Is there any woman they won’t sexualise?
Farmer’s daughter here. Five generations, 139 years on the land.
I grew up riding tractors, my horse and motorbike. Eating oranges off the tree, picking grapes. Having a bath once a week.
I played cricket in paddocks, climbed trees, kicked the footy, caught fish.
I still have a connection to the land. As well as the freedom, independence and self-reliance, I never felt I had to conform to rigid ‘beauty’ standards. I wore a western shirt, denim jeans, leather riding boots. The most make up I wore was light blue eye shadow at the blue light disco.
The farming women I knew were tough, hard-working, enduring droughts and floods, hail storms, and multiple other hardships those on the land faced while growing crops to feed the country - and trying to raise kids with little money to spare.
But, according to Calendar Club ANZ, Farmer’s Daughters are none of these things. They are merely eye candy, masturbatory material for sale this Christmas. I’ll bet not one of the women in this calendar is an actual farmer’s daughter. Any self-respecting farm girl would not risk putting her delicate bits anywhere near three corner jacks, or stinging nettles, let alone lean her semi-naked body against a giant buzz saw. But I digress…
Calendar Club is a Christmas ‘pop up’ set up out in the open in busy shopping centres around the country.
I came across it in my local Westfield yesterday. In among Disney characters, craft and cute animals, you’ll see the prominent outward-facing porny pin-ups - faux Lesbian, ‘erotic lingerie’, thonged bums for any kids walking past to see.
Just below the front cover groin region of the Farmer’s Daughter issue is a green leaf motif declaring the packaging is “PLASTIC-FREE”. If only sexploitation was taken as seriously.
My colleagues and I were fighting these objectified portrayals of women when we launched Collective Shout in 2010. Since then, global research demonstrates that reducing women to the sum of their sexual parts contributes to real harms against them.
Collective Shout and Maggie Dent released a report last month documenting widespread, routine, sexual harassment of female teachers and female students. Just yesterday, the Australian Institute of Family Studies released the results of a survey finding more than half Australian teenagers 16-19 experienced sexual harassment in the past 12 months.
A sexist culture grooms sexist boys. Right now we are in the middle of the annual 16 Days of Activism against violence against women and girls. Calendar Club is contributing to the formation of sexist attitudes which lead to harmful behaviours.
I call on Calendar Club to ditch the p*rny calendars. And if they refuse, Westfield and other shopping centres should grow a Corporate Social Responsibility spine and stop hosting them.
For real farmer’s daughters and real farming women. And for all women and girls everywhere.
TAKE ACTION - Let Calendar Club know what you think.
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