<nettime> cell/mobile/security

[mollybh@netspace.net.au]

Hi cell/mobile netters, 

Well, as a female, i think it is a good thing that cell phones help
security for women, but what if privatized companies making cellphones
become the primary security-promoters? I don't know, you know, it is weird
but in all the corporatization that is going on, it seems as though less
and less of these sorts of "societal" issues are being judged and handled
thru municipalities or even being instilled in people...megamedia supports
the endless spectacle of police and judicial power at least in the
US...corporations and police protect the nation(s)' global economy--global
protests are secured in the mainstream eye as a picturesque contest
between the angry mob and police... security is great as a female, but it
is also something, that in our increasingly vulgar and brutal globalized
economies, where fierce competition and a backlash towards women and girls
is taking place...where the body is denigrated and genetic cloning is an
engineering issue...where major arts festivals can be critiqued for
supporting arguments in which rape is seen as natural, it is something
which needs to be thought about, taught about, and once again, and i know
i'm on an old saw here, perceptions of females as other, of dare I say
HUMANS as other... need to be changed...women and persons of color in the
US belong to one systematic underclass, with varied "attributes" for
getting out.

I guess my point is, that an ad which shows a woman getting a cellphone
for safety reasons can be a way of putting her back into the isolated
consumer-mode she is in when she buys soap - i mean the equation of
'safety = women' as an issue is easy to exploit, especially in cultures
like the US which equally promote excessive cinematic violence towards
women, police forces as the dominant protectors, sensibilties and
scenarios in which women and little girls (see line of jeans commercials,
i think it was Calvin Klein) are acting out the cute little sex-pot roles
for sexist-oriented spectators. In the spectre which is adverstising, it
seems to me that not much has changed to support new roles for women, and
consumption can still be based on oppositions --whether we are talking
security=women or not. i mean on the one hand its good that women who can
afford cellphones are smart enough to get them for safety reasons--it is
good that an ad supports this, though it probably is not for a love of
women...until cellphones are as cheap as payphones are in the States,
however, we aren't in a democratic economy...not everyone can afford them,
least of all women in poor neighborhoods. And i think there is an
increasing climate of sexism in ads and in the new global economy
primarily BECAUSE of women consumers. Personally, I'd rather not leave my
personal safety in the hands of corporations...somehow cultures need to be
less sexist, violent and anti-social. Until then, I guess carrying a
cellphone is a good stop-gap.

mh 



> > (and tangentially, given the massive uptake of mobiles, you'd
   > > suggest their marketing strategies are pretty accurate, hence the
   > > survey data they're basing their strategies on must similarly be...)
   > 
   > Their marketing strategies are based on fashion and sex appeal, not on
   > safety.  I haven't seen any adverts that even mention the security
   > benefits of mobile phones.

   really? wow. the most sucessful mobile phone ad here in aust was one from
   the mid 1990's that featured a young woman in a car in an alley at
   night; car breaks down, woman gets out of car, looks around worriedly,
   gets mobile out of purse, calls help, and everything ends happily ever
   after. even today, network operators still use the poster campaign of this
   ad - the woman standing by the car at night in the alley, with a tag line
   along the lines of 'if she had a mobile she'd be home by now', or some
   such (that's a paraphrase) - in their sales offices. it apparently beats
   the crap out of all the upwardly mobile and/or sexually suggestive mobile
   ad campaigns.

   cheers,

   sean

   


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