By Megan Egan

Introducing Him

Feminism. I have an uneasy relationship with this word. Of course I completely agree with what it
stands for, but I find it ludicrous that we even have a word for this, it’s just common sense. Not only
that, but I feel there are very mixed messages floating around about what it really is.

Recently, it seems the commercial world is finally cottoning on to the fact that all genders and
races should be equal, and this has resulted in some bold political statements, as well as some
poorly judged ones (just look at the recent Pepsi Kendall Jenner fail, or Dove’s body lotion ad).
We’ve definitely got a long way to go on this matter, but I think it’s almost got to a point recently
where companies are making statements about it just because it’s ‘trendy’, which leads to a very
watered down and often confused message.

Laura Jordan Baumbach came to SCA last week to talk about Mr President, and mentioned that
often women are asked to go and present at a talk, but not to show their work, instead, they’re
asked to talk about what it’s like being a female in the industry. Can anyone see what’s wrong with
this?

I’m sick of high-achieving women being held up on a pedestal as a shining example of “the second
female president of XYZ”, or “the first female who”. We should be celebrating the achievements of
women, of course, but why do we feel the need to constantly remind everyone that they are in fact,
‘female’? There will never be equality of the genders if we constantly differentiate between the two
– being female should not even be a factor in judging some one’s success.

What would happen if males started introducing themselves in the same way women are
introduced? E.g. “I’m XXX, the 47th MALE D&AD President”. Would people find it strange?
This is the drunken conversation I had with Jem and other SCAers last night, could we start a
movement where males introduce themselves in this way? So maybe we’ll give it a go. 100 years
on from women winning the vote seems like a good time to start – “Introducing him”, let’s stop
patronising high achieving women and just make them “high achievers”.