Papers and Peer Pressure

by Susie Burdett

I had thought that I would blog to celebrate the creation of UN Women, the new UN organisation that has taken over operations for gender equality from the previous four organisations of the UN that were once dedicated to women's issues. I was going to talk about some projects, such as Prosperity Candles, or a shelter in Ethiopia, that are some of the positive initiatives occuring in complex political contexts. But then this article, about toilets, worked to combine a few of the random loose threads circling my brain.

Those loose threads can be effectively summed up in the picture at the top of this article.

So how do I get from toilets to Julia Roberts? Well, simple really. The International Development Enterprises (IDE) are trying to improve sanitary conditions in Cambodia and at the same time provide economic opportunities for local businesses. They do this through the somewhat controverisal method of shaming people into using a toilet. Sanitary conditions are a major problem in Cambodia. For the sake of those of a more sensitive constitution, I won't go into detail, but previous attempts to improve conditions by giving toilets away have failed. By shaming people into wanting a toilet, the IDE hopes to create the motivation to use it, and having developed an easy to build model, they have given local businesses a chance to build and sell the toilets, thus increasing economic activities at the same time as improving living conditions.

On the other hand is a photo of Julia Roberts dressed to impress which was widely ridiculed in the press due to the naturally occuring axillary hair clearly on display. Media, whether that be the newspapers, movie (both mainstream and x-rated) makers or magazines, continuely subjected people to images of a a supposed ideal of man and womanhood. Media has helped make plucking, shaving, trimming and shaping of body hair the norm, and have transformed plastic surgery to an aspiration for many seeking this apparent model of perfection, rather than a valuable tool allowing those suffering terrible injuries and disfigurements to lead normal lives.

Whilst I may find a narrow definition of beauty - and indeed the stress on the importance of beauty over other, more practical virtues - uncomfortable and distasteful, I am not actually condemning the beauty industry or the media (and cultural) obsession with celebrity and beauty - I am in no position to cast the first stone. My point is, if media can change the beauty ideal from the hairy men and women found in, say, The Joy of Sex to the plucked, buffed and toned actors, actresses and models we see on film, TV and in magazines, what else could they do?

Media, particularly social media, has been vital to raising awareness of conflict and tragedies around the world - as has been clearly highlighted by the news coming from Tunisia and Egypt, but it has also used peer pressure and shame to inflict and impose a narrow view of gender. It is clear how powerful media is as a force for creating change and raising awareness. How much change could they do for the good if, rather than using shame to inflict one way of being a woman (or man), they celebrated humanity, condemned injustice and encouraged equality? Both the media and the IDE use shame in their tool kit. But what a difference in the results!