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The U.K. Is Banning Harmful Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements

The U.K. Is Banning Harmful Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements

The U.K. Is Banning Harmful Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements

"Harmful stereotypes can restrict the choices, aspirations and opportunities of children, young people, and adults."

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Say goodbye to archaic, sexist images of women cooking in the kitchen while their incompetent husbands fail at changing diapers...at least in advertisements.

The UK’s Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) said it will ban "gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence."

"[Advertisements] contribute to how people see themselves and their role in society and can hold some people back," the advertising watchdog said in a statement.

The change follows a review of gender stereotyping in ads by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the BBC reports.

The review found that "harmful stereotypes can restrict the choices, aspirations and opportunities of children, young people and adults." In turn, these sterotypes are often "reinforced by some advertising, which plays a part in unequal gender outcomes."

As a result, many could be held back "fulfilling their potential, or from aspiring to certain jobs and industries, bringing costs for individuals and the economy."

That doesn’t mean all gender roles, however, will be banned.

"There is nothing in our new guidance to suggest that ads can't feature people carrying out gender-typical roles," Ella Smillie, a policy expert at CAP, told the BBC. "The issue would be if in that depiction it suggested that that's the only option available to that gender and never carried out by someone of another gender."

She continued:

"So for example if you had a woman doing the cleaning, we wouldn't anticipate a problem. But if you had an advert with a man creating lots of mess and putting his feet up while a woman cleaned up around him, and it was very clear that she was the only person that did that at home, that's the kind of thing that could be a problem."

The rules, which will become active in 2019, will hopefully be adopted in other countries around the world, but that might be unlikely in the United States, since the First Amendment (i.e. freedom of speech) protects advertising companies.

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Zachary Zane

Zachary Zane is a writer, YouTube influencer, and activist whose work focuses on (bi)sexuality, gender, dating, relationships, and identity politics. Check out his YouTube channel here.

Zachary Zane is a writer, YouTube influencer, and activist whose work focuses on (bi)sexuality, gender, dating, relationships, and identity politics. Check out his YouTube channel here.