Uncensored

Violence, aggressive language, hate groups and women’s nipples. These things violate community standards of international social media platforms. As a woman, I find it bizarre that parts of my body can fall under the same category as hate speech. 

The censorship guidelines specific to women’s bodies seem to imply that nipples on a woman exist for the sexual arousal of the gazer. And are therefore inappropriate for the public domain. Anyone engaged in online communities knows that some exceptions are made; for brands, celebrities, those who can bring in a profit. 

When the commodification of women’s bodies is favoured over individual agency we are left with the erasure of women-led stories. When our authorship is silenced we are reduced to an archetype. In The Allegory of the Cave, by Plato people experience the world only via shadows of objects cast on the wall. They are limited to seeing false images of reality.

Online censorship clarifies the societal confusion between empowerment and objectification of women and our bodies. Even in this new form of media, inconsistent censorship creates false realities where women’s relevance exists only in relation to the patriarchal Male Gaze.

...and she always knows her place, Interview Series

…and she always knows her place is a project promoting female and female identifying driven narratives, exploring what it is to be a woman in contemporary life.

I interviewed Melbourne fashion designer and stylist Grace Butterworth last year. I think Grace would describe herself as an introvert, as do I. I identified with her story about trying to find value in yourself, using fashion as an armour and taking up some mother fucking space.

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A: What kind of things are important to you in your live right now?

G: Well, I don't know. I think just sort of working out what I should be doing is a big thing. because I’m kinda unemployed mainly at the moment. Just sort of working on my own little projects and doing the styling stuff. I was in London for a year, and came back like a year ago and I feel like I've been not sure what to do with a fashion degree here.

A: Is there way more opportunity in London?

G: There is, but then there isn’t. Like, they take full advantage of interns over there. It’s cut throat. London is a great place, like there’s so much to do, there are so many opportunities as well but everyone is a work-a-holic over there. Like six days a week everyone is working all the time. I was really lucky, because I won this award that sent me over there with my grad collection. They found me an internship and then paid me a wage for the internship. Otherwise I could never afford to do it, because it you have to intern for a long time at the company and maybe you’ll get a job? But I wouldn't know how to go straight there and get a job. 

A: It’s tough. I lived there myself for a couple of year. I loved living there, but, I’m actually glad my time was limited because I don't think I could sustain a life there. I mean it’s hard enough here in a creative industry… I think career is a big thing for me at the moment too. Like, how do you make this happen?

G: Yeah exactly. God yeah, there’s so many interns in the place that I worked at that had been there for two years and were not going to get a job out of it. Like, we weren't even allowed to use the kettle to make tea and stuff. All through London winter, no microwave for food.

A: What? That’s brutal.

G: They had like ten interns at some point, and they’re like, ‘it’s too hectic if you all use the kettle.’ I didn't see it at the time, because I was so determined to do a really good job, but it’s like, ‘you guys are fucked!’ They get us to walk everywhere, carrying I don't know how many kilo’s worth of gowns. They wouldn't folk out for Uber’s or taxi’s. So you’d have to walk places or take public transport. I’d be on the Tube at peak hour, with like ￡10,000, like hugely expensive gowns, carrying them to a stylist or something in the city, on the fucking Tube. And told not to drop or to damage it, not bend it at all, you have to keep it in pristine condition. Like, what the fuck guys?!

A: Yeah, you’d think they’d fork out a couple of pounds for a cab. For me, I thought that stemmed back to the class system in England, and once you notice it, it’s really prominent.

G: I never really thought of it that way. But I think that maybe it is like a prevailing notion there. It’s like us and them. Yeah, it was really separative like that.

A: I'm interested in how women view there place in society, and if they still feel pressure to conform to gender roles and expectations. Is that something you think about at all?

G: Yeah, I struggle hugely with speaking up, or being a leader or having ideas heard, and I fall into a role as well, and I don't like that. Like, my girlfriend she is the manager of this other woman that she’s working with, but she didn't realise that she was her manager. My girlfriend kept going like ‘I don't know what I’m doing? I'm trying to like manager her, and tell her the different things to do but she’s not treating me as her manager.’ She didn't realise at all. She thought that they were equal ranking. But my girlfriend was actually meant to give her direction. But she didn’t realise the set up, so that was really awkward. People just assumed that she wouldn't be the manager. Even other women. 

A: Yeah. That’s so interesting. I think because of the way that we’ve been brought up to think about ourselves, I guess it’s prejudice. You don't mean to be that way. It’s just your reality is women don't fall into this role or this category. Anyway I’m just blabbering now a bit. 

G: No, I agree. The guys I work with have all been really great, but… it’s more something that I need to work on myself. Just feeling sort of like there’s always a little bit of tension. 

A: How do you mean?

G: Just like, oh dudes acting a little bit flirty. Which can be uncomfortable, because I’m obviously gay. I work that into conversations sometimes. 

A: I’ll just casually drop this…

G: Casually, ‘hey…like soz.’ (lol). Oh yeah, like this producer, the last show we did we went out for drinks afterwards. Then at the end of the night, I kissed him goodbye on the cheek, and then he tried to kiss me on the cheek but turned his head and kissed me on the lips at the last second. Like, this is a guy I’d been working with for two days. I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose. I know that could be a mistake. I think because he pulled me in for a second, and then turned his head at the last second. Stuff like this that makes you feel, ugh, like we can’t just be friends. Like, I want to be friends with these people, and I want more men in my life who are great, inspiring, everything. But then this stuff happens, and you just feel like (sigh) exhausted. At times it’s like ‘Who is the one I can trust?’

A: Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

G: I think it’s why I prefer working with women sometimes. I want to get over it. That’s another thing I wanna try fight through. I have a goal to work on with myself, to have clear boundaries and be more comfortable around men.

A: I wonder if it’s also…. well older men can come across a bit disrespectful of younger women in the workplace. I just don’t even really want to deal with that.

G: Yeah, exactly. It can be a bit of a boys club too, at times.

A: Even in fashion?

G: Yeah. Definitely. Photo shoots a lot. Fashion not so much. The guys I’ve met on the fashion side have been really lovely. But I think sometimes a lot of male designers get, and I don’t know maybe it’s not completely right? But sometimes they get heard a little bit more, they’re more respected. It’s just like a feeling that male designers are appreciated more. In a way, for doing something that’s usually a woman’s… you know it comes back to women’s art is craft, quilting and tapestry and stuff is a craft. But when a guy does it, it can be Art!

A: Yes. suddenly he’s taken this old medium and changed it in a new way!

G: Yeah, wow! How inspiring.‘Taking a craft and making it Art!’ It’s like, ‘it has always been Art.’

A: Well anything that’s traditionally a woman’s job in the home, like cooking, fashion; sewing, art, craft, all those things in the professional realm are male dominated. 

G: Yeah! It’s like what the fuck?! Like, so many famous chefs are male. That’s great and everything but you know it’s not an equal representation. I’m sure there are many female amazing chefs out there. I think it’s such an ingrained thing. It can be frustrating.

A: It just feels like so… all really nuanced. It is part of our societal norm, you don't even know how you’re supposed to tackle it in a way. 

G: Yeah, it’s huge. 

A: Do you feel valued as a woman in society?

G: Hmm it’s tricky. I don't really feel like I'm doing much of value in society I guess in general, because I’m mostly unemployed and just kicking around. I don't know, I think possibility? It’s like I constantly need my friends to tell me if I’m good at something or I am capable of something. I feel totally incapable some of the time. Even though I can do these things. You know that’s probably another ingrained thing. It’s funny with driving as well, I’m really not used of taking up space, or being in a position of power. So that’s something I'm really struggling with through driving. Like, knowing that I can actually push in and take up space, like I have to keep saying to myself ‘take up space! You can do it, damn it!’

A: Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way before but thats so true. You have to be assertive when you're driving, especially city driving. You have to be like ‘nope! I need to get in this lane and you're going to make space for me.’

G: Yeah exactly, and that’s a really hard thing. Usually I’m a stay in the sidelines kind of person, in a lot of situations. Like, you know the whole appearing smaller thing. Like in public I want to be pretty invisible. So that is interesting that I want to be invisible but I love dressing up too. That’s one of the reasons I really love fashion too, is escapism. Like how you can sort of put it on as like an armour and that can be you for the day. That’s a way of taking up space. I think if you're usually quite withdrawn, or you feel like you don't have a place, I think dressing up is really helpful. I think that really helped me growing up. Discovering fashion and different ways of wearing things and like crazy haircuts and stuff, and like hair colours. It made me feel… it felt so good. I used to wear crazy stuff, like googely eyes stuck on my jackets and big platform boots everywhere and a lot of DIY stuff I made and things like that. It was really fun. I kinda want to do that again, and I don't know why I’ve kind of shrunk back a bit again.

...and she always knows her place Interview Series

…and she always knows her place is a project promoting female and female identifying driven narratives, exploring what it is to be a woman in contemporary life.

Chloe Turner is a Melbourne based Musician and Music Industry professional. Chloe is also a part of Listen, a feminist record label and collective who advocate for equality in the music industry. When we caught up we chatted about women in the music industry, and how everyday biases formed from traditional gender roles effect women in the workplace.

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A: What kind of things are important to you in your life right now?

C: That’s a tricky question. Well my partner is important to me, and my friends, and my work in the music industry. I'm very career driven at the moment.

A: Why is your work important to you? Is it a passion of yours?

C: Yeah, I work really hard to do things in music. I love music and helping musicians with the skills that I have in admin and writing and being organised. I'm a musician myself but also I do lots of admin, run the label and stuff. 

A: When did you discover that not only you love playing music, but also you have skills to help other musicians?

C: I was learning musical instruments when I was in high school and primary school, and went to uni and did a Music Industry Degree. That was when I was 18-19-20, and probably in the last year of uni I decided that admin was probably better for me than actually playing. So I started focusing more on that.  Now I'm a musician and do all the admin and help run the label with people.

The label that I run is a feminist record label, and I am a member of a feminist collective called Listen. I do a lot of gender equality stuff, it’s a very white male dominated industry. 

Like, festival bills and lots of local line-ups, the bands that are breaking overseas, they're all male dominated. And the constant divide between Pop and Rock music, and then 'Multicultural' music. It seems that if you are an artist of colour your music is defined by genre and not the actual music that you play. For example, Folk-Rock artists of colour may still be defined as World because they may be Indigenous, not just Folk. So at Listen we try and have discussions about this kind of stuff. But Listen is a tiny baby organisation.

A: So what’s the most frustrating part of being a woman in the music industry and trying to break through?

C: People tend to assume that you're an Assistant, or a Social Media person, and not listen to you or bother to introduce themselves. You may have a lot of responsibility within your job, as a band manager or a project manager, or whatever you’re doing, and people always assume you’re just there to help the men who have the important ‘decision making’ roles. I’d say that’s the most frustrating. It’s like you always have to prove you can do your job.

A: That’s so typical actually of so many ‘female’ jobs.

C: Women always fall into the marketing and publicity side of things too. And it’s always under paid. Or if it is paid correctly, its always questioned. Like, ‘do I really need to pay someone that much to do publicity?’ You do the work and nobody will hear about it, see how much publicity is worth to you then.

In office environments in the past, I’ve always fallen into, or it’s been assumed that I will do the office cleaning, cleaning the dishes, ordering supplies etc. when it’s never been specifically my job to do these things.

A: That’s crazy, but so true. I read that women in offices do so many extra unpaid admin jobs, like cleaning dishes, bringing food in for meetings. All that kind of shit is just expected.

C: Yeah, or it’s like I’ll cook my lunch and while I'm cleaning up my dishes I’ll quickly wipe down all the benches with some spray and wipe, or clean out the fridge just because I'm in the kitchen. Whereas I don't think anyone else would do that. They'd just be like ‘oh there’s coffee stains on the bench,’ or they wouldn't even notice it. They’d be like ‘ok, done.’

A: It comes back to everyday biases that people have.

C: Yeah all that extra unpaid domestic labour. I was reading this really interesting article about unpaid emotional labour that goes with domestic labour for women in the household, and women in the workplace. Men are like, ‘yeah I’ll help, just ask me and I’ll help.’ But the act of asking is still emotional labour. Like, I can ask someone to do the dishes, because I did them last time. But that’s still taking effort for me to take notice that they need doing and go ask someone, and then they probably won’t get done. I might end up having to do them anyway. 

A: It’s like you become almost like…

C: The Mum

A: The Mum! Yeah. You have to ask people to do their chores around the office.

C: Which is so much extra work and potential confrontation.

A: Yeah, you don't want to create more tension at work and become that…

C: Naggy. Even though ‘nagging’ is just the patriarchy.

A: Yeah, so true. 

So for female musicians, is it the same kind of thing? Unconscious bias where like you almost have to bring it to people’s attention?  Like, ‘You have no women on your line-up.’

C: Well, I feel in that sense it is. When we’ve called out festivals, or called out people like, ‘have you looked at your line-up? There’s no women at all. How did you not notice that?’ But then it’s also women, just like being assumed that they aren't in the band or the musician. That they're the girlfriend. 

That happens surprisingly a lot. That happened to me at a venue last year. We were playing a gig there and we were really early so we were loading in our gear, and we were just sitting there waiting for the sound person to arrive. Then the sound person just came up to my partner and introduced themselves and walked away, and it was like, ‘I’m in the band too and I’m sitting right here. Right next to my bandmate who you just shook hands with.’

A: I feel like those things are so obvious to women, but maybe not to men?

C: My partner’s pretty good. They’re non-binary trans, so they are going through a whole bunch of stuff themselves. But they are like, ‘okay that was fucked, that guy didn't even acknowledge your existence.’

A: Yeah. I don’t know if you watch Master of None?

C: Yes!

A: That episode they did in the first season,

C: With the Ad and the walking home thing?

A: Yeah. And they go out to a party and the director shakes all the guys hands and the walks away.

C: They have the fight.

A: Yeah, the fact that he’s like ‘I'm sure he didn't mean it,’ but the women are like ‘no.’

C: ‘This happens to us everyday and you’re already defending the dude in this situation, without even listening to us.’ I love that episode. And even at the start when they’re like walking home and it’s like ‘do do do do do,’ and for the girl its like ‘da-dadum!’ Can’t walk through the park, might not make it out of the park.

A: They (Master of None) have a great way of talking about different experiences. Whether it be race or gender or whatever, in way that’s so everyday, and so approachable. They don't have to sensationalise it for people to get it. 

C: They just work it in, its so good.

A: So do you think women are valued in our society?

C: Um, yes. But they are under appreciated. I think that’s a good summery. I haven't really encountered like, absolute misogynists. I know they're out there. But I'm definitely in a bubble, a north side arts bubble.

But yeah, I definitely think we’re valued. I think it’s just lots of under appreciation and having no idea about the work and extra things that women do.