A note on internet adverts.

Long time no typing. I've written a couple of bits and hope to stick them up here in the next few days, I squirrelled them away but putting it mildly it's about time I posted again.

This post is about internt advertisements. They're on pretty much every webpage. Generally they're telling me to lose weight or how to whiten my teeth "A Mom from Manchester discovered this one free tip!" I recently came across this one you can see on your left, fingers crossed..
Apart from the general abhorrent sexism of 'creating your perfect woman' relying on only breasts, lips and back side, I couldn't fathom where this link could possibly take you.
Yeah, I should have guessed- Evony.
For those of you who are blissfully unaware of Evony, it's an online role playing game where you have to conquer a medieval empire, I think. Not really my thing. As far as I can tell these games are ten a penny, I keep seeing adverts for one called 'The West' at the moment. Perhaps predicting that their game wasn't unique enough to keep anyone interested, they began using increasingly sexualised images to promote it, to the point where it was impossible to tell what the game even was.
Here's a brief history of the offending advertisements here.
As you can see, they began with a knight, then promises of a queen to save and "Discreet Play" promises began appearing. There are is no queen, no boobs and no faux lesbians on this game (I know, I was completely taken in and wasted two weeks of my life looking for boobs.. Not).
To be honest, as far as I can tell, the only reason you would need discreet play on Evony is so no one else sees you on it and thinks "The game with the boob adverts? Loser".
I find the Evony adverts stupid and offensive to men as well as women. The objectification of women is something that in our culture is seemingly inescapable, but the assmuption that men who would previously not be inclined to play an online RPG would be tempted by boobs is rather.. well. A sweeping generalisation to say the least. If anything, signing up and beginning to play a boring game seems like a lot of effort when you can simply flick open 'The Sun' on page 3..

There's another example of a banner advert that made me think twice on the right at the top. I hope. These ones are fairly standard, and I see them a lot on my travels across the land of interwebs. However this one got me thinking. Where do I recognise the "fat" photo from?
Oh yeah.


Dove's Real Beauty campaign. Guess that just shows that no matter how 'progressive' companies try to be with inclusive advertisements (how bad must it be when we consider adverts with 'imperfect' people progressive?!), there are always those who seek to profit from the insecurities of others.

I've also heard stories in which when woman changes her relationship status on Facebook she is bombarded with adverts for weight loss products that weren't there before, with titles such as "Time is running out- get slim for the big day!".
Kind of sickening really.
(Side note: I always get banner adverts about breast enlargements on Facebook- I wonder if my bra size was included as part of my basic information would those adverts disappear? Hm).

In a culture where negative messages about our body are everywhere, we need to keep our eyes open, our minds sharp and our bullshit sensors alert. People get rich off of our self hate, and it makes me want to put some kind of Lord of the Rings style adventuring team together to sort it out.
If we can shake off the effects of harmful advertising and love who we are, it'll make it a lot easier to the next generation of even more advertising saturated human beings to do it too.

Stop the put downs, end their power.

The Weapon of Choice

There is nothing finer than the right to choose.
To me, holding oneself accountable for one's own decisions is a part of gaining independence and the trust of those around you as well as trust in yourself.
Take for example the choice of whether I make myself a grilled chicken salad or walk across the road to one of the many takeaways that line the streets of my neighbourhood. You can see the 'right' decision here, but what I put into my body is my decision.
Likewise, the BBC tells me that the amount of men having breast reduction surgery has risen by 44% since 2007. It is their right to control what comes out of their bodies.
Whether you personally believe that cosmetic surgery is gross vanity or fast food is the devil incarnate, would you think to picket a plastic surgeons or place an advert on television proclaiming that grilled chicken salad instead of kebabs made you slim, and therefore EVERYONE must be subject to an law where there is no evaluation of your options required- you MUST have the salad.
No. Because we have to trust people to make their own decisions and not babysit them.

Tim Tebow is the most successful college football player in the USA. His mother Pam was advised to abort him due to medication she was taking posing a potential threat to the fetus. Clearly, she chose not to and mother and perfectly healthy son will appear in a pro life advert for Christian group Focus on the Family during the Superbowl.
Having not seen this advertisement that the blogosphere is currently clenching in their jaws and slamming into walls, I don't know if the Tebows are advocating the banning of abortion, or simply attempting to encourage pregnant women that it doesn't have to be the answer.

Pam Tebow, I respect that there was no way you were going to abort your child, and I am thrilled that your choice worked out to such amazing ends.
Ah. There's that little word again.
She had the choice of what her course of action was going to be. I'm pleased she had that choice, I'm not so pleased that she seems to want to take that choice from other women. One size does not fit all. Making it compulsory to continue with a pregnancy is irresponsible, and I'd say the same if it was the opposite and the abortion was compulsory. (As stated before, having not seen the advert, I'm merely speculating on Pam Tebow's motives and beliefs).

I live in England, where abortion is legal. This makes me feel safe. I'm not going to become pregnant any time soon, but I love the sense of security that knowing I am in a situation where I can have an abortion if I so choose, and don't need a note saying carrying this baby to term will kill me or damage my mental health, or worse seek out a back alley termination. I appreciate being treated like an independent variable, not a constant. I appreciate being trusted with knowing my own mind.
So when I think about the idea of having that freedom removed, I get scared. There is no talk of making abortion illegal here, but just that mere thought of having nowhere to turn, of having people who probably never have been and never will be in my situation rubber stamp my right to choose with an indelible 'Fuck you' is terrifying.

The late Doctor Tiller, murdered in 2009 for his work as an abortionist held the motto 'Trust Women'.
I utterly and wholeheartedly believe in this motto.
Holding other people to our own ideological or moral standards whether they be left or right, religious or secular can create horrible situations, no matter how right you think you are.
I doubt that this advertisement will be anything groundbreaking. The pro lifers will nod and say "yes!" and the pro choicers will grumble and roll their eyes.
In fact, if I know the etiquette of watching sports on the TV, everyone will be in the kitchen getting more crisps and beer.

But the point still stands. The act of banning abortion shows at best a desire to please one's God by controlling the freedoms of others (and when that's the best thing you know it's bad) and at worst a lack of trust in women to make decisions and thereby a void where the respect for women as autonomous beings should be.

OK rant over.
This is pretty badly written in my opinion, but I'm writing this blog to brush up on my writing skills, so maybe next time I write we'll see an improvement.
Toodles.

Start as you mean to go on?

They say everyone has a book in them, but I think it may be more likely that everyone has a blog in them. I say a blog, what I mean is probably more like a few meagre posts about what they ate that day and how that guy/girl in the coffee shop DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THEY EXIST.
I began this blog because I used to love to write and I used to love to read, and don't do either enough these days. I plan to stick with it and write about whatever I want, get my writing skills back up to scratch.
I'm a first year Religions and Theology student at Manchester University. I love music (Cynical Big Sister is a line from an Alabama 3 song), period drama, exploring my new city and I'm passionate about feminism and equality.
I really really really hate that bloody Kaiser Chiefs song.
I really really really hate the Kaiser Chiefs actually.

This is just a boring introductory post, the good stuff (fingers crossed) comes later (other set of fingers crosed).

xx