This is what I’m getting at:
SMH front page clip showing an article about eliminating bingo wings (for women) in the Life & Style section
SMH front page clip showing an article about 'giving me 20' (for men) in the Executive Style section
I’ve written about this kind of thing before, but don’t have time right now to go back and find you links, but basically, here’s my beef:
Women are in the Life & Style section.
Men are in the Executive Style section.
Really, SMH?
We’ve known for a long time that “Life & Style” is really just another way of saying “Trivial stuff the WIMMINZ like” for many newspapers and magazines. Likewise, it’s not exactly new for the “Executive Style” category to be coded “IMPORTANT STUFF FOR MASCULINE MACHO MEN WHO LOVE BLACK COS THAT’S MANLY AND COLOURS ARE GIRLY” (please excuse the caps, but I feel like it’s being shouted at me whenever I see that section).
Because, of course, all executives are men. Of course. /sarcasm
Seriously, SMH. Surely you can do better than this?
(This is apart from the likely problems with the articles themselves, which I admit to not having read. Have at ’em in comments!)
Categories: Culture, gender & feminism, media
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I’ve only read the bingo wings one. Sure if that sort of thing bothers you, it’s worth knowing what exercise will help stave them off or firm up your arms. But it would have been nice to have a bit of – we live in a hot climate, you don’t have to be embarrassed about your arms just make sure you stay cool and comfortable.
The other article that got me today was a weight loss diet for breastfeeding mothers. So a woman who was pregnant looked for weight loss and exercise options for new mothers and found nothing, nothing I tell you! I suspect she didn’t look very hard. So she has created her own diet for women who don’t have a nanny and personal trainer. Again, no ‘you’ve just had a baby, your body has undergone some changes, be nice to yourself and focus on eating as well as you can, looking after yourself and your baby and forget about being a yummy mummy for a while and be kind to yourself. She could have sold it as an easy meal planning tool for busy mums as well as some suggestions for getting out and getting exercise, if you feel you want to, with your new bub. But then the big ticket sales words diet and weight loss wouldn’t have been there then and we can’t have that, apparently.
I just couldn’t bring myself to read the changing your appearance one.
I also just love (=hate) the way that the exercise for women is about looking good, whereas I presume – from the clip on the front page – that exercise for men is about being MANLY and MACHO and JUST THE WAY IT SHOULD BE.
Apart from the rampant ABLISM in both of those positions (which I forgot to actually say in the post; if it’s not obvious, it was done on the run 🙂 ), that’s just oh so very aggravating.