STOP RAPE CULTURE

Anti-Sexism Information Picket

Tuesday, August 25, 8:30 pm-9:30 pm

The Big Bop

651 Queen St. West (at Bathurst)

 

The August 20 edition of Eye Magazine, page 18, features a Big Bop ad which contains what appears to be a standard pornographic incitement to rape: a naked, vulnerable, captive woman who is behind a chain curtain. The ad invites us to Get Twisted. The woman appears not to be having fun but, rather, to be in pain. (Remember, this is supposed to advertise a fun musical evening).

This picket is to protest the use of women's bodies to promote events and, in particular, to say NO to the kinds of images of women which only re-inforce the dangerous myths of rape culture: that women are always available to men as sexual beings, even if we have to chain them up; that it is acceptable to exploit women's bodies to build an audience or a product; that the image of a vulnerable woman in pain is an invitation to amusement.

The ad is totally inappropriate at a time when statistics show a relentless rise in violence against women; when the use of date rape drugs in the club scene grows more common; when two to three women a week in Canada are murdered by men they know; when the federal government balks at pay equity for women because it says it would cost too much (and after all, it's only women who are doing the same work as men).

If you cannot attend this picket but would like to voice your protest, call The Big Bop at 504-6699 and Eye Magazine's advertising department at 504-4339.

Sponsored by: SNASSI (Saturday Night Anti-Sexism Squad Inc.&endash;Tuesday night division), a subsidiary of Toronto Action for Social Change. For more information write Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. W, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0.

 

FLYER FOR PICKET BELOW

 

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE BIG BOP:

Stop Your Sexist Advertising;

Apologize to the Women of Toronto

We are here to protest the woman-hating advertising of The Big Bop which has appeared in the August 20th edition of Eye Weekly. The ad contains what appears to be a standard pornographic incitement to rape: a naked, vulnerable, captive woman who is behind a chain curtain. The ad invites us to "Get Twisted." The woman appears not to be having fun but, rather, to be in pain. (Remember, this is supposed to advertise an evening of entertainment!)

This picket is to protest the use of women's bodies to promote events and, in particular, to say NO to the kinds of images of women which only re-inforce the dangerous myths of rape culture: that women are always available to men as sexual beings, even if we have to chain them up; that it is acceptable to exploit women's bodies to build an audience or a product; that the image of a vulnerable woman in pain is an invitation to amusement.

The ad is totally inappropriate at a time when statistics show a relentless rise in violence against women; when the use of date rape drugs in the club scene grows more common; when two to three women a week in Canada are murdered by men they know; when the federal government balks at pay equity for women because it says it would cost too much.

We ask that Big Bop patrons and others concerned about the lives of women voice your protest by calling The Big Bop at 504-6699 and Eye Weekly's advertising department at 504-4339.

Violence against women takes place in thousands of myriad forms: Statistics Canada reports 51% of Canadian women over age 18 report at least one incident of physical or sexual assault since age 16; Over 86,000 women and their children were admitted to shelters to escape male violence in 1992-93. Harris government cuts have forced closure of some and reduced availability of countless other women's services. A Gallup Poll reports 75% of Canadian women report workplace sexual harassment is a serious problem. The United Nations estimates the unpaid work of women is worth billions of dollars. As a federal-provincial report concludes:

Aggression against women occurs on a spectrum of activity which moves from non-specific to specific; from a simple advertisement for automobiles or beer in association with the barely-clad women, to murder. The state of mind of the aggressor is only a question of degree.

Sponsored by: SNASSI (Saturday Night Anti-Sexism Squad Inc.)&endash;Tuesday Night Division, a subsidiary of Toronto Action for Social Change. For more information write: Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto, ON M6C 1C0.

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