How shaming the poor became a new bloodsport | Barbara Ellen
Politicians have taken the lead in blaming poverty on the poorPerhaps some of you are aware of the phenomenon of "s.-shaming" – whereby generally a female (why bother pretending, it's always a female) is contemptuously attacked, usually online, for anything from her dress style to what is perceived as sexually promiscuous behaviour.A much-mimicked online example, "Hey Girls, Did You Know?", produced such observations as "Hey girls, did you know that boobs go inside your shirt?" and "That you spread Nutella, not your legs?". It burns like acid that girls and women would do this to each other, though guys do it too, sometimes filming their victim "s.s" naked or engaged in sexual activity, then passing the footage around.On a wider level, one disquieting feature of these modern takes on s.-shaming is how quickly (indeed shamelessly) they embedded themselves into the collective psyche as borderline normal. Another disturbing aspect is that it doesn't take much imagination to draw parallels between s.-shaming and attitudes towards the poor.How long would it take for "poor-shaming" to embed itself in the national psyche as borderline normal? Or perhaps it has already done so? The Methodists, the United Reformed Church, the Church of Scotland and the Baptist Union have joined forces to publish a study called The Lies We Tell Ourselves. It highlights myths surrounding people and poverty, including Iain Duncan Smith's much trumpeted "families out of work for three generations" line ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Barbara Ellen Tags: Comment David Hockney Society Features The Observer Poverty Iain Duncan Smith Social exclusion Comment is free Source Type: news
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