Feb 25, 2015

Time To Stop The Madness

The new "minhag" of not allowing womens images to appear in print, in books, magazines and advertisements, has spread. As ridiculous and demeaning as it was before, it has gotten way out of control, with even the word "woman" being censored, let alone pictures of anything that might make a person think the image is symbolic of a woman...

A group of people, in Bet Shemesh, has started to try to oppose this behavior and reverse the trend. The following ad is their first in what they promise to be a continued campaign. They will be going up around town, along with other messages to this effect, soon.






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Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
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15 comments:

  1. how can we donate?

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  2. Did they stop learning Seder nashim?
    What if someone advertises a shiur in hilchos nidda or reads shir hashirim?

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  3. There is no hilchos nidda, it is Yoreh de'a chelek beis. And chassidim refer to maseches Nidda as "masechta chuf."

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    1. I heard a joke about a kolel learning masechet nidda. they made a siyyum after 2 weeks.

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  4. A group of DATI LEUMI people in Bet Shemesh .....

    The charedim will continue on their merry way.

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  5. In your opinion, is it ok to refrain from printing photos of women who do not meet the publisher's standard of tzeniuth? Women who do not cover their hair?

    Doesn't the publisher have the right to decide this for themselves?

    Why not simply stop buying those publications who don't approve of, and then see if they're still around. My guess is that they will be.

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    1. good question I dont have an answer. I do think the publisher should have some leeway in deciding his publishing rules at his discretion, and I know the rules applied will be relatively subjective. But there are also laws to follow against discrimination, and there are also social norms, and there is an attempt to change social norms..
      I think the question applies less to me as a consumer and more to me as an advertiser.
      meaning, as a consumer, I dont really care. I dont really care if an advertiser uses images of women or not. I dont really care if a book or a magazine uses images of women or not. It bothers me that women are being "erased", and it bothers me that Judaism is being run by extremists setting the rules, but as a consumer I dont really care.
      As an advertiser, it bothers me a lot. If a woman wants to advertise her real estate business, or her law practice, or her clothing store, or her accounting services... look through the magazines and ad books - many advertisements include a picture of the proprietor of the business. The reason for this is that it draws attention, and also shows the potential customer that he is trustworthy - maybe the consumer recognizes him from around the neighborhood or around town, maybe he has a pleasant and trusting appearance .. if a man can advertise using his image and a woman cannot, the woman is at a great disadvantage.

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    2. I see what your saying. But, the libertarian in me says that the publisher should be able to do what s/he wants, and we as consumer should do what we want,...with our wallets.

      If a woman succeeds in advertising using her image in a Haredi paper, because the paper is forced by the gov't to do so, I guarantee you she will lose business, and probably have protests at her business.

      OTOH, I suppose that might be a way to drum up business from Haredi-bashers via the huge amount of publicity she'll get. ;-)

      Capitalism and Authoritarian socialism make strange bedfellows.

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    3. I'm surprised someone hasn't made some underground, "Haredi light" newspaper/advertising service, yet.

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    4. the bigger problem, I think, is that it has trickled down to many of the non-haredi papers and ad books. Either they too receive threats or they are worried they will or they want to theoretically be available to haredi readers.

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    5. I'm no fan of intimidation. But, I believe that [supportable], non-nasty warnings of withholding financial support and purchases are legitimate.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. Esser, the mob would simply antagonize the advertisers. For something like that to work, you would need a Haredi Sheldon Adelson to overcome the social barriers that prevent an initiative like that to get started.

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