Editor, The News:
Re: Ad seriously crossed the line of decency (Letters, May 23).
What a strange age we live in. We have such contempt and scorn for countries or cultures that dictate they way a woman dresses or behaves.
We pride ourselves on bridging the gender gap of equality in our education and our workplace.
We tell our girls they can pursue any occupation they choose if they set their mind to it and work hard.
In school, we learn about women like Nellie McClung, who fought hard to give women a voice and pressed for women to be considered a person under the law.
Last Friday, when I was reading your newspaper (that’s right, even though I’m a female, I know how to read), I was intensely disappointed to see the Caddy Shack ad of a faceless woman pulling down her see-through panties – that you choose to run.
Let me be clear – I’m disappointed that you chose to run it.
What is the implicit message here: ‘My value and worth as a female is solely what is between my legs, not between my ears.’
Or perhaps it is, ‘I am faceless because I am every woman, I service men for money.’
Either way, I struggle to find a positive message here.
When we start to objectify women (or any person, for that matter), we lose sight of their humanity, their heart, their story, their soul.
We need only look at human trafficking to see what objectification looks like at, perhaps, it’s ugliest.
M. Takasaki
Maple Ridge