Page 18 - The Staunch Test
P. 18
THE STAUNCH TEST
In such a case, the writer and producers would be considered out of touch,
unless the piece was set well in the past or intended as comical. Of course, some
modern women do choose a domestic life, but that’s very different to only
seeing women depicted in the home (ironically, the most dangerous place for
women when it comes to male violence). Instead, in popular culture, women are
told — or shown — that out there, their role is to be stalked on the street, date-
raped or assaulted by strangers, abducted, or murdered, particularly by a serial
killer playing a numbers game with disposable female prey.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), male lead in You.
Joe’s look is straight out of the ‘sexy serial killer’ look-book. He’s an obsessive stalker,
psychopath and murderer. So, what’s the positioning here? Are we meant to think this is what
women really desire and deserve?
What we’re shown does influence us. What we’re shown repeatedly influences
us even more. There’s an entire advertising industry built on that premise, using
all its creative power to convince us to believe in what we see and want it.
The ad industry recognises that how it depicts people, especially women, can be
problematic. A key finding of a report entitled Depictions, Perceptions and
Harm, commissioned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and The
Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) stated that:
