Sexualized image no longer appropriate

Importantly and appropriately, our collective and individual awareness of the impact of images in perpetuating stereotypes, notions and biases has evolved significantly in recent years. A growing list of organizations, including corporations and sport franchises, has discontinued the use and display of images at one time considered benign, noting that depictions that once reflected and were consistent with the then-dominant cultural ethos are no longer appropriate.

Evidently, the same cannot be said not only of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s display but also of the The Spectator in respect to its inclusion of a photograph of a sexualized portrayal of a woman, reduced to the role of ornament and subject for a heteronormative male gaze, on a vintage B-25. Taking shelter under the “it’s a reflection of its time” defence appears to be increasingly limited to sexist and sexualized images of women.