-
Source: Close Up -
Watch Video
-
Related
An airline marketing campaign portraying older, single women as
"cougars" who prey on young men in bars at night has incurred the
wrath of both male and female rape victims in New Zealand.
"Cougar" has become a popular term for sexually aggressive older
women on the hunt for younger men, with actress Courteney Cox
recently starring in a TV comedy called Cougar Town. The term is
viewed as either misogynistic or a word of empowerment.
An online spoof documentary by Air New Zealand, promoting a
competition for free tickets to a rugby tournament, tells of a
so-called cougar starving itself during the day then "hunting large
slabs of meat at night" by stalking young men at a bar.
The voiceover says despite the men's attempts to ward off the
woman's advances, the cougar has "not tasted fresh meat for days"
and drags their victims to an inner-city apartment, often forcing
them to listen to "Enya or the Eurythmics".
The promotion by the airline's Grabaseat
discount airfare site encourages women aged 35 plus who prey on men
at least 10 years their junior to send in photographs of themselves
out with their friends to compete for tickets to next month's
Wellington Sevens.
New Zealand's Rape Prevention Education has labelled the ad
appalling, disgusting and degrading to women, adding that some Air
New Zealand staff were also concerned about the promotion.
"They find it degrading and that it is encouraging potentially
harmful behaviour, so my question is why is our national carrier
promoting sexually predatory behaviour?" director Kim McGregor told
the New Zealand Herald.
"We have also had complaints from male survivors who have been
raped by women and they are very distressed that their situation is
being laughed at and made out to be humorous." An airline
spokeswoman told reporters that the campaign was supposed to be
"light-hearted" but some older women had "taken a bit of offence to
it."
However, the spokeswoman added that more than 60 women have signed
up for the competition and there are no plans to withdraw the
campaign.
Women taking control
Comedian Penny Ashton says as soon as a woman takes control of her sexuality she is painted as an aggressor.
She told Mark Sainsbury on Close Up she gets really sick of that portrayal of women.
Ashton says she doesn't see a problem with older woman chasing younger men.
"And as soon as you criticise or you call something misogynistic or sexist everybody paints you out as this big, fat heavy lesbian."
Ashton says while older men might chase young women, a woman chasing a younger man is often referred to negatively as a gold digger.
"But if it's an older woman with a younger man, he's the defenceless victim and she's the predator. It's often a double standard."
She says she doesn't like the term cougar and a better
description would be women taking control of their sexuality.
What are your thoughts on the promotion? Share your
thoughts on the messageboard below.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentLX100 said on 2010-01-18 @ 22:21 NZDT: Report abusive post
I think its about time we stopped with the PC bollocks. As a parent how bout you just not allow your children to watch it? Its airNZ!! Theyre not here to shape your child's character, theyre here to fly planes. Clearly the ad wasnt made to offend anyone, why dont all the downers of society grow up stop over-analyzing what is quite simply a tongue-in-cheek crack. Its indecent to suggest that its an attack on rape victims!
caitlinmain said on 2010-01-18 @ 19:51 NZDT: Report abusive post
Come on. The advert hardly "promotes sexually agressive behaviour", and to be honest, no one who watches it will decide "Oh, how about tonight, I go out and find a young male to prey on! That sounds like a bit of fun!" Those who do rape others, whether they be male or female, do not have this idea come to them after watching a promotion for a competition referring to a "Cougar". The ad is not degrading to women, and those who find it degrading must not have a sense of humour at all.
chrisd55 said on 2010-01-18 @ 19:10 NZDT: Report abusive post
Shame,Air NZ, to plumb the dpths after the accolades. As a parent, please don't undermine us by showing this kind of "role modelling"- it's not funny or smart.Talk to older women, many of whom are your Koru Club frequent flyers, and many have means to be your target market, without you demeaning them-I'm embarrassed with your portrayal, for those reasons mainly,but also because as a rape victim, this type of casual,pouncing attitude and behaviour protrayed in an ad is not responsible.