Plan B Forum

Actually, the more I think about the poster the more I can pinpoint why it makes me feel uncomfortable. I think high heels epitomise what I dislike about traditional ideas of femininity - the idea of making yourself physically less effective to conform to an aesthetic ideal. I think sport is a brilliant way of trying to get rid of that mindset in women (especially the idea that you're only valued for your appearance and its attractiveness to men) so an image like this in a poster seems wrong to me. An image like a chalky gritrashed female hand, complete with chipped nail varnish, could create the same association (women + climbing) without the negative connotations that come with high heels. I suspect I'm overthinking what was probably 5 minutes of design work on photshop though!

I know you didn't and no harm done, but the whole debate is very symptomatic of what it is like to be a woman in today's society. You have to be sexy, sporty, womanly, successful and take all the jibes I just don't think it helps if people use sexualised images to advertise a symposium/workshop that is to help women in a specific subject area/sport where they have been "marginalised" before. There are loads of successful woman climbers, but they aren't the audience, it's about drawing in a variety of women from all walks of life to come to a workshop to share their ideas about climbing. A sexy heel has nothing to do with it. It's similar to doing a workshop for guys on how to raise their new babies and having a big willy on the poster (for the want of better image )

Heike

FFS women have spent 100,000 years trying to break free of the shackles imposed by biology ... and then in 2012 some naive dimwit thinks it's clever to link an activity that should be about freedom and self expression, with a device whose only function is to convey sexual availability and submission.

Gob wrote: with a device whose only function is to convey sexual availability and submission.

Gob wrote: with a device whose only function is to convey sexual availability and submission.