Declaration and Resolutions adopted by the Seminar on Consumer Education for Women (Penang)
It is recognised that women today are the most important consumers in their roles as mothers, child educators, homemakers and wage earners. They have become a key target of exploitation by manufacturers and advertisers (while men and children have not been spared either). To this end they have been brainwashed by the consumer culture to buy consumer products and manipulated to adopt lifestyles which are alien to our traditional values and culture. Women do not require many of these products and, more important, many of them are harmful to their health and the health of their families.
For example, mothers have increasingly rejected breast-feeding for bottle-feeding which in many instances has had very tragic consequences for the health of their children. Women have also been used as sex objects in the promotion of products by manufacturers.
Women in Malaysian society have inherited the worst of two worlds. In traditional feudal society, the concept of the woman as the property of her husband and subject to male authority in the family is today made worse by the commercial exploitation of women in our consumer society.
This view of the modern woman as a sex object is unprecedented in human history because it is only in our age and time that the mass media, with technology at its disposal, has so pervasively and insidiously turned women into commodities. This process is linked to a market economy where women are used as sex objects to sell products. For example, Anchor beer advertises itself as 'a man's taste' with a picture of a scantily-clad woman. Another motor bicycle advertisement shows a woman in a tight-fitting leather outfit with a plunging neckline and long flowing hair. The picture of the woman and the machine gives the illusion that control of such an exciting machine would lead to control of such a 'sexciting' woman. And in tourism, hordes of foreign tourists (mainly men) actually come in person to consume services, products and thrills which include women.
This association of products with women is insidious because it propagates a culture, a way of thinking of how men view women and how women view themselves. It is only within this consumer culture which has spread its tentacles to the remotest corner of our planet, that women are dehumanised and depersonalised.
This violence against the humanity and dignity of women is increasingly evident in pornography, sex tourism, women's magazines and novels, television and films, comic strips and coverage by the media, in which women are denied an existence as intelligent, rational, honourable human beings.
The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) is an NGO in Malaysia which takes up development issues from a broad consumer perspective. Besides protecting consumers from business malpractices, CAP is involved in issues concerning basic needs, rational use of resources, environmental pollution, culture and lifestyles. Its activities include research, publications, educational programmes, media work, and helping poor communities to voice their problems.
In its work with communities, CAP is involved in two major types of issues: basic needs and amenities; environmental problems and the disruption of a community's livelihood,
(i) Basic Needs and Amenities
In the area of basic needs and amenities, CAP staff conduct a 'house counselling' educational programme in villages and estates during which basic principles of nutrition, health, budgeting, credit and other topics are discussed with the families, usually the woman of the house. At such sessions, the villagers also bring up pressing problems which they face. Very often these are 'simple problems' such as the irregularity of the village bus service, or the high prices charged at the sole village shop. These 'complaints' are discussed with villagers in a group, and then the CAP staff helps the community to act on the problem by, for example, writing to the bus company concerned (with a copy to the municipal authorities, the Road and Transport Department and the press) or by getting the villagers to have a heart-to-heart talk with the shop owner. These actions are sometimes successful, but more often require a prolonged period of continuous pressure on the part of the villagers. What is important is that the community begins to recognise its common problems, to actively do something to overcome them, and thus educate itself in justly demanding its rights.
CAP, in its efforts to bring about greater awareness among women on the problems of consumerism, has also produced slide series on subjects which include: Breastfeeding; Food, Health and Nutrition; Health and Lifestyle; Exploitation and Abuse of Women in the Media. These slide series are an integral part of CAP's educational activities among the various groups of people in our society, namely students, workers, farmers, women's organisations and youth groups.
As we all know, a picture speaks more than a thousand words, and in CAP'S experience the screen has proved to be a very powerful medium for conscientization. Through a slide representation, one can disseminate information to a larger audience in our talks, seminars and workshops.
The Abuse of Women in the Media slide series traces the various aspects of women's cultural and economic exploitation in advertising, pornography, sex tourism, novels and the mass media.
The idea of the slide series arose from the book, Abuse of Women in the Media which was published in English. We thought that by getting a slide series done we could disseminate the ideas more quickly into the various vernacular languages namely Malay, Tamil and Chinese, and bring it to a wider audience comprising all levels of our society.
Our research was thus mainly based on the book and we selected themes from the book which would appeal to a wider audience. Then we prepared the draft of the script, which was then edited before it was finalised. This script was translated into the local languages.
We started to look for materials such as local advertisements, especially in the local languages. We looked in books, comics, magazines, calendars and diaries. We selected the more suitable items and prepared slides from them.
There were some scenes in the script which required an outdoor setting, especially the slides on tourism. So we got our photographer to take slide photos of foreign tourists arriving at the airport, and of tourists relaxing and being entertained at beach hotels.
When the slides were ready we put them together and selected the best shots to fit the script. Then we had a preview of the slide series among our female colleagues to get their comments and suggestions. After some improvement the slide series was ready for use in our programmes:
In putting the slide series together CAP attempted to give substance to the various examples and concepts of cultural and economic exploitation in our rapidly transforming society, which is increasingly linked to and dominated by the modern world economy and its centres in the western world. Modern man in modern society is alienated from his fellow human beings as well as from himself. It is within this context that one can understand the exploitation of both man and woman. CAP, through its work, hopes to make both men and women understand their exploitation and work towards a better image and dignity for women.
The slide series has been shown to upper secondary school students both male and female, university students, youth clubs, workers' and women's groups. For most of them it is an eye opener; women become more aware of the fact of the hidden messages as well as the more sexist portrayals found in advertising and finally to the selling of women in sex tourism. Most men, after seeing the slides, have a better understanding of the predicament of women today, although there are some who find it hard to change what they have been taught to believe and accept.
For instance, a favourite comment from the men is that the models or prostitutes display or sell their bodies of their own free will. This generally sparks off a lively debate among the audience. The women often assert that just because some women earn a living from modelling it does not mean that the vast majority approve or that they benefit from it. Ultimately it boils down to the kind of consumption and lifestyle that is prevalent in a society that increases the demand for the production of such services. The issues raised make the audience think about the complexity of the problems.
As for those who were initially defensive: 'Women enjoy having their bodies displayed', they may not be converted by the slides, but some are not so sure of their original position at the end: 'Well, perhaps you women don't like other women's bodies to be shown and you have a point... but then men do enjoy seeing these ads and it's hard for us to change'.
