On being a boy toy: from a very early age, females are subjected to many subtle, and some blatant, pressures to enhance their physical attractiveness

An Ontario woman wrote that her 12 - year - old niece, who was neither fat nor thin, had been dieting since she was nine years old. She and her Grade 8 friends worried about their weight, their hair, their clothes, their shoes. But, mostly, their weight.

They could be learning a second language in the time they spend each day thinking about food and calories and weight," wrote Linda Turk. "They're being cheated of their childhoods, and they're going to realize this -- someday."

How women are portrayed in the media often doesn't help. As Vancouver writer Michelle Barker sees it women are bombarded with messages that they are somehow not good enough -- not young enough, not thin enough, with jobs that are not glamourous enough.

Women still have a fundamental lack of belief in themselves," Barker says. "This is the heart of what TV commercials depend upon. And, without this belief, even the most equitable legislation won't help women achieve their potential... Women have been set up to pursue the impossible dreams of everlasting youth, Olympic fitness, and perfect figures.

It is only by not permitting these values to be imposed upon us that we can combat this cycle of self - doubt and emerge stronger, healthier, and ready to meet the truly important challenges that face us."

About the same time this article appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper in 1992, Quebec's Council for the Status of Women commissioned a study on women in advertisements. While most advertisers were beyond showing sultry, half - naked women in their ads many used more subtle forms of sexism. "There's nothing wrong with sensuality," said Johanne Tremblay, head of information services at the Council. "It's a question of how it's presented -- is it in a relationship of domination or equality? Does the woman play a submissive role?"

The Council asked one professor to view 3,000 prime - time television ads over a seven - week period and he found that nearly half were what he considered sexist. He said women often were shown in traditional roles such as homemakers or secretaries, or were obsessed with their physical appearance. And, they were depicted as being ignorant, frivolous, superficial, and unable to do difficult things.

The magazine business could do with a little revamping too, according to Toronto writer Janice Turner. In a Toronto Star article, she accuses mass circulation women's magazines of playing up the tired stereotypes of women as being preoccupied with shopping, their appearance, and getting and keeping a man.

Reviewing several women's magazines, she found: "For every inch of serious copy -- and some of it very good -- there are yards and yards of trivia and glitz," on such things as how to dress, how to eat, how to find real love in the personals, or how to tell if the water you shampoo with is hard or soft on your hair.

But, many women are rebelling against this stress on surface appeal. It may be a small measure of change but the makeup business is shifting as more women opt for a natural look. One Canadian lawyer says as women have more money and more power they don't have to look like Barbie dolls and behave like boy toys.

Naomi Wolf's feminist book, The Beauty Myth, denounces the enforced use of makeup as exploitation. Ms. Wolf argues that social pressure compels women to spend their ever - more limited time, energy, and money desperately trying to meet an artificial ideal of beauty, and this distracts them from larger, more important thoughts.

There's some evidence that ads are starting to portray women as real people -- a 1993 Saturn car ad cast a woman in the role of decision maker; a Bell South campaign for its ESSX phone systems showed women instead of men running their own company; a Royal Bank mortgage commercial showed a single woman making the decision to buy a home.

However, in a survey of 2,000 men and women in communications released in June 1993 by Advertising Women of New York, 65% of women respondents said they believe the old boys' network still exists and limits their career advancement, especially in advertising. So, the ads may be progressing faster than women's careers in the business.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. The 45 - year - old Miss Canada pageant was discontinued in 1992 partly because of the cost but also because it was long criticized as sexist and therefore "a little outdated." The Miss Teen Canada pageant was ended in 1990. Is this a move in the right direction, away from stereotyping women as superficial objects? Discuss.

2. Assign a team of students to study Naomi Wolf's book, The Beauty Myth (1990), and prepare a report on it for class discussion.

3. The emphasis on surface beauty in women makes victims of men as well as women. Men are conditioned to be attracted to pretty women which may mean they miss out on meaningful relationships with less physically beautiful partners. Do you agree or disagree with these statements?

4. Appoint two teams of students of monitor the media for evidence of sexism. One team can look into print media and the other electronic. Have each team share the evidence of sexism they find as well as evidence of the realistic portrayal of women.

TOP COPS

Women are not making it into top - level police jobs according to a federal report, partly because of promotion systems based on seniority. The 1993 report recommends that forces emphasize other things, such as written exams, when making promotions. The study was based on federal statistics, surveys of police forces, and interviews with both male and female officers.

There were about 4,200 women officers in 1992 -- about 7.5% of the total police personnel in Canada; that's up from 181 women in 1965, and 1,047 women in 1980.

The report found resentment towards women at all levels of the hierarchy and despite the statistics some men complained that they felt women were more likely to be hired and promoted. However, it wasn't until November 1994 that a woman was appointed as chief of a city police force in Canada. Lenna Bradburn has taken over as chief of the 142 - officer Guelph, Ontario force. But, she plays down the significance of the appointment: "I don't look at someone as a woman or a member of an ethnic group. I look at what their capabilities are."

But, a few months before Chief Bradburn's appointment a very different story made the headlines. A female officer on the New York City police force did a nude photo session for a girlie magazine. The reporting of this event served only to reinforce the sex object stereotyping of women.

HEROINES FOR THE NINETIES

Has reality come to television networkland? Two of the most successful TV shows in the fall 1994 schedule are about ordinary women. The stars of Grace Under Fire, and Ellen are well over 30 and closing in on 40. They are single moms with wardrobes that are strictly K - Mart. They both have regular jobs rather than glamourous careers that require them to wear provocative clothes. Even the names -- down - to - earth Grace and Ellen -- are a far cry from the rhinestone - studded Tiffany's and Kristal's of the 1980s. Of course, the airwaves still carry more than their fair share of TV shows that depict women primarily as curvaceous airheads. However, it is possible to find programs that depict the lives of women more realistically.

FLYING HIGH

The Times of London news service reported these fascinating flyer facts:

In June 1994, a 12 - year - old Pennsylvania girl pilotted a single - engine plane across the Atlantic. Vicki Van Meter held the record for being the youngest female pilot to cross the continental United States until a nine - year - old captured the title. "I'm just doing it for the challenge," said Van Meter. She followed a similar route to that of Amelia Earhart in 1932 when she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

In 1933, Australian Lores Bonney flew 19,800 kilometers to London from Australia. She was lost in storms, suffered food poisoning and had to ditch her de Havilland Moth off Bang Baing Island in Thailand. The plane was a write - off, but she rebuilt it in Calcutta and completed the trip in a total of 10 weeks. Before she started the journey, she prepared her husband's menus for the time she would be away. Bonney died in Queensland in March 1994 at the age of 96.

In World War II, Britain's Air Transport Auxiliary enlisted women pilots ("Atagirls") because there weren't enough unfit civilian male pilots ("ancient tattered airmen") to ferry fighter planes and bombers to

Copyright Canada and The World Jan 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved