Hot off the heels of the ASA banning sexist advertising, it's time for us to take a closer look at our content. And perhaps the unconscious gender (and maybe even racial) bias we unwittingly put in our copy.
Since I've already made this NSFW by adding a photo of a page three lovely, I thought, fuck it, I'm going to fill it with profanities too. And yes, I do kiss my mother with this mouth.
I don't know if any of you remember the snippet of copy presenting alongside a picture page three model proudly and seductively posing with her tits out. It was called News In Briefs and it provided me and a some of my friends with unparalleled hilarity.
We assumed that a doe-eyed blond who made an easy buck by stripping off for sad middle-aged men to have a guilt-free wank over wasn't capable of quoting Trotsky or having an opinion on political affairs. This image is perpetuated by a society that labels women as pretty but dumb or ugly but intelligent.
I, as a woman, fell into this trap. As it played into a popular perception. And for feminism to win, this sort of content needs to stop.
Think about the brands you work for. I've worked for a company who was in the business of cars. Everything in their content was geared (pun intended) towards men because women don't drive and if they do, the internal combustion engine is too complicated for their tiny minds to process.
As it was about men, it was about hanging out with their mates and going to work. Any content aimed at women was about packing a picnic and looking after the kids because all men do is eat, shoot and leave.
I've also worked for a travel company, who assumed anyone going travelling would be young, skint and only interested in going to parties, drinking amphetamine-laced fishbowls of booze and getting fucked on the beach. What about older travellers who might want a bit of luxury or older travellers on a budget? How about locals react to people of a different race? It's not just white people who think anyone who looks different is a freakshow.
I've been called "one of the lads" since adolescence. Not because I wear shirts and crop my hair, but because I frequently drop the c-bomb, I enjoy going out drinking, I have a dark sense of humour and I openly talk about sex. Not sure what it is about these qualities that make me male. If a guy who looks after his appearance, dithers or shows vulnerability, he's called a girl. What is it about these things that are feminine?
So nothing makes me blow my fucking top more than content ramming motherhood down my throat or assuming that guys are adventurous with cool jobs, like barristers or scientists and girls just need to look good in bikinis, aspire to become fairies or obsess over what to cook their kids.
Oh hi, Sainsbury's, men cook for their children too. They don't just have BBQs with their mates, getting pissed while flipping burgers. Women like to climb trees and run in the mud with their kids, not just moan when they dirty the floor. And girls are capable of doing jobs like taking out the bins and landing on the moon.
