IT Girls In Calendar Hoo-Ha
last updated: 25 July 2006
A right hoo-ha has been boiling up over a contraversial new calendar featuring the sexy side of women who work in IT.
The Screen Goddess 2006 collection features IT 'beauties' posing in various movie related shots. The calendar aims to raise cash for not-for-profit groups running initiatives to encourage women to persue careers in IT, but The Age reports that it's not gone down well with some factions of the IT world.
One of the main problem poses appears to be the American Beauty-style shot featuring helpdesk manager Sonja Breeze. In it she's lying down with only a few rose petals covering her modesty, in reference to the American Beauty covershot featuring Mena Suvari.
The Australian Computer Society (ACS) were quick to express outrage at the shot and they removed their sponsorship of the calendar.
ACS-Women director, Su Spencer, said: "We agreed to become a sponsor on the basis that the calendar was presented as a bit of fun and awareness raising. We were not expecting the American Beauty front cover and there were a few other shots that we didn't think were appropriate for women or a professional society, so we decided to withdraw our sponsorship."
In response Sonja Bernhardt, the organiser behind the calendar, said, "One of messages we are trying to get across is that we are not a brain disembodied from our body. Through the use of parody we wanted to present the image of a fully functioning person with an amazing career and brain. We shouldn't need to deny our femininity to be accepted."
The forore has got so bad that the website selling the calendar has been hit by Denial-of-Service attacks; attacks that Bernhardt feels are from opponents trying to knock the calendar down.
Readers can make their own mind up about the suitability, or not, of using the female form to promote what is, at least for now, still a male dominated profession. However, there's no decency issues with the calendar and it's worth noting that each model has submitted a biography and a positive story about working in IT.
Screen Goddess Calendar
One of the main problem poses appears to be the American Beauty-style shot featuring helpdesk manager Sonja Breeze. In it she's lying down with only a few rose petals covering her modesty, in reference to the American Beauty covershot featuring Mena Suvari.
The Australian Computer Society (ACS) were quick to express outrage at the shot and they removed their sponsorship of the calendar.
ACS-Women director, Su Spencer, said: "We agreed to become a sponsor on the basis that the calendar was presented as a bit of fun and awareness raising. We were not expecting the American Beauty front cover and there were a few other shots that we didn't think were appropriate for women or a professional society, so we decided to withdraw our sponsorship."
In response Sonja Bernhardt, the organiser behind the calendar, said, "One of messages we are trying to get across is that we are not a brain disembodied from our body. Through the use of parody we wanted to present the image of a fully functioning person with an amazing career and brain. We shouldn't need to deny our femininity to be accepted."
The forore has got so bad that the website selling the calendar has been hit by Denial-of-Service attacks; attacks that Bernhardt feels are from opponents trying to knock the calendar down.
Readers can make their own mind up about the suitability, or not, of using the female form to promote what is, at least for now, still a male dominated profession. However, there's no decency issues with the calendar and it's worth noting that each model has submitted a biography and a positive story about working in IT.
Screen Goddess Calendar