It’s time to stop sexualising, making objects of women

When a topic engages an elite group of the media fraternity for nearly two days, then it cannot simply be dismissed.

The subject matter surrounded the cover page of a pull-out magazine of a mass circulation daily. The cover had all the hallmarks of an erotic magazine: ‘Open for business’, it screamed, alongside a suggestive picture of a young woman with her legs ‘apart’ breast exposed and sleepy eyes that say, ‘I’m available’ .

I’ll dwell on the salient aspects of the debate that raises nagging issues ranging from sexism and gender bias, ageism and rank materialism that debases the woman’s body for commercial gain, really making her a commodity.

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines sexism as “the belief that one sex is weaker, less intelligent, or less important than the other, especially when this results in someone being treated unfairly…”

Sex object

The picture oozes gender bias, treating the young woman, most probably in her early 20s, as a sex object — a topic that has preoccupied the media for eons and does not seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

The Media Council of Kenya — an independent national institution established by the Media Council Act to promote media standards and ensure compliance with those standards as set out in Article 34(5) of the Constitution has a clear stake in this debate.

In its Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya, which was published in accordance with the Media Council Act, 2013, and which constitutes the Act’s Second Schedule, Obscenity, Taste and Tone in Reporting is captured.

Vulgar material

States Clause 9: “…persons subject to this Act shall not publish obscene or vulgar material unless such material contains news.” And in Clause 15, titled: Gender Non-discrimination, the Code of “Women and men shall be treated equally as news subjects and news sources.”

It’s undeniable that mainstream media depict women in a more negative light than men.

Sadly, the Code does not define what constitutes ‘obscene’ or ‘vulgar’, allowing editors to get away with murder, so to speak. Proponents of the cover picture hide behind the exigencies of the bottom line.

Opponents of the picture are disturbed by the commercial sex messaging of the cover. Despite its ancient origins, which proponents of prostitution are always quick to point at with biblical Rahab as the most popular example (Joshua 2: 9-13), commercial sex exploits women, is frowned upon universally, and should never define media business.

Ms Kweyu is a consultant revise editor with the ‘Daily Nation’ and a member of the Ethics Committee of the Kenya Editors Guild. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily portray those of KEG’s Ethics Committee. [email protected]