Sexual harassment goes unnoticed on Big Brother 7
Panda has been trying to be a good girl. She didn't blog at all during work yesterday and only a little bit today... It's a bid to try and get more done :
It's been a hot, sweaty, uncomfortable journey home from work these last few days. On the tube, the Metropolitan line has 20mph speed restrictions because of the heat and this means a one and a half hour journey of being trapped between sweaty, stinky people in 45 degree heat (no exaggeration). We're so crammed in that I don't even have to hold onto a rail not to fall over - if we all decided to take both our feet off the floor at the same time, we'd all still be in exactly the same place. Whinge whinge, moan moan - we Brits seem to do a lot of that about the weather, huh? Lol, it's our fave pasttime whether it be hot or cold :)
I wanted to talk about the Spiral/Aisleyne/Nakedness thing on Big Brother. For those of you who haven't been watching or aren't in the UK, it was like this:
Spiral was in the shower, naked; Aisleyne, also in the bathroom, playfully splashed some water on him; Spiral jumped out, holding his bits and backed Aisleyne into a corner.
She was obviously uncomfortable with it, and understandably so - surely, this is only a feather away from sexual harrassment? What annoyed me was that, upon being asked about it by Big Brother - Spiral got pissed off with Aisleyne for talking to BB about it! WTF?! He tried to defend himself by saying that she asked for it because she threw water on him. But he was in the shower for *@#?s sake! What's a little more water going to do??
To make it eeeeeven worse, when Aisleyne, in a mature way, tried to tell him that she wasn't comfortable with his behaviour, he told her that he didn't like the way she flaunted her body and wore short skirts, insinuating that if a girl likes to look good and wear sexy clothing, that she should expect to be treated this way. The arrogance of the b*@~#! not only does he not feel any remorse whatsoever, but how dare he justify his behaviour, and also shatter a girl's confidence in one swoop?! This type of thinking worries me hugely, because if this is the view of even a tiny percentage of the men out there, then us girls should all be covering up. It's a teensy little step away from saying that if you bare any skin, then it's okay for men to grope you, sexually harass you - a mere step away from rape.
I am surprised at BB for not giving him a warning - this behaviour is NOT socially acceptable and should not have to be tolerated. By not reprimanding him, they are telling their viewers that it's okay to behave like this, and it's not. Using your body or sexuality to intimidate and humiliate others is NOT okay.
Then, a couple of days later, whilst Aisleyne was sunbathing, Mikey comes up and bites her arse-cheek. This just confirms my fear that most men hold this derogatory and frankly, animal-like view of women. Please tell me I'm wrong.
I am only 23 years old. To this date, I have had to deal with sexual harrassment more times then I can count on one hand; a couple of cases of which have been quite serious. Am I wrong to be scared? And who's fault is it that this view is still widely held by men, if not openly then at least inside their heads? Is it the parents? Is it the media? What's for sure is that it needs to stop NOW.
It's been a hot, sweaty, uncomfortable journey home from work these last few days. On the tube, the Metropolitan line has 20mph speed restrictions because of the heat and this means a one and a half hour journey of being trapped between sweaty, stinky people in 45 degree heat (no exaggeration). We're so crammed in that I don't even have to hold onto a rail not to fall over - if we all decided to take both our feet off the floor at the same time, we'd all still be in exactly the same place. Whinge whinge, moan moan - we Brits seem to do a lot of that about the weather, huh? Lol, it's our fave pasttime whether it be hot or cold :)
I wanted to talk about the Spiral/Aisleyne/Nakedness thing on Big Brother. For those of you who haven't been watching or aren't in the UK, it was like this:
Spiral was in the shower, naked; Aisleyne, also in the bathroom, playfully splashed some water on him; Spiral jumped out, holding his bits and backed Aisleyne into a corner.
She was obviously uncomfortable with it, and understandably so - surely, this is only a feather away from sexual harrassment? What annoyed me was that, upon being asked about it by Big Brother - Spiral got pissed off with Aisleyne for talking to BB about it! WTF?! He tried to defend himself by saying that she asked for it because she threw water on him. But he was in the shower for *@#?s sake! What's a little more water going to do??
To make it eeeeeven worse, when Aisleyne, in a mature way, tried to tell him that she wasn't comfortable with his behaviour, he told her that he didn't like the way she flaunted her body and wore short skirts, insinuating that if a girl likes to look good and wear sexy clothing, that she should expect to be treated this way. The arrogance of the b*@~#! not only does he not feel any remorse whatsoever, but how dare he justify his behaviour, and also shatter a girl's confidence in one swoop?! This type of thinking worries me hugely, because if this is the view of even a tiny percentage of the men out there, then us girls should all be covering up. It's a teensy little step away from saying that if you bare any skin, then it's okay for men to grope you, sexually harass you - a mere step away from rape.
I am surprised at BB for not giving him a warning - this behaviour is NOT socially acceptable and should not have to be tolerated. By not reprimanding him, they are telling their viewers that it's okay to behave like this, and it's not. Using your body or sexuality to intimidate and humiliate others is NOT okay.
Then, a couple of days later, whilst Aisleyne was sunbathing, Mikey comes up and bites her arse-cheek. This just confirms my fear that most men hold this derogatory and frankly, animal-like view of women. Please tell me I'm wrong.
I am only 23 years old. To this date, I have had to deal with sexual harrassment more times then I can count on one hand; a couple of cases of which have been quite serious. Am I wrong to be scared? And who's fault is it that this view is still widely held by men, if not openly then at least inside their heads? Is it the parents? Is it the media? What's for sure is that it needs to stop NOW.
and sexual harrastment is everywhere, ever try giving them the treatment right back, I tell you they don't like it at all. Actually most of them turn into whiny lil rats.
If some guy trys a stunt like that on me I go all uberB**ch on them.
acutally never happened to me but to a friend, this french(quebecous)guy cam into the girls dorm naked, so we called the cops and charged him.
The police said he couldn't charge me because I was protecting myself..
he was stupid drunk at the time, but rules are rules and no one goes into someones room naked and tries to make moves on someone...
Glad you came out of that experience okay. Alcohol just seems to make things worse. How many rape cases have been quashed because the guy has claimed that the girl gave consent whilst drunk? It's awful.
Livvy, you're lucky. I don't think I'm giving out signals that are any different to anyone else, but a couple of times, it has been guys who I thought were friends and trusted. That's the sad thing.
Pieces, you're so right! The thing is though - it seems to have skipped everyone's notice, which is worrying. Is such behaviour generally accepted now? I hope not.
udmja, It's not really abut her confidence being shattered, but the fact that this behaviour shouldn't be accepted. His view that it's okay is the most horrendous thing. It's not okay. I'm not trying to say that all men are b*****ds or that they would do anything given the chance, but the very fact that people think that a girl 'asks for it' is something that worries me a LOT. It's not just men that think that either - that's the scariest thing.
Clickly for the story: http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/article.aspx?as=article&ae=windows-1252&f=pa_big_brother_7_-_ms&t=4635&id=3227530&d=20060719&do=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk&i=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/mediaexportlive&ks=0&mc=10&ml=ma&lc=en
Deev, I can't wait for Jayne to go! I was praying for Spiral to be up too, and was disappointed.
I thought it was so childish that he got all pissed off when Aisleyne wouldn't kiss him during spin the bottle, but didn't think he was this much of an a-hole. Hurray Jayne's eviction! In a way, I can't bear to watch it cos she's sooo irritating!
Spiral, yep, you deserve to be punished.
Sunshine, you silly sausage :)
Sorry y'all, but I find that a relief...
BB has become a monster social experiment worthy of ... well I won't say.
I understand where he's coming from exactly...a friend of mine was once bending over in the office, and his trousers accidentally slipped low enough for one of the girls in the office to see his builders crack. Later that day he was summoned into the main office, and was warned about this.
I was totally incensed by their response and went to see the director who had given my friend a carpeting explaining that if they were going to take a stance such as that then why hadn't they warned this girl in the past when she had a list of similar 'offences'.
She'd worn several skirts so high that it looked like she was only wearing a belt, she'd worn those yucky knickers that show above the skirt or trousers and her tops were sometimes so low cut that everone had regularly seen more than they should!
It seems to me that if a girl in the BB house had bitten one of the lads bums then it would've been seen as just playful behaviour, but shock horror, because it was a man then it's harrasment or maybe even assault!
Sounds like double standards to me!
Did you hear about the case in Big Brother Australia? Two men were thrown off, after they 'assaulted' a woman. One of them held her down while the other rubbed his groin in her face. Even their Prime Minister is asking for the show to be cancelled !! Check out the story here
Foxy, I understand that you're saying, but in this case, it wasn't like that at all. The problem is not indecent exposure, but unwanted sexual advancements, simply because a girl looks sexy. The case against your friend was extremely unfair though, i have to say.
Boso, thanks for your honesty - most men wouldn't have dared to say that, and it is so true. I did hear of the Australia case - it was horrendous what happened, and I'm glad they didn't get away with it. I'm also glad it didn't go that far in this BB house.
I asked my gf what she thought, and she said that in her opinion it definately wasn't unwanted sexual advancements.
Maybe some girls are just so hyper sensative in this post feminist age that they see monsters where there aren't any?