Libra decision causes further controversy

Libra decision causes further controversy

The National LGBTI Health Alliance has labelled an Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) decision approving a controversial Libra tampon advertisment for Australian audiences as “regrettable”.

The ASB ruled that the ad, which features a drag queen in competition with a female in a women’s bathroom, did not demean women who “do not menstruate”, nor did it demean or vilify transgender people.

“[The advertisment] features a man dressed as a woman in a female bathroom environment, however, there is no way of determining whether they are representative of drag queens or transgender women,” the ruling stated.

“The advertisement did not discriminate against or vilify any section of the community.”

Alliance general manager Warren Talbot said the ad could incite prejudice against the transgender community.

“The difficulty is that it does not distinguish between drag queens and transgender women,” Talbot said.

“A drag queen is a man who is doing an exaggerated performance of femininity. He does not claim to be a woman, and wouldn’t care about not menstruating, because that would not affect his performance.

“A transgender woman, on the other hand, is a person who has had the situation to be born in the wrong body, and may undergo extensive medical treatment to help her body reflect her true gender identity as female.”

Talbot said the ad sent the message that if you don’t menstruate, you’re not really a woman.

“Not only does this discriminate against transgender women, but also against other women who don’t menstruate, often as a result of treatment for life-threatening illnesses like cervical cancer,” he said.

“The Advertising Standards Board itself noted that there was no way of determining whether the person in the ad is representative of drag queens or transgender women.

“It is this very ambiguity which provides the potential of harm to trans women, who already battle the widespread misperception that they are ‘men’ posing as women.”

Melbourne-based drag queen Sandee Crack, who starred in the ad, defended her role in the campaign earlier this month.

“I am in fact a gay man that dresses in drag as a performer. I have been doing so for many years… I have never considered myself to be transgendered and never will do,” Crack said.

“I was presented with the Libra commercial and saw it as a great opportunity to participate in a positive step towards acceptance for drag queens and gay men among the wider community.

“Libra [was] both sensitive, professional and accepting of my needs as a drag queen and as a gay man throughout the production process. I never felt for one moment that I would be depicted as a trans woman, nor do I believe that I have been.”

A total of 70 complaints were lodged with the ASB in response to the campaign.

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10 responses to “Libra decision causes further controversy”

  1. Clearly Theo B, you have been hanging around Margaret in the Solarium far too long. What you talk about is up to you. But how else do you explain your abuse of people and your need for control? Insecurity? You even talk like her telling people how to live their day to day life. If you marched in the First Mardi Gras, you would of course understand that the majority of Australians did not support the right of same-sex attracted people to live freely. So I am just not with you on the majority rules odyssey, and I am just not with you stripping our alphabets out of the Equal Opportunity Acts either. Good for you that you feel the advertisement is not offensive, but others think it is so get used to that idea – you and Margaret can’t control everyone outside of the solarium!

  2. Ahem, solarium, so who’s calling names and stereotyping now? I have taken part in every Mardi Gras since the first one, I’ve been spat on and abused, but from that i grow strength, not a victim mentality. I’m sick to death of minority fragments of society dictating to the entire populace what is and isn’t amusing just because they have a particular rabid view.

    Whether you, Dave, like it or not the majority of Australians do not find this issue to be significant, not through any malice nor ignorance, its because it’s just of no relevance to their daily lives. Those bitching about this ad are playing directly into the advertisers hands, word of mouth and controversy doubles your reach and increases awareness. Congratulations.

    GLBTI rights, ah, an alphabeti, you know what add a few more boxes to put people in and they’ll all disappear into insignificance, the best way to defeat your enemy is to divide and conquer, its ironic that by boxing someone’s ‘queerness’ into ever smaller minorities the gay community is doing that all by itself.

  3. Theo B has been in the solarium to long with Margaret Court, she is now talking like her. No person has the right to be offended? Abusing those who voice their concerns, calling them names, telling them how to live, reminds me of the insecure people who would hurl abuse at early pride marches. I just can’t join you and Margaret in the Solarium. Not because of skin cancer, but because the monotone conversation would send me to sleep. It is ironic some people still have the amazing shallowness to think GLBTI rights turned up in the mail one day. What I am really interested in, is why some people are so scared and insecure, they start heaping abuse at people who have a genuine concern about the negative impact on the advertisement.

  4. Boohoo, so the chattering cliterati are up in arms. Listen luvvies, you’re doing your cause absolutely no good by bitching about what is obviously a humorous ad to sell tampons, you come across as a bunch of whingers that are a miserable bunch with a permanent chip on their shoulders.
    It might come as a surprise to you but mainstream Australia doesn’t give a toss generally about your feelings, this topic isn’t top of mind to them and they just don’t read the convoluted subliminal messages some of the obsessed do, they see it for what it is, a drag queen in an ad.
    Do yourselves a favour and concentrate on what really matters to you and your own immediate day to day existence, and less of the whining, people just switch off to such pettyness and then you all become irrelevant, and what good will that do you? Absolutely none….

  5. When small group of people gathered in 78, proudly proclaiming their sexuality, they were also yelled at “to get a life” and “to stop complaining”. We now celebrate Mardi Gras with a few hundred thousand people celebrating, and the polls even show the majority of Australians want us to have the right to marry.

    We are still marching on the Yellow Brick Road of Equality, and shouts from the Wicked Witch have never stopped our determination to live freely without vilification, those shouts to stop us and turn us back are ignored as they always have been. If we took these shouts seriously we would not be talking about marriage, or including us in the Federal Equal Opportunity Act.

    I am not with the street hecklers who still throw abuse, saying you have no right to be offended by this advertisement, they know nothing about you, and are not living your life, and know nothing of you, just like the hecklers in 78, they will not stop you living freely, or stop you challenging a company that is profiting from creating perceptions that are offensive to you. This is about the money, it was always just about they money, I would hardly call the company a small community based group. They are profiting from perceptions that simply put down some in the community, just like Alan Jones profited from Cronulla.

  6. Love the ad. The blond chick ain’t bad but the drag queen looks like a wharfie. All those who are bitching need to get a life.

  7. What next, a straight couple laughing at a gay couple trying to get married?

    I struggle to see advertisements where people who are transsexual or Intersex are afforded dignity. I can see how this advertisement is highly offensive mocking good people.

    Our regulators found Alan Jones was also not offensive in his support of Cronulla, but that did not make it right.

    I recall a time Barbra, when certain drag shows swamped our ears with racist slurs, and people were also told to harden the fuck up.

    My first great love who dressed up was killed for not fitting into the stereo types of a girl or a boy in Kew. Although the intentions of those involved making the advert, might have been a good laugh, clearly a lot of people were highly offended for good reason.

  8. Its all a non issue and has been proven so by the Advertising Standards Board. The whingers need to harden the fuck up.

  9. C’mon Tom … Those in the know are cool with the ad … but for those of us that are trans and have to deal with the bigotry of the masses all day everyday, this kind of thing, no matter how innocent and funny is not very helpful …

  10. OMG … people get over it! The ad was great, clever and he’s obviously drag! Why are people in these days complaining about everything … get a life! If you don’t have anything to do start knitting or something!!!