A few years ago a man in my neighborhood organized a community day of service. Taking initiative, trying to bring people together, helping others- these are positive intentions. Then I saw a flyer advertising this service event. The flyer featured a woman holding a shovel. The woman’s head was not shown.
This bothered me significantly. Women’s bodies are often used in advertising as parts and pieces; showing only portions of a body is an effective way to turn a person into an object. Using a photo of a woman holding a shovel but eliminating her head, especially not showing her eyes, turned this woman into an object. An object whose purpose is to serve others.
This photo sums up the way I suspect many men in the church view women as well as the way many women have been taught to view themselves.
What to do about this flyer? I wanted to say something to the creator; to point out the message about women that he likely did not realize he was sending. I didn’t say anything though. I figured it was a one-time event and I shouldn’t ruffle any feathers over this flyer.
I was wrong. Now a few years later, this same flyer has once again landed on my doorstep. What to do? Do I continue to remain silent? This flyer is now not just a flyer; it also a lawn sign, poster, and ad in the local community newspaper. What message am I sending to my daughters if I don’t say anything or try to change the status quo? Do I have a responsibility to my community to stop harm? A flyer of a headless woman may seem negligible. However, as I once again look at this flyer, I realize it is one of a thousand paper cuts that accumulate to cause significant harm.
For context, the person who created this is a member of the church living in an area with a high concentration of church members. This person is now also serving as a bishop which is a role that means some people will give increased significance to what he says and does. It is standard in the church to talk about women’s bodies but that doesn’t mean that it is acceptable to reduce women to objects. There is not an adequate way for me to express the feelings of despair and shame that I have battled living in a church and community where the majority of men see me and other women as objects. Where boys are taught to view my daughters as objects. I want to create change yet how to do it in a way that this man will hear and understand the harm perpetuated by this seemingly simple flyer?
Exponent II readers, please share thoughts and advice.
Not the actual flyer; both to protect the creator and because I tossed it into the recycling bin. Compare this photo showing this woman as a whole person as opposed the photo at the one at the beginning of the post the crops out her head.
Also, this woman does not have a shovel, is not doing dishes, is not folding laundry, is not serving in any way. She exists as a human being.
9 Responses
I think I would find a photo that “sells” the goal of “community involvement” more effectively and offer to help him change the picture [and follow through with that this time].
If the topic comes up, I would say something like, “This photo didn’t work for me to engage my attention in helping with this community project. After giving it some thought, I realized that “the message” that I got from this photo was “women are tools to be used by the community for community projects”. Since I want to believe that this isn’t the intended message, I wanted to reach out out and help “send a different message” focused on community involvement in a different way”.
Wow. We live in the same neighborhood. I am shocked at your negative response to a flyer that brought 500 people from all over the community, regardless of religion, together to serve multiply organizations and raise massive amounts of money for needy organizations. Obviously you contributed nothing as you immediately threw the flyer away. This service project has gone on for many years, serving many agencies and people. The lovely part about this project is it is not church run. The organizer is a man who wanted to bring all people in our neighborhood together. He is spends hours and hours making our community better, including art shows, lectures and service. He is admired by our city mayor, who is not LDS for his dedication to helping others and serving his community. A number of years after this event began, he was called to be a bishop, which has added to his already full plate. After being called to be a bishop most people would have given up this massive project, but bringing our community together is his love and passion. I don’t know how he does it all.
I have always thought it was wonderful that a woman was on the posters/flyers. This article is nothing but a nasty piece with absolutely no redeeming value. There was NO intent to demean woman in the advertising. I wish you had posted the flyer cover so people could judge for themselves. I am ashamed of Exponent for even publishing this mean spirited article from a woman who obviously has issues with men regardless of what they do.
Bailey, next year look inside the flyer and pick one or more service projects to become involved with. It will be a rewarding experience for you.
Can you step away from the good the service project did for just a second and try to see the larger point Bailey has made? I don’t think any one takes issue with service. Her point is Women’s bodies are often parsed up and used as pieces. Women are objectified. The woman having no head was distressing to her. It felt like the woman was dehumanized. You don’t have to agree, it seems like you also don’t have to attack Bailey as a person and accuse her of heating service.
Christine, I can see how this is an important event and service opportunity in your community. And I understand the time and sacrifice it takes for individuals to organize such large events, especially with so many other things on their plate. I am sad that you took to making personal attacks against Bailey without engaging with her argument. This seems like a Both/And situation to me. The organizer of this event cares about serving the commiunity in possive ways AND the image on the flyer depicts a woman in a way that some may find dehumanizing. The event can continue to be an important community project AND the image on the flyer for future years could change without taking anything away from the good that is done. I hope you can take the opportunity to empathize with how Bailey feels about this image and how she did not say something in previous years because she understood the service project to be of greater importance than the image used. But that with the continued use of the image, perhaps there is an opportunity to make a small but meaningful change.
I absolutely see your point and agree 100%. Many don’t see this or understand why it is problematic. Or like in the comment above, many are not ready for an actual discussion that requires a person to look at the feelings this discussion brings up. The negative response by Christine is another discussion/example of how we are taught to fear and push down any disagreement in the church and is for another day. But your article is spot on. Women are often portrayed as things to look at, as things to serve others, as something to control, as things to make men happy, as things that are responsible for others poor boundary maintenance…they are seen as things, not whole people capable of making their own decisions and having their own thoughts. It is a highly problematic stance and it is built into the system with the power imbalance of men always having all of the decision making power and women being expected to fulfill all requests with a nod and a smile. I think it is important to speak up and go with your gut, but just know it may cost you. I say this with lived experience. I encourage you to do it anyway. Speak up. Have a meeting with the bishop (with your daughters and husband in the room with you) and explain how the flyer makes you feel. He may say a lot of deflective things since his intention wasn’t to harm and he may feel uncomfortable and try to center the discussion on his feelings rather than yours. You’ll have to pull the focus back to you and your concerns. On the other hand, he may be open to hearing your feelings and may be open to further discussion and may not try to center it on his feelings. Be prepared for all options and possible responses and any fallout. I don’t know if you won the game of leadership roulette in your ward. I hope you have. I did not in my ward and stale. I support you a million percent. Thank you so much for writing this important piece.
I read your title first and thought you’d be discussing the joke that people often make about how the dad is the head of the household and the mom is the neck. Though you didn’t discuss that joke, I think it has a lot of the same problems! The people who say that are trying to say that the mom has lots of power. But without a head, it’s hard to have power….Maybe that’s a post for another day.
“This service project has done fantastic things for our community, but this photo of a decapitated woman feels a little creepy to me. Would you consider using something like this photo instead?
When we strive to serve our Father and do His will, aren’t we then instruments in His Hands? A headless photo might demonstrate this perfectly. God loves you. He needs you to be a tool in His hand to bless those around you.
Thank you so much for noticing and being concerned about this important topic. It’s imperative that we kindly speak up in order to affect positive change.
Be kind and thoughtful in what you choose to say, but be honest. I don’t think you should downplay or neglect to mention the issue of women being reduced to body parts. Beating around the bush won’t be helpful, but you don’t have to escalate the issue more than needs be either. Maybe something like, “I am so grateful for all of the effort you’ve put in to helping our community. You’ve helped so much that I hesitated to even bring this up, but it’s really important that when we know better, we do better. The image of the woman’s body parts absent her head is problematic. Girls and women are often reduced to their body parts in advertisements and by the world in general. We know that as daughters of God, we are more than just our bodies and I’ve noticed that the image we’re using to advertise the event does this. I know it may not seem like a big deal, but I wonder if we could do better? I’m not sure this image is in keeping with what we know about how our Heavenly Parents see us. I’m uncomfortable with it and the message it sends to girls and women. Could I help in finding or creating an image that would be more in line with eternal truths?”