also, we would suggest that women suffer due to endemic sexism: our culture is so ‘pornified’, representations of women in the media are so often highly sexualised, that girls are taught from a young age that their main role is to be a compliant sex object, and women and girls suffer violence and abuse. To complete the survey, please see here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/your-chance-to-shape-uk-priorities-on-genderequality Upcoming Events - Dates for the Diary UNISON Women’s Conference – February 2015 OBJECT is proud to be running a Fringe meeting at the conference on Friday, 13th February. If you are going to be at the conference, please come along, or say hello to us at our stall! Other actions For regular news and updates, please follow OBJECT on Facebook Twitter YouTube and share our updates with your friends! Please support our work OBJECT is continuing to make a big impact for a small organisation, putting the issue of the objectification of women and girls on the media and political agenda, changing laws and policies, and empowering women and girls to come together and speak out.
In order to be able to continue our work in a challenging climate for campaigning organisations, we need your help‌ Please consider joining OBJECT, or making a donation to support our campaigns. Every amount makes a difference, and helps us to plan and carry out our work most effectively. Thank you. To become a member of OBJECT, please see here: http://object.org.uk/join-us To make a donation to OBJECT, please see here: http://object.org.uk/donate Thank you, as always, for your support of OBJECT’s work. With best wishes, The OBJECT Team
OBJECT empowers its supporters to challenge sexism and to make political and social change happen. We are organising lively grassroots activism across the UK and ensuring that the sexual objectification of women is debated at both a public and political level.
To change your details or unsubscribe email ido@object.org.uk