NEWSSEXISM

Every Super Bowl has those one or two ads that everyone is talking about around the watercooler the next day. Remember last year’s Chrysler commercial starring Detroit and Eminem? And that adorable (and notably genderless) kid in the Darth Vader costumewho magically started the family car?It’s no wonder companies spend big ad bucks on the big game. $3.5 million for a 30 second spot buys access to over 110 million viewers, many of whom tune in as much for the ads as for the game. In fact, 66 percent of female viewers say they watch as much or more for the ads, compared to 46 percent of male viewers.

Yet the same polls suggest that men are regularly more satisfied with the ads than women. Why? Because many Super Bowl advertisers turn to sexist, racist, and otherwise offensive stereotypes to market their wares. GoDaddy is a regular offender, showcasing racecar driver Danica Patrick as a sex object rather than a driving champion. And last year Pepsi Max went for a double whammy of racism and sexism with an ad that may or may not have been poking fun at First Lady Michelle Obama. And who could forget Groupon’s ad from last year, making light of the plight of the people of Tibet to promote their services?

Some folks choose to skip watching the bowl altogether rather than rage at the ads. But this year there’s a way to voice your displeasure and make a real change in the way Super Bowl ads are framed. Miss Representation, the movie turned movement to challenge the portrayal of women and girls in the media, is calling for Super Bowl viewers to tweet their displeasure with sexist Super Bowl ads by using the tag #NotBuyingIt. Viewers on this tag will be asking others tweeting about the #SuperBowl who the ad was directed at and what message was sent about gender.

Roseanna Smith is a member of the U.S. National Women's Tackle Football team. Roseanna, Adrienne Smith, and their teammates have launched a petition in support of girls' right to play football.

When I was 17, I joined my high school football team.

Even in 1999, it wasn’t very popular move, talent aside -- and I didn’t have much of it then. What I did have was a desire to test the limits of what I thought I could do. By lifting weights and training harder than I ever had before, I earned biceps, abs, and a spot on the team. I worked full-time in the summer between two-a-days and a part-time evening gig at the local newspaper. Every practice, my goal was to be a full participant in every drill, exercise, and conditioning session. I only finished last at the beginning.

I didn't understand the offense at first. Many days, I would draw up plays and ask questions in the coaches' office after practice. I made too many mistakes to count. Some of the most embarrassing were lining up in a three-point stance as a tailback in practice or forgetting the play on the way to the huddle during a game. But there were many positives, the two most important: I learned how to be a player by earning a role on the team, and the opportunity to play football changed my life.

I’m telling you part of my story because it’s vitally important to understanding why other girls need to play football.

Everyone is familiar with radio station contests. You know, the kind where if you are caller number 100, you are entered into a drawing to win concert tickets, backstage passes, and weekend getaways. An Edmonton station is taking this promotional standard to an unbelievable new low in its Win a Wife contest. Yes, you read that right: win a wife.

The Bear 100.3 FM is calling for male listeners to submit an application (which poses  soul-baring questions like "What do you have to offer a smokin hot foreign girl?" and asks men to name the "Stupidest thing you've done in the hopes of scorin"). From the pool of applicants, the station will select five finalists to compete for the grand prize of an all-expenses paid trip to Russia. The contest is sponsored by A Volga Girl, an American company that bills itself as an "integrity-based" agency that helps American and Canadian men find Russian women "who have expressed a sincere desire to find emotional stability."

Applications are posted on the station's website. A quick perusal of the current top-rated men in the contest reveals that many of them consider good food, a clean house, and frequent, casual sex to be in their top three reasons for wanting a Russian bride. In other words, they want a maid that they think has to sleep with them.

Last night, Change.org member Lauren Todd saw a shirt on the JC Penney website and, she says, "I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

The t-shirt, clearly labeled for girls seven to sixteen, said “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me.” Right next to the picture, the retailer helpfully provided some text to talk the buyer into making a back-to-school purchase:  "Who has time for homework when there's a new Justin Bieber album out? She'll love this tee that's just as cute and sassy as she is."

Lauren didn’t think it was "cute and sassy," however. She thought it was one in a "series of small, seemingly cute and harmless messages, that can seep into a girl's mind and damage her self-perception and her self-worth." So she started a petition on Change.org asking the retailer to pull the offensive tee from its shelves.

This article cross-posted from The Lattice Group blog. Liz Kofman is the co-founder of The Lattice Group, a non-profit that conducts research and sparks dialogue about work-life issues from a Gen Y perspective, and a PhD candidate in Sociology at UCLA.

There is absolutely nothing I love more than a good deal. So when the stock market tumbled on Monday, I went bargain hunting for stocks.

(If you haven’t invested a dime yet, because you are either scared or indifferent, here are two words that should change your mind: compound interest. Here is a good primer on why investing young is important, and another link about how to start.)

One company that caught my eye was Zipcar, the car-sharing service. Sure, they haven’t made a dime in ten years but I think this kind of operation takes a while to get going, they have great name recognition, and they just expanded to the UK. Brits don’t mind small, silly looking cars so I think things are looking up. While doing my research, I glanced at their Officers and Directors. Here they are (after the jump):

Update: Summer's Eve has pulled some of their offensive ads; however, they refuse to admit to the racism or apologize. ESC Forever is asking that people continue to sign the petition to to end the entire campaign -- and don't give Summer's Eve any more credit than they deserve. You can read more here.

Last year, Summer's Eve ran an ad in Women's Day magazine called "Confidence at Work: How to Ask for a Raise". The ad featured a list of ten tips and first on that list was the suggestion that women should make sure to start off every work day feeling fresh by using Summer's Eve products.

After an outcry from women offended by the implication that using feminine hygiene products is the first step to career success, Summer's Eve agreed to pull the ad and issued an apology. They also created a Twitter account called Eve Cares to field the complaints. Director of U.S. Marketing Angela Bryant promised that Summer's Eve would do better in the future, and said, "Moving forward, Summer's Eve wants to not only connect with our customers, but to be an active leader on the issues that matter to women. We just engaged a progressive communications team, and in the next several weeks, we'll be talking to women all over the country about the issues that matter to us as women. We're insisting on open and frank discussions to make sure all of our future marketing and education efforts are relevant and respectful."

Summer's Eve recently unveiled their new ad campaign, called "The V", and it's safe to say that Bryant's promise was not kept. The press release announcing the new ads described an "empowering" campaign featuring "strong female archetypes" like Cleopatra, and stated that "Summer's Eve is not a means to confidence, rather it's a celebration of confidence, of being a woman, and taking care of their bodies." Missing from the press release was the fact that Summer's Eve makes products like douches that are considered by women's health experts to be unhealthy and unnecessary for women who want to "feel fresh" and take good care of their bodies.

Cross-posted from EMILY's List.

I grew up in a close-knit, opinionated family, and my grandfather, who was called Baba Charlie (one grandchild simply could not pronounce “grandpa”, and the rest is history), was my greatest fan – but also full of advice and admonishments. His favorite was, “Jenny! Act like a lady.” At first, I chafed at this. To me, it meant, don’t bite your nails. Don’t misbehave. I thought it basically meant, don’t speak your mind. But as I got a little older, and understood him more, I got it. My grandfather values civility above all; to him, acting like a lady meant: speak respectfully, be kind to others, care for those who need it.

Well, it’s pretty clear Cong. Allen West never learned any of those lessons. In case you missed it, West sent an email tirade on Tuesday to EL’s own Debbie Wasserman Schultz, congresswoman from South Florida, devoted mother and community leader, and history-making Chair of the Democratic Party.

West’s email is at once adolescent and threatening, sexist and full of rage:

"Look, Debbie,…let me make myself perfectly clear…you are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up. ..You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!”
Congressman Allen West, in a public email to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, July 19, 2011

"My concern is the Toronto District School Board (is) using tax money to tell girls that they are second-class citizens," Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, told the Toronto Sun. He's talking about the District's decision to allow a Muslim Friday prayer session in the Valley Park Middle School cafeteria, where it forces girls to sit behind the boys, and sends menstruating girls to the back where they can only listen, but not participate.

In just the past few hours, over 2000 people have signed a petition started by a Toronto resident, Tim Das, asking that the misogynist prayer sessions end -- that if the school wants to provide religious accommodations, it must still uphold its own gender equity policy and the terms of Ontario's Education Act. "The moment I read this story, I was aghast -- as a first generation Canadian and child of South Asian immigrants, as a Toronto resident whose hard earned tax-dollars were being used to facilitate this extreme misogyny, and most of all as the father of a sweet, spirited six year old girl in the Toronto Public School system," Das told Change.org. "After receiving an unsatisfactory response from the Chair of the School Board, I knew I had to do more." That's when he decided to start the petition.

The Muslim Canadian Congress is so strongly opposed to these gender segregated prayer sessions, it's threatening legal action. Alia Hogben, Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, has also spoken out against the school's segregated prayer sessions. Major Canadian papers on the right and left of the political spectrum have published editorials denouncing this practice, which gives school sanction to isolating and embarrassing young girls for a basic bodily function.

Sexualizing women in skimpy clothes is a typical clothing advertising ploy, but Zappos.com’s new ad campaign is drawing fire for zooming straight ahead and skipping the skimpy clothes.

The new ad campaign for the online shopping giant portrays models -- all female -- going about their daily activities in the buff. Naked lady hailing a cab, naked jogger, naked model riding a scooter: all wear only shoes and a banner over their private parts that features the campaign’s slogan, "More than shoes!" In each, creepy blurry men oggle the women from the fringes of the photos.

It’s clear what the product is in these ads -- and, as the tag line admits, it’s not the shoes. MissRepresentation.org, the online outgrowth of the Sundance award-winning film of the same name that spotlights media objectification of women, has started a Change.org petition calling on Zappos to discontinue their ad campaign on the basis that it sends a litany of bad messages to men and women alike.

Last night, MSNBC announced that “The Ed Show” host Ed Schultz would be suspended for a week without pay for calling radio host Laura Ingraham a “right wing slut.” The decision came after almost 500 Change.org members signed a petition started by the Women’s Media Center calling on the network to hold Schultz accountable for his sexist statement.

In announcing their decision to suspend the talk show host, MSNBC said, “remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” Julie Burton, president of the Women’s Media Center, announced that MSNBC and Schultz have also offered to meet with her organization to discuss how to make sure his inappropriate and degrading language will not be used again.

Schultz apologized on air Wednesday before handing his show over to Thomas Roberts for the duration of his suspension. He called his comments “vile and inappropriate” before offering apologies to Ingraham as well as his wife and children. While only time will tell, it seems Schultz may have learned to stick to the facts when debating an opponent rather than resorting to sexist slurs. “To the staff here at MSNBC, I apologize for embarrassing the company and the only way that I can really make restitution for you is to give you a guarantee, and the only way that I can prove my sincerity in all of this is if I never use those words again. Tonight, you have my word that I won't,” Schultz said.