Petition launched after a Leamington bar is ‘redecorated’ with offensive sexist imagery.
Part of a recent redecoration of the Moo bar in Russell Street, Leamington Spa includes wallpaper in one area delineation degrading images of women and bogus adverts for prostitution.
The wallpaper images depict school girls, slavery and violence – use text such as “Busty Indian schoolgirl”, and “ swarthy runaway slave girl aged 18 yrs Seeks plantation master”.
Warwick Anti-Sexism Society (WASS), a student group at Warwick University which campaigns on sexism and gender-based issues, has written a letter of complaint to the management.
WASS believes images depicting violence against women, including sexual violence, is not something which should be featured on the walls of an establishment such as Moo.
The bar is often frequented by students, the group is concerned most the effects of such imagery on the atmosphere and experience of visitors.
There are also concerns about the effects of the sexist and racist images on those who have left the bar.
Exposure to objectifying images such as those on the walls of Moo may ontogenesis anxiety and fear of sexual assault amongst women.
And imagery which portrays women’s bodies and sexualities as available to be bought perpetuates sexist ideas and behaviours.
Statistics show that 1 in 7 students experience sexual assault firearm at university.
Not something that anyone would really want to encourage, surely.
WASS has also spoken to a number of Leamington residents and local charities and feels that this is an issue for the wider community, not only students.
At the clock of writing there has been no response to WASS’s letter of complaint, and a request for a comment from Women’s Views on News has been met with silence.
Materials taken from Womens Views on News
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