Staffordshire Student Union’s bid to ban lads’ mags
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By Richard Taylor and Kirsty Bourne: Popular lads’ mags could be banned from Staffordshire Students’ Union, StaffsLive can reveal.
The union is proposing a campus-wide ban of publications such as Nuts and Zoo as they feel the magazines objectify women.
Union President Assed Baig said: “We are doing this to acknowledge that sexism exists within society and it isn’t just overt sexism, it’s sub-conscience.
“There were two members of the Union Council at the last meeting who referred to women’s breasts as ‘knockers’, which proves our argument.”
The union is also planning to get rid of beauty pageants and club nights such as ‘Pimps and Hos’ which sees women dressing like strippers.
Education and Welfare Officer, Vanessa Brumby, proposed the motion at a meeting on November 2.
She said ; “It will go forward as a whole motion and people will have the opportunity to discuss and change various aspects about it.”
A student vote will be held on December 3 at the next general meeting with a guest speaker planned for November 25. A time and place for both events are yet to be confirmed.
Zoo Magazine declined to comment.
For more information go to www.staffsunion.com
Click beneath to listen to what students think about these potential changes ;
This is absolutely rediculous!
Is the Union being turned into some sort of left-wing dictatorship?
These dress up nights are purely optional. Women can wear what they want – they don’t have to dress like a ‘ho’!
Going by this rule of banning Zoo and Nuts they may as well shut down the shops completly because I’m sure they will manage to find an issue with it?
What’s next – getting rid of the Sun? Or perhaps the Daily Mail won’t agree with your ideoligal viewpoint – so ban that as well?!
Well Mr Kingham if you maybe stopped looking at these magazines maybe your English would improve slightly. I mean come on how ‘REDICULOUS’ is that ‘IDEOLIGAL’ especially coming from a Broadcast Journalist who has just graduated.
I would not say the Union is a left wing dictatorship. Its actually being run by a president who stands for something and has substance.
Im not going to get into a slanging match on here – i’ve made my point and am willing to answer things which aren’t gonna slag me off.
My spelling is bad but hey – im sh** hot at radio!
Assed Baig is someone who is backing the proposal which was put forward by two females working at the Union. As a Student Union president he is only taking into consideration proposals that are put forward to him. Good on him for backing an issue which is clearly important to the colleagues that he is working with. All facts need to be considered before people go shooting their mouths off.
In regards to you being ‘s*** hot at radio, well that could be argued, but I am more then happy to leave it here.
That is ridiculous!
Just because a few people don’t like them , they are hardly dangerous magazines are they.
Will the guest speaker at the discussion be bias against banning them? surely get another speaker who will defend them?
If you don’t like the magazines just don’t acknowledge them.
Also surely we should ban female magazines like Cosmopolitan on that basis for the ’50 ways to get you man to please you’ style topics if you are going to ban mens mags.
if you ban these you should also ban glamour and heat and womens mags that have articles such as “torso of the week” in them which frankly i find sexually derogative to men, joking :p haha seriously folks if the student union shop stops selling themm boo hoo there are loads of off licences around shelton that do so all this means is the union loses out on some cash. Big woop.
So what’s next? Taking page 3 out of the Sun? Or just banning the newspapers too? Ridiculous idea, i’m sure Baig gets many proposals, backing this one is a waste of time. He should focus on ideas to better the student experience, he is the leader of a student union, surely that’s his main role; opposed to implementing schemes that will have no lasting effect on any part of society.
Sex sells. It always has, and always will. Nuts and Zoo are similar to dumbed down news programmes, they may not appear to be newsworthy, but they appeal to the masses, now and again they even contain important messages – in this case, male health issues are often raised. IF it takes a few topless (star searching) pretty girls to help a man pic up this magazine, who then reads on about other messages that may change his behavior or highlight a health issue, I think the mags should be celebrated and not shunned.
Well, if you are worried about the speaker being biased then you can all come along and challenge the views and voice your opinions. Just to clarify, i seconded the motion as i support my fellow, female, officer on this, i was not the pruposer but i’m happy to discuss it as i believe in it. See you all soon, i’m looking forward to the debate and discussion, i hope you all turn up. Nice to know you still care about Staffs Mr Kingham, and i’m sure you’re really good at radio :)
For f**cks sake WOMEN HAVE A MIND OF THEIR OWN! If it’s a pimps and hoes night and they don’t want to dress up as a hoe…guess what…THEY WON’T!
The women in these magazines WANT to be doing it, they WANT to be seen and they WANT people to enjoy looking at them. Often they have dreamed about it for a long time, so why care!
If they’re happy then leave ‘em to it, and if you don’t want to look THEN DON’T!
it should/can only be banned if the majority of students find it offensive, not because 2 or 3 people in the union find it offensive. otherwise a lot of the societys would get banned aswell as gobble and super friday if the union was to ban something because just the odd person(s) was offended by it
I find it offensive that, as an adult, I’m being told what I can and can’t look at by my Union.
I think it’s a good idea to remove the magazines, but I think the pimp and ho’s nights are just a bit of fun?
The magazines defintely are degrading to women and arent even placed on a higher shelf in the union shops. If nothing else that should be changed.
A university is and should remain a place of intellectual achievement. Allowing lads mags in such an environment… what’s next a brothel in a corner of Westminster?
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