Posts by Carolyn Skelton

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  • Up Front: They Have the Best Rides,

    I also think the commodification issue is important. However I don't think that older configurations of gender, race etc. map neatly onto the changes that have come with the intensification of commodity culture.

    The debates over Madonna and girl power come to mind. Madonna (and a few other women in the entertainment industries/media) has/have become quite powerful. There have been feminist arguments for and against this. However, it does seem to be a different configuration of gender and power than previously existed.

    The main questions that occur to me are: how much potential is there for large numbers of, and diverse kinds of, women to be equally powerful/successful? I also have a half formed question somewhere in the back of my mind, asking about the significance of women using their bodies to achieve success/power.

    Also, at the same time as the rise of more possibilities for women to succeed within commodity culture, there has been a rise in young women's anxieties about their appearance and intensification of pressures to conform to a narrow, and difficult to achieve ideal. I have in mind here a book written by an Aussie woman, which was talked about on nine-to-noon recently. It reported on research that showed some pretty scary stuff about negative outcomes for large numbers of women, as a result of pressures towards bodily conformity.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Field Theory: Photo Finish,

    TVNZ Sport Extra showed the whole of the sailboarding gold medal live, while the TV One News was on, the replayed it quite soon after on TV One. How different would that have been if Sky was covering it? Except of course that Prime News is on earlier.

    Sky doesn't have such a great record of showing live sports on Prime, or even replaying them that quickly.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: They Have the Best Rides,

    Umm... yes, I think we are agreeing. And I've never been called "dude' before but it sounds cool.

    Peter... funny!!!. But just in case there's any mis-conceptions about the kind of dubious up-bringing I might have had, I meant rugby as just plain old rugby: no subtext intended.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: They Have the Best Rides,

    Thanks, Emma. Your writing doesn't look to have declined to me. But maybe I am blinded by the empathy generated by the fact that I grew up in a violence free, rugby-centred household, and that I continue to enjoy watching rugby on TV too.

    But I also don't see evidence of a clear causal relationship between the apparent correlation between the simultaneous rise in pornography (or accessibility of pornography) and decrease in violence against women. They could have been 2 parallel developments with either no influence on each other, or some other underlying (possibly totally different) factor that influenced both of them. Then there's the problems in getting accurate statistics on and reporting of violence against women, and the way this fluctuates over time.

    But I also agree with you that it's important to accurately identify causes of violence, and the relationship between media/pornography and that violence. I think mainstream media, social context, dominant gender attitudes and (as others have mentioned) commodification of sex have some influence here, though not necessarily in a straightforward way.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: They Have the Best Rides,

    It seems to me that the statistics presented here show that there's not a clear causal relationship between pornography, behaviour and/or good/bad responses or practices. Consequently it seems to me that other factors must also be in play: eg social context, peer group influences, gendered attitudes the users are exposed to in their daily lives and other/mainstream media, type of pornography etc.

    Ignoring any possible weaknesses in research method, the statistics show general trends: eg being correlated with certain kinds of behaviour in a high proportion of men studied. But what about the men whose behaviour/responses don't conform to that? What factors are in operation that some men who use a lot of pornography have mysogynistic attitudes and other pornography users don't?

    To me it seems some people are trying to give too much weight to the pornography itself (and in general) and not the other interacting factors, both for the sex workers/porn actors and porn users.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: They Have the Best Rides,

    Actually, Emma, I think we're coming from different angles. My point didn't really have anything to do with judging porn as good or bad per se. I really see it as one of many media forms. I was just thinking that I find it difficult to make much of a judgement about any media representations of women based on how the actresses experience it. Though I do think it's an important corrective to criticisms that porn is bad for the women who participate in making it.

    Actually I'm not entirely sure how to differentiate porn from erotica. Also porn, or elements traditionally associated with it, have become fairly mainstream in the media in recent years.

    I still have Boobs on Bikes in the back of my mind, which I feel portrays a fairly narrow (and not very positive or assertive) image of women. And as an ex-motorcyclist, to me the best ride is indeed up front. It's much more exhilarating than riding on the back, and gives a sense of control that I could never get as a passenger.

    Hmmm..... but I do think media images also affect how girls judge each other, even though it may not be that direct.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: They Have the Best Rides,

    Emma,I'm glad to see you drawing attention to what women involved in the sex industry have to say. Also, I think one of the most important points you've made is about the stereotyping into some universal idea of sex workers, which masks diversity.

    But another difficult issue is how to account for both the sex workers' sense of empowerment and/or enjoyment of their work, at the same time as attending to the impact on large numbers of women.

    The same could be said of any women in entertainment industries. So for instance, a very thin successful model could feel empowered by her work, while many women who don't conform to that repeated and widespread ideal feel undermined, disempowered and generally quite shitty as a result.

    So, I don't have a problem with pornography or sex work in general, but with some of the ways it's promoted and any dominant messages that undermine or give a sense of disempowerment to a lot of other women.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    Sacha Danielle and others: I have read many of the Posts since Monday. I suspect that 70% of them are made by people like you who have endlessly repeated the same mantra, that the man is nasty, horrible despicable etc etc etc etc. That 70% includes endless speculations on what might be deduced from the scant information as long is it supports that the man is etcetc. Ad nauseum. You have as a group contributed nothing to the original post of Russel Brown's. The few who have attempted to look at the bigger picture have been ridiculed by you and others.

    Well, what counts as "the bigger picture", could be open to interpretation. Anyway, I selected a page at random from this thread and found this one from Deborah, that began:

    Posted at 5:33PM on 10 Jul 08. Permalink. (page 10 of my browser)

    Some handy information about the women as perpetrators of domestic violence line from the Feminism 101 blog....

    In this post there was a load of stats and info about <bold>the bigger picture</bold> of dv as perpetrated by males and females.

    Then on page 16 Sacha made some points about the nature of society, individuals and the law. These random selections support my impression (having read the whole thread) that this discussion has ranged over quite a bit of territory.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    "swad" is a word I grew up using, meaning a bunch of stuff.

    http://all-acronyms.com/?t=swads&g=0

    Scheduler Work Area Data Set

    http://www.acronymfinder.com/SWADS.html

    State Warehouse and Distribution Services

    South West Area Defense Sector

    http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/SWAD

    Noun: swad
    A bunch
    "a thick swad of plants"
    http://dictionary.die.net/swad
    swad
    n : (informal) a bunch; "a thick swad of plants"


    Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

    Swad \Swad\, n. [Probably fr. AS. swe?ian to bind.] [Written
    also swod.]
    1. A cod, or pod, as of beans or pease. [Prov. Eng.]

    Swad, in the north, is a peascod shell -- thence
    used for an empty, shallow-headed fellow. --Blount.

    2. A clown; a country bumpkin. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] ``Country
    swains, and silly swads.'' --Greene.

    There was one busy fellow was their leader, A blunt,
    squat swad, but lower than yourself. --B. Jonson.

    3. A lump of mass; also, a crowd. [Low, U.S.]

    4. (Coal Mining) A thin layer of refuse at the bottom of a
    seam. --Raymond.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: So far from trivial,

    In his statement Veitch said that since the incident he and Kristin had kept in touch continualy since the "incident". This made it sound that they were still on failry friendly terms. Yet he didn't find out the extent of her injuries til 2 months later according to the Holmes interview. And then the settlement was reached several months after that.

    In the Holmes interview Veitch also says he underwent counselling for a year. Yet the TVNZ statement says:

    http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1903549

    "Ellis said that on December 17 2007, TVNZ's Head of Television, Head of Corporate Affairs, Head of News and Current Affairs and News and Current Affairs Legal Counsel met with Tony Veitch at his request.?"

    At this meeting the TVNZ people claim:

    "We offered to put him in touch with some counselling and a lawyer to act for him at his own expense."

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 39 posts Report Reply

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