In the April 5, 2024 issue of the “Sprotyv” newspaper, a pin-up style drawing by artist Oleksiy Bondarenko depicting a naked woman holding a weapon was published. This was reported by Zmina. Women military servants and media experts see discrimination in this.
Attention to this publication was brought by woman military servant Alina Sarnatska.
Alina said that several women soldiers wrote to her about this image in the newspaper, who were hurt and offended by this attitude toward women soldiers.
“The artist Bondarenko clearly illustrated that the Command of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces has no respect for women who stood up to defend Ukraine. This is especially surprising to see from it, as most women were recruited there at the beginning of the Full-Scale War. I’m proud to know these persistent, strong, and courageous women,” the soldier wrote.
According to her, this illustration violates both the departmental Action Plan on Gender Issues in Defense and the National Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
“Gender equality in security and defense forces is one of the requirements for Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” Sarnatska reminded.
In a commentary to ZMINA, Liza Kuzmenko, head Women in Media NGO and a member of the Commission on Journalistic Ethics, noted that this situation with the newspaper “Sprotyv” is reminiscent of the events of 2022 when, on the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Channel 5 released a calendar with photos of naked journalists. The channel called it an action in support of the army, but it caused a wave of outrage in the media community, and Women in Media initiated a statement calling it full of discriminatory and sexist content.
“I would like to remind you once again that such images of women, as released by the newspaper “Sprotyv”, undermine the work that the media and civil society do to ensure that women in Ukraine, in particular military women, are not perceived as sexual objects. Women in the military themselves often face sexism and sexual violence and are forced to fight against these phenomena,” emphasized Liza Kuzmenko. She also noted that it would be interesting to know who funds the publication of this newspaper.
“The Government should publicly condemn this practice, and the circulation of this newspaper should be destroyed,” the expert is convinced.
Media analyst and gender balance researcher at IMI Yana Mashkova believes that such images humiliate and discriminate against women servicewomen.
“The depiction of women in sexualized images to raise the mood and morale of the military is a misleading idea. Such images, taking into account the official publication, at least humiliate and discriminate against women soldiers, and there are more than 62 thousand of them in the Ukrainian army today.
I’m sure that the editors of this newspaper definitely have no plans to print the next issue with a picture of a half-naked man to cheer up the women soldiers. Over the years of researching gender balance, we have not recorded any images or information cases in the media where men were depicted as objects of sexualization,” she says.
In addition, the expert noted that such cases are almost impossible to see anywhere in the official publications of the army of Western countries, as this is a sexist manifestation against women.
Meanwhile, the press service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces also responded to this discussion, noting that the magazine “Sprotyv” planned to publish a series of similar pinup publications with the participation of men in the Armed Forces and even couples.
“We would like to note that this newsletter is primarily aimed at servicemen and women of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who are directly at the front and may not have access to the Internet. And we must support them, including psychologically. By choosing the pin-up illustration for the spread, we did not intend to offend or objectify the servicewomen, including those who defend our land from the occupier every day #shoulder_to_shoulder with their brothers and sisters,” the press service said.
The main purpose of these illustrations, as noted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is to provide mental support to the military at “zero”, as evidenced by the QR codes on the poster, one of which is the protocol of psychological support “I’m here!”.
In addition, the Defense Forces shared that they are planning to create educational material on gender equality in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the near future.
“To avoid misinterpretations in the future at all levels, we invite you to cooperate. We are waiting for your materials or suggestions in personal messages. This will allow everyone who defends our country to avoid sexist situations. Of course, we will take into account all the objective comments provided in the future. At the same time, we thank everyone who supported us,” the press service added.
As a reminder, according to the results of the study of the presence of sexism in online media and the national telethon, Ukrainian online media still show signs of misogyny, eroticization and discrimination against women. The tabloids, which do not adhere to professional standards, contain the most disparaging materials.