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think positive 
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Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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I found zoo fascinating, In an "I can't believe people do that, brag about it, and send pics in to boot!" Kinda way.
Some folk sure have good self esteem, or a sad lack of mirrors!
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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This is a pretty good article.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/20/comment-why-demise-zoo-weekly-magazine-no-triumph-feminism
| Quote: | Why the demise of Zoo Weekly magazine is no triumph for feminism
Catherine Lumby
Who will miss Zoo Weekly, which Bauer Media announced on Thursday would close due to tough retail conditions in the mens market? Well not teenage boys, according to some recent focus groups I had the privilege of conducting in Australian high schools.
Young men dont read magazines anymore. Though a bunch of younger ones were so fascinated by the Dolly magazine I passed around that I had to grab it out of their hands. Dude, said one, This is an awesome insight into what chicks think.
Dolly, of course, specialises in talking about what young women think, feel and need. Zoo specialised in bizarre anatomy and Im not just talking about the photos of people with odd shark-inflicted injuries. The breasts were way weirder.
But now we have this thing called the Internet, with plenty of breasts of all sorts and enough gross-out comedy to keep an entire planet of teenage boys happy.
Some feminists have spent a lot of time and breath campaigning against lad magazines, most recently with Collective Shout lobbying Woolworths and Coles to #BinZooMag. I understand why they have. But I dont see the point.
Men or at least straight men are obsessed with breasts. It might be something to do with being fed by breasts at an early age. Which makes it even stranger that some of the same men freak out at the sight of a woman breastfeeding in public while they browse newspaper stands full of well breasts.
So what do we make of the demise of Zoo? Is it a sign of the Feminist Apocalypse? And should feminists make a big deal about media selling womens bodies to teenage boys?
As a mother of two teenage boys myself I hedge my bets. I have a strict policy of lecturing them about womens rights over dinner and then leaving them to roam the internet afterwards.
The real frisson Zoo offered young men was the opportunity to escape and thumb their nose at women like me. Bossy, educated women who tell them to stop looking at breasts and start doing their maths homework.
Zoo, like Ralph, and a host of other lad mags spawned in the UK in the 1990s, was satirical about its own existence. Like People and Picture before it on the Australian magazine scene, Zoo made fun of its own nonsense.
Best magazine coverline ever? Picture magazines: The News Without Underpants. The writers and editors at these kind of publications never took themselves or their readers seriously.
Zoo was the same it printed outrageous nonsense and cheesecake shots of girls with large breasts with a large wink and a nod towards young male readers. The tastelessness of the magazine so often decried by commentators was its stock in trade. Its mirrored the conversations that the younger male readers have in the playground or at the footy.
As my colleague Professor Alan McKee discovered, when he conducted research into how to get good quality information about safe and consensual sex to teenage boys, gross out humour is their preferred medium.
The boys in the focus groups I conducted were very clear that saying something outrageous or politically incorrect didnt mean they had boofhead views in reality. Over and over they made the point that there was an enormous difference between how some media, including pornography, portrayed women and how they saw and treated real women.
I found no evidence that teenage boys or girls for that matter are being brainwashed by popular media into regressive ideas about gender. On the contrary, both groups spoke out about the double standards surrounding boys and girls, which they saw as emanating primarily from the world around them and to which they largely objected.
Zoo Weeklys demise is not a scalp for the feminist movement. Its a sign of the enormous shifts that have taken place in how and where young people consume their media.
As a feminist myself, I think women would accomplish a lot more if we quit lecturing teenage boys and started listening to what they have to say. |
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think positive
Side By Side
Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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Not often I agree with you David, but yes good article
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You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either! |
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Wokko 
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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 [/url] |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
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That'd be plausible if gender studies courses had about the same number of enrolments as all STEM subjects put together, but they're not really comparable, are they?
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Wokko
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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| David wrote: | | That'd be plausible if gender studies courses had about the same number of enrolments as all STEM subjects put together, but they're not really comparable, are they? |
The point is that people who complain about lack of women in STEM subjects had the opportunity to enrol in a STEM but chose to complain about it instead. May as well complain about lack of men in Women's studies courses or in liberal arts generally. |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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Aren't the people complaining about it mostly from STEM backgrounds themselves? Either way, no real point in generalising. The question really is whether you see the gender disparity as an inherent problem. I'm actually having a similar discussion on Facebook right now and copping it big time. 
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Wokko
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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I see a lot of complaining about lack of women in cushy office jobs but not too much about lack of women in Mining, on oil platforms or in garbage disposal/sanitation or working in power plants.
Gender disparity is almost always a consequence of free choice. The more choice offered, the more likely people are to go into their gendered field. See The Gender Equality Paradox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5LRdW8xw70 |
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think positive
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Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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Gees what woman did a job on you!
I'm a mechanic by trade and I copped all kind of shit including my favorite "your taking a mans job!"
Why does this bother you so much?
(Right now I'm at Avalon raceway, just fitted the front wing, getting some funny looks!". Funny though can't believe how many of my kids male friends don't know which way to turn a bolt! Maybe we are in the age of technology, and it's a pretty gender neutral field I'd guess, certainly my eldest says her IT course is 50/50)
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You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either! |
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stui magpie 
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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^
He does make a good point though. If people have the choices, they'll choose what interests them. You were interested in mechanics, you became a mechanic and no doubt doing it at a car factory copped a lot of old school chauvinism.
Nursing is still large majority female, more men seem to be going for it but they're still well outnumbered. IT is a good one which should be 50-50 as it's something anyone with a logical mindset can learn.
I have 50 people reporting in to me via 4 managers. There's 1 bloke in the lot.
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Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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Wokko
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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You've got me wrong, you're the very opposite of the problem. You made your own choice and anyone should respect that and respect everyone who chooses to go into whatever field they like. The issue is the constant whining about not enough women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics by those OUTSIDE the field, usually either in fields like Gender Studies or other Arts/Humanities. You see we were sold the lie that feminism was about equality of opportunity, that men and women should be able to do whatever they wanted, well now they can but the CHOICE isn't good enough for these people, they want equality of outcome, even if that means that far more capable get left out so that the less capable with the right skin colour or genitals can get slotted in.
I'm saying that people ARE free to choose and traditionally womens fields like nursing and traditionally mens fields like engineering tend to overwhelmingly stay that way even if you try and push gender equality. |
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Wokko
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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think positive
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Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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Ah ok sorry
I agree that the numbers should not be important, silly to force companies to take females, or makes just because. They should choose the best candidate for the job. I guess I was lucky back then that's what counted they didn't. Are about the equality stuff, gees they had to find me a locker room because there wasn't one!
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You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either! |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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| Wokko wrote: | | [/url] |
http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-12-30
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Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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watt price tully 
Joined: 15 May 2007
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| think positive wrote: | Gees what woman did a job on you!
........) |
The answer to that question will assist to explain obsessions with feminism.
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“I even went as far as becoming a Southern Baptist until I realised they didn’t keep ‘em under long enough” Kinky Friedman
Last edited by watt price tully on Thu Dec 31, 2015 4:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
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