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Blurred Lines – or whether age-old sexism is finding new outlets Blurred Lines – or whether age-old sexism is finding new outlets
(about 3 hours later)
There's a scene in Blurred Lines: The New Battle Of The Sexes in which Nicola, a young woman who has been gaming since she was six, describes how she copes when fellow players ask her to show them her pussy, or gasp at their masturbatory skills. "You feel kind of intimidated by it and your response just aggravates it, so what I've learned to do is just laugh it off," she says. She describes herself as now thick-skinned, and able "to play for a whole week without getting abuse". Before adding, laughing: "As long as I don't play at night". There's a scene in Blurred Lines: The New Battle Of The Sexes in which Nicola, a young woman who has been gaming since she was six, describes how she copes when fellow players ask her to show them her "pussy", or gasp at their masturbatory skills. "You feel kind of intimidated by it and your response just aggravates it, so what I've learned to do is just laugh it off," she says. She describes herself as now thick-skinned, and able "to play for a whole week without getting abuse". Before adding, laughing: "As long as I don't play at night".
Faced with new forms of sexism – the abuse gets worse when her online rivals realise she is beating them – Nicola responds in the age-old way reported by women who struggled for equality in the workplace, or those who seek to walk down the street without making a fuss. She laughs it off and tries to avoid the riskiest situations. After all, she doesn't want look for trouble.Faced with new forms of sexism – the abuse gets worse when her online rivals realise she is beating them – Nicola responds in the age-old way reported by women who struggled for equality in the workplace, or those who seek to walk down the street without making a fuss. She laughs it off and tries to avoid the riskiest situations. After all, she doesn't want look for trouble.
"That's not freedom, is it?" says a brilliantly restrained Kirsty Wark, the Newsnight presenter who fronts the BBC2 show."That's not freedom, is it?" says a brilliantly restrained Kirsty Wark, the Newsnight presenter who fronts the BBC2 show.
In many ways, Nicola, still a keen gamer, is following the advice of journalist Rod Liddle (who else?), who appears in the documentary. Everyone faces an increase in vile abuse online, he says, and women just have to "man up" – a phrase even he admits is a "bit sexist" – and put up with it. Both Liddle and comedian Brendon Burns use freedom of speech and egalitarianism to suggest that women can't expect special treatment. After all, if testicular cancer is funny, so is rape. Or something.In many ways, Nicola, still a keen gamer, is following the advice of journalist Rod Liddle (who else?), who appears in the documentary. Everyone faces an increase in vile abuse online, he says, and women just have to "man up" – a phrase even he admits is a "bit sexist" – and put up with it. Both Liddle and comedian Brendon Burns use freedom of speech and egalitarianism to suggest that women can't expect special treatment. After all, if testicular cancer is funny, so is rape. Or something.
There's not much of Blurred Lines that's new to those charting the rise in sexism and misogyny in pop culture – whether through gaming, or music videos, or comedy shows, or the reaction to any woman who takes the public stage – yet put it all together and it makes for depressing viewing. It doesn't provide any proof that the internet itself is to blame, largely because such evidence is difficult to come by.There's not much of Blurred Lines that's new to those charting the rise in sexism and misogyny in pop culture – whether through gaming, or music videos, or comedy shows, or the reaction to any woman who takes the public stage – yet put it all together and it makes for depressing viewing. It doesn't provide any proof that the internet itself is to blame, largely because such evidence is difficult to come by.
Instead, it stacks up the experiences of women today in a way that at the very least makes us think that very old views are finding new outlets; the teenager who counts three rape jokes during an average day at school, the classroom where teenagers repeat views of sexuality (girls are slags if they're keen on sex, whereas boys are "just boys" ) that wouldn't have seemed out of place when chastity belts were still for sale on street corners, or the esteemed professor whose thoughts are deemed less noteworthy than the size and shape of her vagina.Instead, it stacks up the experiences of women today in a way that at the very least makes us think that very old views are finding new outlets; the teenager who counts three rape jokes during an average day at school, the classroom where teenagers repeat views of sexuality (girls are slags if they're keen on sex, whereas boys are "just boys" ) that wouldn't have seemed out of place when chastity belts were still for sale on street corners, or the esteemed professor whose thoughts are deemed less noteworthy than the size and shape of her vagina.
Germaine Greer, interviewed in front of a bookcase full of the Female Eunuch in its multilingual translations, says men are "even less tolerant of women" than they were 45 years ago when she wrote her seminal feminist tract. She blames the media and its "grabbag of loathing for women". Yet Blurred Lines suggests that blaming one part of the cultural landscape won't do – the message of the mainstream media is exacerbated by social media, which in turn informs mainstream media, as well as popular culture in an often non-virtuous circle. Germaine Greer, interviewed in front of a bookcase full of The Female Eunuch in its multilingual translations, says men are "even less tolerant of women" than they were 45 years ago when she wrote her seminal feminist tract. She blames the media and its "grabbag of loathing for women". Yet Blurred Lines suggests that blaming one part of the cultural landscape won't do – the message of the mainstream media is exacerbated by social media, which in turn informs mainstream media, as well as popular culture, in an often non-virtuous circle.
It's nothing new that humour is used as both a deadly weapon against the humourless harridans who just don't get the joke, and as a defence by those who feel victimised by it. As Nicola finds, it's quite a useful way to get on with your life.It's nothing new that humour is used as both a deadly weapon against the humourless harridans who just don't get the joke, and as a defence by those who feel victimised by it. As Nicola finds, it's quite a useful way to get on with your life.
I wanted to hear more from the psychologist who drew little stick men in different colours to explain how non-sexists laughing at sexist jokes in front of self-confessed sexists gave them permission to carry on. And from the brilliant young feminist campaigners interviewed by Wark who have campaigned for improvements in the way the issues ofsex and relationships are taught. Young women including Yas Necati and Lili Evans who are intending to campaign with other feminist societies in schools once they've got their exams out of the way this summer. Using the internet to do so, of course. I wanted to hear more from the psychologist who drew little stick men in different colours to explain how non-sexists laughing at sexist jokes in front of self-confessed sexists gave them permission to carry on. And from the brilliant young feminist campaigners interviewed by Wark who have campaigned for improvements in the way the issues of sex and relationships are taught. Young women including Yas Necati and Lili Evans who are intending to campaign with other feminist societies in schools once they've got their exams out of the way this summer. Using the internet to do so, of course.
There aren't many answers in a documentary that raises difficult questions but it is pleasing to hear so many women's voices, whether in the school playing fields, in public life, in gaming and on TV screens . At the very least, it's good to see a well-known TV presenter approaching 60 making a prime-time documentary about anything other than wars or public transport systems. There aren't many answers in a documentary that raises difficult questions but it is pleasing to hear so many women's voices, whether in the school playing fields, in public life, in gaming and on TV screens. At the very least, it's good to see a well-known TV presenter approaching 60 making a primetime documentary about anything other than wars or public transport systems.
Blurred Lines: The New Battle Of The Sexes is on tonight at 9.30pm, on BBC2.Blurred Lines: The New Battle Of The Sexes is on tonight at 9.30pm, on BBC2.