Justin Trudeau, who you may recognize as the son of former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, or simply as the young Liberal Party leader with flowy hair and a tenacious gaze, was under attack last week for organizing an event called Justin Unplugged.
The event, which took place Nov. 7 in Toronto, was tailored towards women and advertised using a Warhol-esque poster with the words, “You’re invited to (really) get to know the future Prime Minister” in the centre.
It also posed several questions such as “What’s the biggest issue facing women?” and “What’s your favourite virtue?” as well as the promise of “cocktails,” “candid conversation,” and “curiosity-inducing ideas.”
This enraged a lot of women, including Tory MPs, not just because of the allegedly sexist advertising, but also because of the hefty $250 ticket price.
Amanda Alvaro, a Liberal consultant and one of the organizers of the event, defended the advertisement stating, “These are not sexist questions. These are questions, among others, meant to provoke conversation and inspire interesting dialogue. The intent was not to offend anybody.”
Amongst the online rage were complaints that “all issues are women issues” and that the ad talked down to women.
However, I found some ridiculous tweets that had a problem with calling women “ladies” and requests to stop “talking to [them] like second-class citizens.”
I am inclined to argue that there are problems regarding sexism and misogyny that are far more important than some stylish lettering on a poster advertising “cocktails” and “curiosity-inducing ideas.”
The raging tweets left me confused as to what exactly about this ad was sexist and demeaning to women.
Truthfully, there are political issues that connect more with certain demographics. Aboriginal issues, cultural issues, religious issues, or immigration issues are frequently segregated in political discourse—they still maintain a level of respect towards each group of people that it’s targeted to.
This is exactly what Trudeau was doing with this ad and event.
I see the question, “What’s the biggest issue facing women?” as an invitation for women to have their voices heard.
Issues facing women were a large problem a century ago when women weren’t allowed to vote or run for office, and although history has progressed, there are still issues facing women that exist today that are best discussed by women.
If we look back on this year’s filibuster to prevent abortion restrictions in Texas, led by state senator Wendy Davis, we remember Democrat Leticia Van de Putte desperately asking at what point must a female senator have to raise her voice to be heard over her male colleagues.
That was over a matter of abortion laws, laws that affect women, not conservative Republican males.
So, when a male Canadian politician asks if women want to voice their concerns over female-specific issues, why is he bombarded with criticisms and angry attacks?
“Candid conversation” sounds much better to me than an 11-hour-long filibuster anyway.
It’s safe to say that historically, politics have been a male-dominated pursuit. But this is slowly changing and today more than one-third of the Senate seats and a quarter of seats in the House of Commons belong to women.
I believe the aim of Justin’s campaign is to allow the women that aren’t in government to voice their opinions on issues that affect them.
