Statement on inadmissibility of Channel 5’s sexist action – distribution of calendars with naked female journalists

On December 6, the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Channel 5 released a calendar with photos of naked female journalists. The channel called it an action in support of the army. “Hot auction on Armed Forces Day: Uncensored photos of Channel 5 journalists for charity calendar,” reads the announcement on the channel’s website.

“This is how our military camerawoman, who is constantly going to the front, became the muse of Channel 5’s spicy calendar. She admits: it was her insidious plan because the guys on the frontline like that,” the authors of the idea say.

We, representatives of non-governmental women’s, human rights, and media organizations, strongly condemn this way of raising funds for the needs of the army and consider this action full of discriminatory and sexist narratives.

This negates the efforts made by the media and civil society to ensure that women in Ukraine, in particular military personnel, are not perceived as sexual objects. Servicewomen themselves often face sexism and sexual violence and have to fight against these phenomena.

We believe that it is necessary to raise money for the needs of Ukraine’s defenders in a way that does not imply the promotion of discriminatory and sexist narratives against women.

We are against the public objectification of women.

We call on Channel 5 to abandon this campaign and not to distribute this calendar.

We ask the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Commission on Journalism Ethics to assess the legality and ethics of Channel 5’s actions.

Signatories:

Khrystyna Kit, head of NGO “Association of Women Lawyers of Ukraine “YurFem”

Liza Kuzmenko, head of NGO “Women in Media”

Anastasia Bahalika, coordinator of Campaign against sexism in media and politics “Povaha”

Oksana Pavlenko, founder and editor-in-chief of divoche.media

Natalia Lyhachova, founder, head of NGO “Detector Media”

Kateryna Prymak, co-founder of “Women Veteran Movement”

Tetiana Troshchynska, editor-in-chief of Hromadske Radio

Anna Khayetska, editor-in-chief of Wonderzine Ukraine

Iryna Sampan, war correspondent, member of NGO “Women in Media”

Viktoria Kobyliatska, editor of website of Campaign against sexism in media and politics “Povaha”

Tetiana Pechonchyk, head of Human Rights Centre ZMINA

Liudmyla Yankina, project coordinator at Human Rights Centre ZMINA

Ihor Yakubovsky, deputy head of Human Rights Centre ZMINA

Olha Padiriakova, editor-in-chief of ZMINA online media outlet

Team of Gender in Details expert resource

Oleksandra Horchynska, journalist of NV website, member of NGO “Women in Media”

NGO “La Strada-Ukraine”

Oksana Maksymeniuk, head of legal department at NGO “Institute for Development of Regional Press”