Sexism in Post: Sometimes It's What You Think, Sometimes Not

Sexism in Post: Sometimes It's What You Think, Sometimes Not

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Kylee Pe a January 26, 2021

Sometimes sexism is exactly what you think it is.

So picture this: last day of NAB 2014. I'm wandering around killing time before I needed to head to the airport. I have a horrible cold. I am over it. I sit down at Quantel's booth (on squishy red squares) where a sharply dressed woman who was probably around my age (maybe, I'm bad at age guessing) was giving a very extensive demonstration of Pablo Rio, a highly specialized tool. I mean, there aren't even that many female editors in the world. Female Pablo demo artists? She MAY be the only one.

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The Daily Show Across from Quantel's booth is RED's vast space, dramatically lit and crowded to the brim even in the final hours of the show. And just like they had all week, every hour on the hour (or so, I wasn't really sure), a dozen young women in teeny bikinis prance onto RED's stage to the pounding bass line of Lorde's Royals , attracting a crowd of (mostly) guys armed with cameras. I suppose RED had some way to justify this in the context of cameras and skin tones or something, but having seen the runway models do their thing a few times, I never really figured it out the way I could figure out any other vendor's message while quickly walking by the booth.

AND WE'LL NEVER BE ROYALS (ROYALS) / IT DON'T RUN IN OUR BLOOD

I guess Quantel's demo artist never really got it either. After what I'm sure were several days of suddenly being overtaken by blasting pop music and hollers to half-naked women, she paused and allowed herself to sigh at the sight of the show before picking back up and expertly finishing off the demonstration.

BABY I'LL RULE I'LL RULE I'LL RULE I'LL RULE / LET ME LIVE THAT FANTASY.

Kind of an interesting song choice for such an occasion.

I asked both men and women at the show what they thought of RED's presentation. Many thought it was over the top. Most, even. But infrequently, from all genders and sexes: who cares, it's just a bit of fun, the women are willing participants, it's just a marketing thing, boys will be boys.

This is the kind of sexism that is exactly what you think it is. Despite the fact that it's obviously so wrong to so many people, it persists in our industry: booth babes, advertisements featuring white men in charge and women as artistic objects, naked women as marketing tools. This is Mad Men levels of smack a girl on the bum and ask her to your room sexual harassment. It's easy to spot and illustrate. It's prevalent in film and television and video games. Not only do I think a lot of people reading this would roll their eyes at such escapades, I've read many such criticisms of all forms of media that continue to objectify women like it's 1962.

Another trade show misstep by Blackmagic Design from later in the year was particularly appalling because the company is otherwise known for being professional and inclusive. An ad that continues to be available as a downloadable press image for the URSA camera depicts a scene where a group of standard looking guys are shooting a couple other standard looking guys.

And in the background, for some reason, we see a bikini-clad woman floating in water, pressed against the glass. She's not participating in the action. She's just there. It's like a sexy ficus plant shoved in the background for set dressing. And it's disappointing because when I think of gratuitous, Blackmagic Design and their great people would never come to mind. They've not treated women as anything close to subhuman, rather as equals in front of a Resolve or in other production situations like on the front page of their website. It goes to show that it's not just companies with a certain reputation who are making these blatantly sexist mistakes.

As eye-rolling and icky as this stuff is, this is not the kind of sexism I think is hurting our industry the most, from my experience. Because sometimes sexism isn't what you think it is. It's systemic. It's passive. It's cultural. Everyone participates in it every day.

A woman told me a story about a visit around the exhibit hall at NAB this year. While walking with a male colleague, she was repeatedly treated like his personal assistant, given brochures and packets to look after for the man she was with. A harmless mistake some might say. A harmless mistake by multiple vendors, or an assumption based on internalized sexism? I've asked many women over the last year if they've ever experienced any kind of sexist behavior, and almost everyone says no as quickly as they can, as though admitting you've been harassed is admitting weakness. If I tell them this anecdote, they pause and think for a long time. Now that you mention it

Women tend to go along with all levels of sexist stuff in our industry in order to be one of the boys. I've been told

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