FHM in York University Fresher’s Bags

The Student’s Union at the University of York has decided, by a margin of one vote, to include copies of FHM in the Fresher’s bags which will be distributed this Saturday at the Fresher’s Fair. All of the Liberation groups in the Union are unhappy about this controversial decision which will imply that the Union does not take gender equality seriously.

If you object then please either write to the Union yourself including the Services Officer at services@yusu.org or use the model letter below which is addressed to the Student’s Union President.

Dear [     ],

 I am writing to complain about the controversial publicity which will be distributed by the Student’s Union at the YUSU Fresher’s Fair this Saturday 13^th October.   I understand that YUSU have received 3000 bags to distribute at Fresher’s Fair from a commercial distribution company, filled with student-aimed advertising and samples, half of which are pink and half of which are blue. The blue bags contain a full-size tin of baked beans, a chocolate bar and a copy of FHM magazine.  The pink bags contain cellulite cream, female deodorant, moisturiser and a half-size tin of beans.  Both bags also contain a packet of instant mashed potato, powdered chicken sauce mix and various leaflets for mobile phone companies, films and a clothing website.  Clearly there are several important issues which have arisen from the content of these bags.   Firstly, the separation of the bags into clearly designated ‘male’ and ‘female’ bags is unacceptable.  Both the University and the Student’s Union pride themselves on their Equal Opportunities policies and to so clearly discriminate men from women is surely against both University and Union policy in its perpetuation of male and female stereotypes.  Secondly the inclusion of a sample copy of FHM in the blue ‘male’ bag is highly discriminatory – this is a sexist magazine which portrays naked or semi-naked women and girls in sexually explicit poses and contains material of a sexist nature – a recent edition of FHM magazine published a topless photograph of a 14 year old girl without her consent.  Although this sample edition is not as explicit as the usual edition, the blue ‘male’ bag also contains discount vouchers for further editions.  Furthermore, the brand of FHM is already associated with sexist and sexually explicit material, thus even though this edition may be ‘tamer’, the brand association is still present.  I do not feel that the association of such a sexist publication with the Student’s Union or the University of York is appropriate.   When this issue was discussed in a meeting of YUSU Executive Committee on Wednesday 10^th October, problems were raised by the LGBT Officers on the hetero-normative nature of including FHM in bags intended for male interest.  The assumption that all male students are interested in viewing sexually explicit photographs of women completely ignores and discriminates against gay men and could also be offensive to those men who are not interested in such materials.  From a welfare point of view, the inclusion of unhealthy, stereotypical student foods such as instant mashed potato and baked beans undermines the recent YUSU drive to encourage healthy eating amongst students.  There appears to be no material in either bag which could be of any beneficial welfare use to students.  Finally, from an environmental point of view, the distribution of 3000 plastic bags is highly damaging for the environment and could reflect adversely on YUSU’s strong environmental reputation.   The final decision to distribute the bags as they currently are was passed in a YUSU Executive Committee Meeting on Wednesday 10^th October by a margin of one vote.  However I feel that this entirely commercial venture could seriously damage both YUSU and the University of York’s reputation, coming as it is in the first week of term.  Therefore I urge you, as the primary representative of the Student’s Union, to reconsider the proposal made during the Executive Committee Meeting and request that the sexist commercial materials are not distributed at Fresher’s Fair this year, but are disposed of in an environmentally sound way.   Yours Sincerely,  [Your Name]

 

FHM in Fresher Fair Packs

A dutiful feminist, I like to research whether universities in England are trying to bring into line gender equality guidelines/regulations on lad’s mags. While the NUS Women’s Campaign last year advocated lad’s mags being placed on higher shelves or obscured from view, various rumours abound in the run-up to Freshers week about FHM being included in Freshers packs.

 Almost a month ago, FHM were penalised for publishing photos of a 14 year-old girl which they had put in their magazine without her consent. In many circles this would be regarded as paedophilic but since its a lad’s mag and the mag claimed that she ‘looked’ older, many people are prepared to ignore its rather sinister brand of sexism and misogyny. So you might think that universities committed to gender equality would be removing FHM from the freshers packs. Apart from its sexism, the mag assumes that all men are heterosexual and like to look at ‘boobs, footie and cars’.

If you do an online search for FHM and freshers fairs or freshers packs then a few universities come up. Chester and Coventry seem to have given them out in their packs. At other universities across Britain, hopefully the Student’s Union’s are having discussions on whether it is socially responsible to be giving lad’s mags to their new students.

Here is a link where FHM signal their intention to reach more young men through Freshers packs:

http://www.fhm-international.com/news.asp?ID=104

 Quite apart from the extremely sexist and misogynistic content in their full-sized magazines, FHM caused controversy in 1999 when their student magazine included in freshers packs made insensitive comments about suicide and student: http://www.oxfordstudent.com/mt1999wk2/news/’sick’_suicide_guide

 Perhaps NUS or the more ethical universities will make their own decision on whether this should be included.

 Incidentally, while some men find the idea that lad’s mags are sexist ‘political correctness gone mad’, an ‘anonymous friend with a penis’ has just told me that ‘its fucking ridiculous we even need to have this discussion, this isn’t the stone age’… PC-gone mad? This one’s for you.

 

Reasoning No. 1

Reason No. 1 for starting blog – feminists are soldiers FOR fortune who must battle the evil patriarchy before our vote is taken away…

 Or in a less flippant note, hey, sexism still exists and women still don’t have EQUAL PAY so that would be lovely. 

I decided to start writing a blog because there are a lot of other feminists out there to communicate with and blogging seems the best way to start. I will hopefully post stuff on things that us feminists are finding interesting at the mo. Though it might end up being on stuff in the media that really pisses me off. Like lad’s mags and people (men and women) being totally unaware of how we are all being slowly brainwashed by the capitalist, sexist machine which is still in operation.

 This blog might be slow getting off the ground so be patient as it will get better!