What Century is This?

There have been a few news items lately with a running theme - indulge me for a moment while I wax lyrical. 

First there was the Tony Abbott faux pas re his opinion of his daughters 'gift' giving. Many reactions to the story, including mine, have wondered at the archaic idea that a woman's sexuality should be either repressed, or traded as a commodity.  Many, many more though have called Tony "brave" for talking about an issue that is supposedly avoided by male public figures and defended his right to have an opinion about his daughter's sex life.

Then there was the banker-turned-meme David Kiely who was sprung ogling naked pictures of Miranda Kerr in the background of a live cross on the channel 7 news. Kiely became a hero overnight. The David Kiely Facebook group has almost 2000 fans. The video has been watched more than a million times on Youtube and comments on the News Ltd sites are very much in support of the "unlucky" banker. Yes, men look at pictures of naked women. Yes, banking is probably not the most exiting job in the world. But the reaction to the story irks me to say the least. Whichever way you look at it, he was objectifying women - and he has been made a hero as a result.

I wonder what the public reaction would have been had the live cross been to a government department and the employee was looking at naked pictures of Jenna Jameson (supposedly the world's most famous porn star)? I put it to you that there would have been outrage at the "tax payers dollar being wasted" and that the images would have been labeled as "smut" or "porn". But as long as he's wasting someone elses money (and who doesn't hate banks?) and as long as it's "Our Miranda" then go right ahead buddy! It would be unAustralian to punish him.

Then I saw this story about the recent bomb attack on a Darwin insurance company. It alleges that the reason there was no footage of the attack is that the CCTV cameras were disabled due to investigations into misuse by the NT police. Supposedly there had been one or more officers using the cameras to "perv" (sic) on schoolgirls.

And finally back to Tony Abbott who has put his foot in his mouth again today by referring to "the housewives of Australia" doing their ironing - like the good little wifeys they are. As I've said in a previous post, I don't expect much more from Abbott, but an article in today's The Age reports a strong gain by Abbott in opinion polls. Seemingly he is growing on the Australian public.

So let's see. We have a society it seems that glorifies men objectifying women. Where a police officer thinks it's acceptable behavior to use CCTV cameras to sexualise young girls. Where looking at naked women in a corporate workplace is excused as a form of National Pride. Where a man who could one day (I can barely even type the sentence) lead the nation thinks women should be at home ironing shirts, cooking roast dinners and making themselves pretty for when hubby comes home to receive his "gift".

Rapid technological development and globalisation has moved sexualised images of women from behind the counter at the drug store to our television screens, our street corners, our soft drink bottles, our car windows, our buses - basically everywhere you look. Feminism has become a dirty word to young women who aspire to a cameo on Girls Gone Wild and a new advertising target group called "Tween" has been invented so that big companies can make squillions of dollars selling 12-year-olds bondage wear.

I'm not saying that a woman's sexuality should be shut up behind closed doors or that David Kiely is the devil - it's not necessarily what he did that bothers me, it's the public reaction. Women are used as objects to sell products. How can they be taken seriously? When Julia Gillard was made Deputy Prime Minister it was her hair and outfit choices that were scrutinised, not her political comments.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that the extraordinary power of new media to give the 'common man' a voice has shoved a microphone into the face of a public that has evolved very little over the last century in its opinion of women and their place in society.