{"id":7191,"date":"2011-11-22T09:09:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-21T22:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2011-11-19T19:40:04","modified_gmt":"2011-11-19T08:40:04","slug":"respecting-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2011\/11\/22\/respecting-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Respecting women"},"content":{"rendered":"

The media\u00a0on International Women’s Day<\/a> focused on the proper need to increase the opportunities for women and their representation in senior roles. However, discussion of the depiction of women\u00a0in the \u00a0media was largely and sadly absent. I believe this is a major issue in Australian society. Unfortunately it is too often overlooked by the media’s emphasis on clothing, body image, etc.<\/p>\n

Peter Garratt, federal Minister for School Education, Early\u00a0Childhood and Youth, has made a helpful contribution on the topic:<\/p>\n

SHOULD 13-year-old girls be modelling on the catwalk for international brand\u00a0 products?<\/em><\/p>\n

No. I think most people would accept that 13 is far too young an age to be\u00a0 working in an adult field, where image is everything.<\/p>\n

Modelling age appropriate clothes? Sure.\u00a0 Modelling adult clothes? No\u00a0 way.\u00a0 I was pleased to see that the local modelling industry doesn’t\u00a0 appear to\u00a0 support it either.<\/p>\n

Still there is no question that the sexualisation of\u00a0 children is\u00a0 prevalent\u00a0 because some sections of the fashion industry are willing it\u00a0on. But it should\u00a0 be resisted, and here consumers, media, industry and\u00a0 governments alike have a\u00a0 role to play.<\/p>\n

In particular, body image is an issue of huge importance for many young\u00a0\u00a0 people, especially girls.\u00a0 Nominated by them as their number one\u00a0 concern,\u00a0 negative body image can lead to serious health issues which can\u00a0 affect an\u00a0 individual during the course of their adolescence and into\u00a0 adult life.<\/p>\n

Expert advice to the government on the best strategy for dealing with\u00a0 this\u00a0 issue included a recommendation to initiate body image awards to\u00a0 recognise\u00a0 positive steps taken by the media, fashion and advertising\u00a0 industries to\u00a0 represent positive body image.<\/p>\n

We want to encourage cultural change and the awards will build on the\u00a0\u00a0 voluntary industry code of conduct developed by the former National\u00a0 Advisory\u00a0 Group on Body Image which guides the media, advertising and\u00a0 fashion industries\u00a0 in development of body image-friendly practices.<\/p>\n

As a parent of three young women, one of whom is a part-time model, I\u00a0 am\u00a0 well aware of the pressures that exist in the industry and the link\u00a0 between the\u00a0 projection of unrealistic images and expectations and poor\u00a0 body image.<\/p>\n

As Minister for Youth I’m aware that our goal of providing the\u00a0 opportunity\u00a0 for all young people to lead happy and healthy lives, with\u00a0 sufficient\u00a0 resilience to manage the turbulent journey through the\u00a0 teenage years to\u00a0 adulthood, will be harder to reach if we have a culture\u00a0 that continues to\u00a0 misrepresent images, especially through the use of\u00a0 very young people as role\u00a0 models.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more: Is 13 too young to be a model?<\/a><\/p>\n

Pornography has a significant impact on culture and the impact\u00a0is then reinforced by the impact of culture on pornography, especially the\u00a0increasing influence of violent sex and also\u00a0‘porn body image’. Pornography is destructive of our humanity and respectful relationships. A recent report notes,<\/p>\n

But for all the disturbing findings in the recent research, perhaps the most\u00a0 depressing statistic was that kissing, hugging or laughing was depicted in only\u00a0 10 per cent of sex scenes. This statistic alone should be enough to make us want\u00a0 to challenge and change the \u2018\u2018porn norm\u2019\u2019 so that it includes positive\u00a0 representations of women, and space for intimacy, trust and respect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more: Why the new porn is hurting women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m not convinced that the Slutwalk in Hobart<\/a> has accomplished very much for building respect and healthy relationships between men and women. Respect for women is the key issue and the use of the word\u00a0“slut” is unhelpful as it has to do with the commercialisation of a woman’s body. For most men prostitution does not engender respect! If the aim of the march is to encourage respect for women I am all for it, but please, let’s\u00a0find a new name.<\/p>\n

My summary,<\/p>\n