Motion Against the Objectification of Women

Today at the Union Council meeting, council members will be asked to vote on the NUS Women's Campaign's Motion Against the Objectification of Women. The resolution of the motion goes as follows:

1. That the Student Union will stand against objectification in all its forms. This includes, but is not limited to, opposing and, where possible, preventing:
a. Sexist events being run or condoned by the SU such as university beauty pageants.
b. The commodification of women’s objectified bodies e.g. the sale of ‘lads’ mags’ in union shops and the production of nude calendars by societies.
c. Sexist advertising in the Student Union.

The motion has been met with hostility from students who, clearly not understanding the history and dynamics of objectification, are disgruntled by the fact that the motion ignores the objectification of men. Opposition is also posed by students who disagree with the 'ban-culture' of the union. These students believe that we are intelligent agents capable of exercising informed consumer choice, who haven’t thought about the fact that what we are sold is dictated to us by the market and more importantly that the sale of lads’ mags perpetuates and promotes sexism and sexual violence. Women have no choice in being objectified and should not have to suffer and endure objectification in order to protect the rights of privileged males wishing to exercise consumer choice.

The presentation of this motion today coincides with the publication of a government report that recommends restrictions on the sale of lads’ mags, which the author blames “for the rise of sexual bullying and links it to a rise in violence against women.”1

OBJECT, an organisation who campaign for an end to the sexual objectification of women in the media and popular culture, have also decreed today ‘Feminist Friday’ and are calling for people to write feminist slogans on paper bags, pop down to their local Tesco and cover all the lads mags with them. They are targeting Tesco for “the fact that they've banned the wearing of pyjamas and slippers in some stores but they continue to sell and promote misogynist pornography to adults and children in the form of "lads mags".

In the spirit of Feminist Friday, let’s hope USSU council pass the Motion Against the Objectification of Women!

1.http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/the_p_word/newsid_10050000/newsid_10058700/10058731.stm