Stop the rot of media sexism to tackle violence against women and girls, Ministers told

Restrictions on sexually explicit and objectifying images in newspapers and magazines, and specialist training for journalists on the reporting of violence against women and girls will be among the measures proposed in a Parliament debate on media sexism this week.

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, who recently helped launch a month-long campaign with women’s groups in Brighton and Hove to highlight sexism in the media, will challenge culture minister Ed Vaizey in a debate on Wednesday (12 June, 11-11.30).

Lucas will draw from evidence already sent in by people responding to the Spot the Sexism campaign, which is calling for people to send in their examples of sexist reporting throughout June for a report to be presented to Ministers in July.

There has been growing pressure on editors to take action against sexist reporting following damning evidence given to the Leveson Inquiry by a coalition of women’s groups, Just the Women’, last year, and the success of social media initiatives like Everyday Sexism and No More Page 3.

Speaking ahead of the debate, the Brighton Pavilion MP said:

"From the Sun’s regressive Page 3, the Daily Mail’s dissection of women and girls into ‘curves’ and ‘pins’, or rape and abuse cases being reported next to pictures of half-naked women, our media routinely sends out damaging messages about the place of women and girls in society.

"With violence against women taking place on such an alarming scale, the Government and the industry must now take action to challenge the cavalier attitudes within the media industry which often lead to the trivialisation of sexual violence and abuse.

"This should involve the restriction of the sexually explicit and objectifying images which have become unacceptably commonplace in our newspapers and magazines, as well as specialist training for journalists on the reporting of violence against women and girls.

"Given the scale of the problem, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee should also carry out a full inquiry into sexism across the media."

Lucy Holmes from the No More Page 3 campaign said:

"With David Cameron and Nick Clegg responding to the No More Page 3 campaign with patronising and naive comments like 'shut the paper' and 'if you don't like it don't buy it', it is terrific that Caroline Lucas is standing up and speaking up about the gobsmacking sexism that we have had to put up with in the British press.

"People have had enough. They've had enough of a media that treats women as being primarily there for decoration and titillation, which sanctions calls of 'get your tits out' and seeks to silence those who speak up, like Clare Short did in the 1980s, with taunts of 'you're ugly and jealous.'

"It's quite simple really – we want to see women represented with respect in the media."

Gail Gray, CEO of Brighton-based charity RISE, said:

"Media sexism genuinely affects how we view and treat women, and how women view and value themselves.

"It’s important that the impact of the everyday sexism we find in the media is not trivialised, that we can ‘Spot the Sexism’ and identify the damage it does to everyone in society."

ENDS

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