It seems that every public area in the UK has a 'Spotted' page on Facebook nowadays: from university libraries to local parks, Big Brother is definitely watching (and judging) us all.
A recent, unstoppable phenomenon on Facebook - the notorious 'Spotted' pages - has sparked outrage in certain social groups, agitated by the offensive and not so politically correct comments that these pages attract. These pages seemed to appear from nowhere, but now any public area has the potential to be a Big Brother house, and the housemates are lambs to the slaughter.
An article in 'The Women's Blog' section of The Guardian website caught my attention this week concerning said pages; blogger Laura Bates argued that these pages fuel sexism and harassment which is affecting two-thirds of female university students. These 'demonstration[s] of objectification...and misogyny' which are so typical, she says, of today's culture, are making women terrified of going anywhere in public in case they're publicly ridiculed on the internet.
Pur-leaaaaaase.
After reading the full article, including the examples of comments that were so detrimental, I can honestly say (hand on heart) that I am not in the slightest offended by any of the comments. And I'm not alone. These posts are receiving thousands of likes, and it seems pretty unlikely that these are all from male Facebook users. I'm not saying the comments aren't crude and sexual, of course they are, but they're not sexist. Sexism is denying a gender the right to do something simply because of their gender. These posts are people out for a few likes on Facebook.
An example of a harmless comment - in my eyes anyway - comes from 'Spotted: Reading University Library':
“That blonde haired girl who just walked into the 2nd floor of the library is fucking banging”
This comment just reminded me of equally 'sexist', according to Bates, comments I've posted on Twitter about males. If I see an attractive guy who I don't know, and tweet something along the lines of 'wow, was served by the fittest waiter EVER today', am I being sexist? I don't get told I am, I don't feel like I am, and I doubt people unfollow me because of it. These pages are still predominantly focused on concerns such as seeing someone walking down the high street in their pyjamas, or some equally as horrific outfit. The page for my local area even managed to reunite a lost dog to its owner earlier this year!
Yes, some people may go a bit far in their quest to become 'Facebook Famous' by bigging themselves up and pretending they're capable of pulling these 'fucking banging' girls, but really, lighten up a bit. It's obviously a joke. It just worries me that uptight feminists who find outrage and offence in EVERYTHING are making a joke out of a campaign that still has relevance.
An article in 'The Women's Blog' section of The Guardian website caught my attention this week concerning said pages; blogger Laura Bates argued that these pages fuel sexism and harassment which is affecting two-thirds of female university students. These 'demonstration[s] of objectification...and misogyny' which are so typical, she says, of today's culture, are making women terrified of going anywhere in public in case they're publicly ridiculed on the internet.
Pur-leaaaaaase.
After reading the full article, including the examples of comments that were so detrimental, I can honestly say (hand on heart) that I am not in the slightest offended by any of the comments. And I'm not alone. These posts are receiving thousands of likes, and it seems pretty unlikely that these are all from male Facebook users. I'm not saying the comments aren't crude and sexual, of course they are, but they're not sexist. Sexism is denying a gender the right to do something simply because of their gender. These posts are people out for a few likes on Facebook.
An example of a harmless comment - in my eyes anyway - comes from 'Spotted: Reading University Library':
“That blonde haired girl who just walked into the 2nd floor of the library is fucking banging”
This comment just reminded me of equally 'sexist', according to Bates, comments I've posted on Twitter about males. If I see an attractive guy who I don't know, and tweet something along the lines of 'wow, was served by the fittest waiter EVER today', am I being sexist? I don't get told I am, I don't feel like I am, and I doubt people unfollow me because of it. These pages are still predominantly focused on concerns such as seeing someone walking down the high street in their pyjamas, or some equally as horrific outfit. The page for my local area even managed to reunite a lost dog to its owner earlier this year!
Yes, some people may go a bit far in their quest to become 'Facebook Famous' by bigging themselves up and pretending they're capable of pulling these 'fucking banging' girls, but really, lighten up a bit. It's obviously a joke. It just worries me that uptight feminists who find outrage and offence in EVERYTHING are making a joke out of a campaign that still has relevance.
No comments:
Post a Comment