Newspapers are guilty of persistently objectifying women, perpetuating myths about rape and sexualising young girls, the Leveson inquiry has been told.

Four women’s groups – Eaves, End Violence Against Women, Object and Equality Now – presented evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday and demanded that Leveson tackle the issue of “relentless” sexism in some areas of the press.

Such was the explicit nature of some of the evidence shown to the inquiry, some of it had to be censored before being distributed to witnesses. This led Object’s Anna van Heeswijk to note: “They were censored for adults within this inquiry, when in fact they are freely available in mainstream newspapers which are not age-restricted.”

Heeswijk continued: “We have to ask ourselves what kind of story does it tell young people when men in newspapers wear suits, or sports gear, are shown as active participants, and women are sexualised objects who are essentially naked or nearly naked?”

The groups called on Leveson to back a ban on nude or semi-nude imagery of women in newspapers, but Leveson admitted that his powers were limited. Such a change would require “rock-solid” legislation, he warned.

The manner in which some publications report rape was also criticised by the groups giving evidence. Marai Larasi, from End Violence Against Women, claimed the media “enforces attitudes in society” and those that work in the media “should be conscious of this and should actively seek not to reproduce attitudes which condone violence against women or girls”.

Heather Harvey, from Eaves, told the inquiry that newspapers have propagated a myth whereby such cases are “one offs” and there is “nothing you can do to prevent it”. Harvey argued otherwise, saying: “It’s not inevitable, it’s a cause and a consequence of inequality,” which she said is aided by the press’s representation of women.

The sexualisation of young women was also brought up, with the groups presenting an article on a then-15-year-old Charlotte Church as evidence. A photograph from the Daily Star, focussing on the singer’s chest, ran with the caption: “She’s a big girl now. Child singing sensation showed just how quickly she’s grown up after she turned up at a Hollywood bash looking chest swell.”

The groups also urged Leveson to replace the Press Complaints Commission with a regulatory body “with teeth”, which could be complained to directly and empowerland to punish irresponsible journalism to a real extent.

(Source: MediaGuardian)

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