Posted on 12/12/2007 7:15:50 PM PST by NormsRevenge
MADRID, Spain - Spain's government-run Women's Institute has labeled a 2008 calendar for low-cost airline Ryanair featuring bikini-wearing air hostesses as sexist and said it would be sending letters of complaint to Irish and EU authorities.
The institute, which defends women's rights, said that while the fact that the proceeds from calendar sales would go to charity was positive, the photographs "represent the stewardesses as sexual objects" and "reinforce discriminatory stereotypes."
"It is significant that that only women are used, in a sector in which there is a considerable percentage of men," the institute, which is part of the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, said in a statement.
The calendars show the hostesses one for each month posing in bikinis on or outside airplanes. They are sold on Ryanair flights and on the Internet for 7 euros ($10.27). Proceeds go to the Irish disabled children's charity Angels Quest.
"We're not talking about morals or nudity here, it's simply how women are portrayed," institute spokeswoman Maria Jesus Ortiz said. "If there had been men in the calendar, I'm sure there would have been no controversy."
The Spanish union of consumers FACUA raised the issue Tuesday.
Ortiz said the institute would send a letter of complaint to the Irish Embassy in Spain and to the European Union's gender equality group. Ortiz added that the institute was seeking legal advice on what further action it might be able to take.
Ryanair had defended the calendar, saying the hostesses had posed voluntarily and that it was for a good cause.
Thank you... thank you... you’ve saved my life. Now that I have seen April, I have a new reason to live.
There it is! Thank You!
A good start, but this is a serious matter.
And as such, serious detailed forensic work should not
require a magnifying glass or microscope.
That’s taking quite atol on my sense of humor!
More here
Geez....2 of you beat me to it AND you spelled it correctly...
...walks away feeling useless.....
Spain has RATS?
Trolley dolly! What a great term!
verstehen???
Are there other calendars which need to be examined and commented upon? Compare and contrast. It is the American way.
Many calendars apparently. Too few hours.
[Must get back to work.]
tread lightly.
The mods removed post 4 for less than your post...
Touchy about gays and feminism, I suppose..
“It is significant that that only women are used...”
ooooook?
Why would anyone wanna see guys in bikinis... geez!
I’m still undecided anyway, I need to study the pictures a little more before I conclude which side I’m on.
Dusseldorf weeze? Yes, I’m sitting here wheezing, myself.
NOT GUILTY!
A very good point indeed! Nice shot.
Ouch
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