#notbuyingit Archives | Stop Street Harassment

Kendra Corbin. SSH Intern

This year’s Super Bowl XLVIII will air on Sunday, February 2 at 6:30 PM. Millions of viewers will lounge in front of their TVs with junk food and beer. Instead, I will be parked on my couch, rolling my eyes and making that, “ugh,” sound under my breath, awaiting the inevitable sexism that plagues Super Bowl commercials.

In the past, Super Bowl Sunday has been a breeding ground for sexist ads. Go Daddy notoriously receives backlash for its ill-fated attempts at making Internet domain names sexy. Take a look at last year’s cringe-worthy commercial. As a warning, it’s painfully awkward to watch. The slogan is, “When sexy meets smart, your small business scores.” Aside from being genuinely gross, this commercial implies that beautiful people, women in particular, cannot be smart and smart people cannot be beautiful.

In 2012, Teleflora released a steamy commercial with questionable implications. The flower company’s commercial features a beautiful woman slowly slipping into lingerie. She looks into the camera and seductively says, “Guys, Valentine’s Day is not that complicated. Give and you shall receive.” Get it? If you buy a woman flowers, you’ll automatically get laid. What an adorable message to send to millions of Super Bowl viewers.

Also in 2012, Fiat released a commercial that features a woman that catches a man gawking at her in the streets. At first she is angered, though her anger quickly turns into heated passion. The man then wakes up from his daydream just as the beautiful woman turns back into a car. This commercial is problematic because it objectifies women while simultaneously making light of street harassment. Leering at women in streets is not a sexy turn-on. It’s creepy.

Luckily, this year viewers can combat sexist commercials by using The Representation Project’s new #NotBuyingIt app. During the Super Bowl, viewers can publicly call out companies for their offensive advertising tactics. Although #NotBuyingIt has previously been available on Twitter, it is now easily accessible via the iPhone app. The goal is to spread the word about sexist advertisements, grab the attention of the offending companies, and spark a positive change within the media and society.

Stop Street Harassment’s similar operation Campaign Against Companies calls out offensive ads that specifically trivialize street harassment. Along with using the #NotBuyingIt app, we encourage viewers to submit offensive ads related to street harassment, as well. In the past, Stop Street Harassment and supporters have been able to convince several companies to refine their distasteful advertisements.

During the game, I do not want to see any scantily clad women used as a marketing ploy. I do not want to see women objectified for profit. I do not want to see female actresses pretending to be strippers. The hypersexual Super Bowl commercials say a great deal about how the public views real life women. The media has the influential power to make us view women as sexualized objects. This alarming mindset can have a tremendous impact on the amount of street harassment that real life women experience.

This Sunday, take note of the messages that companies are sending to their consumers. If you spot sexism in a commercial and it offends you, tell someone about it! #NotBuyingIt is a great way to start spreading the word. If you plan on traveling to Super Bowl parties, stay safe.

Kendra Corbin is senior at Shenandoah University. She is majoring in Mass Communications and minoring in Women’s Studies.

By: Erin McKelle, SSH Correspondent

Street harassment, unfortunately, is a universal experience for women. In an informal survey conducted by Stop Street Harassment, 95% of women reported being leered at and having been honked or whistled at while 81% have been the targets of sexually explicit comments and 82% reported being the targets of vulgar gestures. This tells us that street harassment happens to virtually all women. Women are being violated in our streets every single day.

For some reason, we don’t seem to be all that concerned. Street harassment is not well recognized as a problem and is even talked about as being a reward for beauty or attractiveness. Recently, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City was quoted as having commented on a woman he found attractive at a holiday party, stating “Look at that ass on her.” Also, in 2001, a book was made as a kitschy present for Bloomberg’s 48^th birthday which featured some of his most infamous quips. One of those was in regards to street harassment “ I know for a fact that any self-respecting woman who walks past a construction site and doesn’t get a whistle will turn around and walk past again and again until she does get one.”

The fact that a highly respected figure can make comments like this and be revered for them by co-workers is astounding. Do you think comments like this would ever be tolerated in regards to rape or abuse? Why is street harassment treated so differently, as if it’s a joke or comic relief? There is nothing funny about women experiencing harassment as they are simply going about their day-to-day lives. There is nothing funny about women having to endure such behavior.

All of this comes back to the fact that women are seen as sexual commodities. Their bodies are men’s to behold and if you’ve got it, well, you deserve it. It doesn’t matter that you have a turtleneck sweater on; because you have large breasts its men’s right to gawk and make lewd comments…at least that’s what society says. Society tells men that women’s bodies are there to be ogled and that objectification is completely normal and even part of being a man! Reducing women to their body parts (especially the sexual ones) is how men are; they are visual, after all!

It’s attitudes like these that perpetuate street harassment. It’s also attitudes like these that perpetuate sexism, sexual violence and degradation. When we reduce women to a part of their body, we take away the human part of them. They no longer become a person worthy of respect and human decency; they become a mere object to be played with. Their feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas and convictions don’t matter because they are no longer viewed as fully human.

Because objectification is such a cultural norm (just take a look at some advertisements), these attitudes are normal. And because these attitudes are normal, street harassment is the norm. It’s also because of this normalcy that we don’t see the issue as a problem. That’s really at the heart of why we don’t talk about it. It can be made light of because it’s not seen real issue. That is why we have to work to call out injustice that we see and not tolerate it. This also means we can’t tolerate objectification and sexism in the media.

If you are interested in calling out advertisers for sexist and objectifying advertisements, then join Miss Representation on Super Bowl Sunday for their #NotBuyingIt Twitter campaign, in which they are going to be calling out sexism in ads that will be running in between game time. Simply watch the game, pay attention to the ads and when you see something you feel is sexist, send out a tweet to Miss Representation and the company with the hashtag #NotBuyingIt.

Campaigns like this are inspiring change in our world! Join in, take part and use your voice to end the attitudes and normalcy that cause street harassment to be silenced!

Erin is an e-activist and blogger based in Ohio. You can find more of her work here and here.

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