Être féministe : qu’est-ce que cela signifie ?

Au milieu du XXème siècle, les femmes n’avaient pas le droit de vote, elles n’avaient pas le droit d’ouvrir un compte en banque sans l’autorisation de leur conjoint, elles n’avaient pas le droit de disposer librement de leur corps… Si aujourd’hui, tous ces droits sont acquis, c’est grâce aux combats des mouvements féministes. Et pourtant, même si la plupart des femmes et des hommes adhèrent aux valeurs égalitaires des mouvements féministes, elles et ils refusent de s’identifier en tant que féministes. Pourquoi ?

The shape of the future

What will your future hold?

            Will you be rich?

            Where will you live?

            What will your house look like?

            Will you have (grand-) children?

            And… Will you be obese?

Figure 1: Gain-Fantasy trade by BrokenCassette (http://brokencassette.deviantart.com/art/Gain-Fantasy-trade-200018366)

Food advertisements: do they make you feel hungry, sexy or greedy?

Sex sells, we all know that. Marketing strategists have been using sexually arousing images and messages in advertisements for over decades, most likely having found its roots on tobacco packages in 1885. Food ads often contain sexual elements. Frequently, these ads promote fast foods, such as the ad by Burger King in 2014, but sometimes also healthy products such as the ad for Coca Cola’s new milk Fairlife  (2014). Sexual elements are used in advertisements because they are believed to catch our attention and make us feel positive towards the advertised brand. More importantly, they increase our arousal and thereby motivate us to obtain the advertised product (Reichter, 2002). 

Source: http://articulateyouth.blogspot.be/2014/12/if-you-pitch-it-they-will-eat-it.html

I Don’t Know You, I Don’t Like You: The Rise of Anti-immigrant Movements in Europe

On May 7th 2015, citizens in the United Kingdom will vote for a new (or old) government. In the run-up to the General Election, one party in particular polarizes the public: UKIP.  The UK Independence Party, led by Nigel Farage, is an anti-European party.  UKIP argues that the UK should leave the European Union as this would result in less external regulation of British policies and in major economic benefits.  Moreover, UKIP proposes that an exit from the EU would enable the UK to tighten its migration laws.  The party advocates a point-based system, similar to the one in Australia and Canada, to ultimately limit the overall number of immigrants.  

The latter argument is very much in line with the requests of Pegida—the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (or, rather, the Occident).  Since October 2014,  thousands joined the movement’s weekly demonstrations; these take place primarily in the East German town Dresden but spread as well to other cities all across Germany and Europe.  Pegida campaigns in particular against an increasing number of Muslim immigrants in Europe.  Banners that were held up during the protests in Germany called for “the preservation of our culture“ and “against religious wars on German ground“.

Objectivation sexuelle: Miroir, mon beau miroir, dis-moi qui est la plus belle?

« Mon Dieu ! Le plus souvent l’apparence déçoit. Il ne faut pas toujours juger sur ce que l’on voit. »

(Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, dit Molière, 1664. Tartuffe ou l’Imposteur).

Sommes-nous tous des monstres ?

Le pouvoir des femmes est-il l'antidote aux violences conjugales?

Source: Flickr