“Regarding cleavage and pants – what do my clothes say about me?”
A Young Women’s Parliament conference took place on 10.12.14 in Kiryat-Ono’s public library, sponsored by Ron Malka, Deputy Mayor, and the advisor on the status of women, Chen Arad, and with the participation of Anat Livnat, chairwoman of the Association of the Women Advisors on the Status of Women. The conference’s moderator was Hanna Beit Halachmi, and the participants in the discussion were Illana Shoshan, film producer, model, beauty queen and an activist for women’s empowerment, and representatives of the young women’s groups that are active in Bat-Yam, Kfar-Saba and Kiryat-Ono.
Hanna Beit Halachmi described the situation in which boys always seem to be doing something on their Facebook photos – sitting by the computer, holding a beer, at a football game, watching, which means that boys are photographed doing important things, while girls are photographed in seductive poses, which means that women make themselves popular by using their bodies, and men, by using content. “Why is this happening?”
Young women from the audience participated in the discussion, and replied that, “They are imitating the model of beauty,” “Because girls want to look like older women.” Some of the young women explained that, “This is another generation; a generation in which part of the innocence is gone, and sexual maturity occurs more quickly.”
Hanna Beit Halachmi explained to the young women what “dress code” was – “ In each place, we must wear clothes in accordance with that place, in order to be able to influence that place. We must be dressed according to what we want to do. If I come dressed in revealing clothes to a place in which brains matter, people will not listen to me, and if I come all wrapped up to a place in which the body actually needs to be revealed, it will not work out either.”
Illana Shoshan spoke of women’s portrayal in the media. Shoshan told the young women about her glamorous past as a beauty queen, a model in desired campaigns, and a film producer, and about the process she has undergone from being a model of “beauty”, as a beauty queen in 1980, to the understanding that she was in fact being used as a sex object.
The evening ended with a panel discussion, moderated by Hanna Beit Halachmi, with the participation of Illana Shoshan, Omer Sade, Shir Mazar and Shani Kitenberg. The panel’s speakers shared the frustration with the current fashion, the model of female body proportions, which is becoming more and more unreasonable over the years, and the desire to change the world in which they were living through discourse and understanding. Hanna Beit Halachmi concluded the panel discussion, and said that, “The young women’s need to talk is a very good reason to have your own gathering,” and that, “This connection that you have is powerful, and it is important for bringing about change.”
Esther Hertzog, coordinator of Women’s Parliament, concluded the conference by saying that, “Women should encourage and be supportive of each other. ‘Divide and conquer’ is constantly being used on us, and the important thing for us is to develop solidarity between us. Only when we stand together, as a joined force, out of all that we have in common, and because we undergo discrimination, and because of the depictions and pornography. We must remember that today, we are all porn stars, and out of all this, we must act together to make a change.”
A Young Women’s Parliament conference took place on 10.12.14 in Kiryat-Ono’s public library, sponsored by Ron Malka, Deputy Mayor, and the advisor on the status of women, Chen Arad, and with the participation of Anat Livnat, chairwoman of the Association of the Women Advisors on the Status of Women. The conference’s moderator was Hanna Beit Halachmi, and the participants in the discussion were Illana Shoshan, film producer, model, beauty queen and an activist for women’s empowerment, and representatives of the young women’s groups that are active in Bat-Yam, Kfar-Saba and Kiryat-Ono.
Hanna Beit Halachmi described the situation in which boys always seem to be doing something on their Facebook photos – sitting by the computer, holding a beer, at a football game, watching, which means that boys are photographed doing important things, while girls are photographed in seductive poses, which means that women make themselves popular by using their bodies, and men, by using content. “Why is this happening?”
Young women from the audience participated in the discussion, and replied that, “They are imitating the model of beauty,” “Because girls want to look like older women.” Some of the young women explained that, “This is another generation; a generation in which part of the innocence is gone, and sexual maturity occurs more quickly.”
Hanna Beit Halachmi explained to the young women what “dress code” was – “ In each place, we must wear clothes in accordance with that place, in order to be able to influence that place. We must be dressed according to what we want to do. If I come dressed in revealing clothes to a place in which brains matter, people will not listen to me, and if I come all wrapped up to a place in which the body actually needs to be revealed, it will not work out either.”
Illana Shoshan spoke of women’s portrayal in the media. Shoshan told the young women about her glamorous past as a beauty queen, a model in desired campaigns, and a film producer, and about the process she has undergone from being a model of “beauty”, as a beauty queen in 1980, to the understanding that she was in fact being used as a sex object.
The evening ended with a panel discussion, moderated by Hanna Beit Halachmi, with the participation of Illana Shoshan, Omer Sade, Shir Mazar and Shani Kitenberg. The panel’s speakers shared the frustration with the current fashion, the model of female body proportions, which is becoming more and more unreasonable over the years, and the desire to change the world in which they were living through discourse and understanding. Hanna Beit Halachmi concluded the panel discussion, and said that, “The young women’s need to talk is a very good reason to have your own gathering,” and that, “This connection that you have is powerful, and it is important for bringing about change.”
Esther Hertzog, coordinator of Women’s Parliament, concluded the conference by saying that, “Women should encourage and be supportive of each other. ‘Divide and conquer’ is constantly being used on us, and the important thing for us is to develop solidarity between us. Only when we stand together, as a joined force, out of all that we have in common, and because we undergo discrimination, and because of the depictions and pornography. We must remember that today, we are all porn stars, and out of all this, we must act together to make a change.”
