Duncan's Views

Hey Jo, Kitsry (Mum) Hows things ? I realise this blog is designed to highlight women's issues but in a way I think that people feel the debate has moved on, beyond just 'women's rights' (I may be playing devil's advocate here) TV Programmes like Gok Wan's just show the level to which all people, not just women, are subjected to a dumbing down of culture and debate, in television and newspapers especially. BB1 aired a programme yesterday called 'How mad are you?' yesterday asking people to distinguish between 'normal' people and those suffering mentally illness. It seems nothing escapes the media's desire for shock and ratings. I personally think capitalism is at the heart of this not so gradual move towards popularism. As until about 2 months ago, it seemed that capitalism and deregulation would solve all the world's problems. The neo-liberal model of economics adopted by so many governments explains exactly why Bankers are paid inordinate sums of money, and consequently why childcare workers are paid so little. It explains why Gok Wan's show is aired and why women are encouraged to spend large sums of money on unnecessary amounts of clothes, make-up, surgery etc. It may be that we are still living in a patriarchal society, which has ingrained gender stereotypes. Yet the reason these programmes get shown, that women are encouraged to act, live, in a certain way, is down to the markets again. The obsession with economic growth is reliant on people buying more and more. Money must be spent, more useless products muse be purchased. Demand must be pushed up at all costs. News/Politics programmers will never be as popular Gok Wan, again market forces working through advertising mean that his programme's will be aired more frequently. Everything is now perceived in terms of it monetary value. I didn't agree with a lot of the article (below) in which Sheila Jefferys airs her views. However, She is right that it is capitalisation of humans that has prompted the rise of the global sex trade. Society is not becoming deliberately more sexist, it is just reacting to the almost virtually accepted model that everything can have a monetary value attached, and moreover, that this a good thing. Capitalism is what currently drives the sexualisation of women and of normative gender stereotypes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/12/women-prostitution-marriage-sex-trade