Double talk: Women through the lens
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ChinAfrica, December 12, 2011
Vimbayi Kajese: Outsourced Objectification
Zimbabwe's media portrays "womyn" in certain stereotypical roles. I say "womyn," an alternative spelling for woman/women that I was introduced to over a decade ago, because it disempowers stereotypes and objectification. Still, objectification in Zimbabwe is not the same as in Western or Chinese media. It's outsourced.
There are two reasons for this. First, overt sexualization in Zimbabwe is frowned upon in the media, which is government controlled. At recent auto show in Harare, female models parading around in shorts caused an uproar. Second, Zimbabwe's economy is still developing. It takes a certain level of GDP to professionally sell female sexuality. Honestly, we don't have the resources. We can't afford to airbrush, so we take our womyn as they are.
Media objectification that affects Zimbabwean womyn and men comes from abroad. However, this requires satellite ownership – a privilege for only a small percentage of the middle and upper classes. Until recently, there weren't many black families that could afford such luxury. When I was in high school, girls with eating disorders like anorexia usually had access to foreign media; their afflictions were primarily seen as "white girl problems."
Sexual objectification creeps in. On flyers for concerts and the like, scantily-clad womyn are risqué in their poses. But again, these are not local womyn. The ads are superimposed images of famous artists with no connection to the event.
I first became aware of this "outsourcing" in high school through a flyer for a club event. On it, a womyn was squatting in tight pants. It was going to be a raunchy party. I wondered who the girl was, and no one knew. It and other flyer images, I discovered later, were pictures from overseas album covers, magazines or still shots from music videos. Needless to say, the flyers dictate the dress code at these gigs – and more importantly the type of men and behaviors that follow.
Some marketing campaigns go "mainstream" by showcasing one type of womyn: thin, light skinned, with chemically-straightened hair. But the campaigns are unsuccessful in enforcing this ideal. Size, to us, is relative to health and wealth. If a womyn is too thin, she might have HIV/AIDS. But if a man is fat, it means he's eating well.
Regardless, there has been progress in how womyn are represented in Zimbabwe's media. Now in business ads they are bosses, board members and bankers, not just note takers. This emerging generation of media creators will be more enlightened than the last, not trapped in the cycle of patriarchal psychology: they will be womyn.
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