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Rod McPhee: Missing the irony
YOU would hope that in a post-Little Britain world our new-found love of the hilariously grotesque would mean using the word 'slut' in a tongue-in-cheek manner wouldn't cause such a furore.
Unfortunately, it seems we haven't quite moved on enough yet.
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So pity the organisers of one of Leeds's most successful club nights, Filth, who decided to lay the irony on with a trowel recently. You see (brace yourselves sensitive Britons) they organised The Slut Party at Mint Club with the promise of half price entry to 'the first 50 sluts' who turned up.
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This prompted several complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, not least because the promoters used some rather risque images on their flyers which were handed out in the heart of Leeds. Oops.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that the people at Filth were staging some kind of Caligulan orgy and were keen to invite hoards of women of absent virtue. But the truth is that Filth is actually a pretty regular, albeit very popular and fashionable, club night where the clientele are far from Filth and the women are anything but slutty.
In fact were anyone to turn up at the door looking like genuine trash they'd probably be turned away. If the advertising authorities are to criticise them for anything it's not inappropriate advertising but false advertising.
Objectify
OK, it probably wasn't advisable to hand out publicity containing a collage of sexual images, since they were always going to get into some kind of hot water.
But even more ironic is the fact that far worse images can easily be seen – by kids and adults – in countless newsagents where the top shelf groans with the weight of magazines carrying lewd snaps on their covers.
Further irony comes from the fact that while most of the people at Filth don't have a mysogynistic bone in their body, other more towny clubs in Leeds are full of guys who objectify women and plenty of women who don't particularly mind being objectified.
To cap it all off, what about the numerous strip clubs in the city where you can see women treated like pieces of meat night after night in a way which isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, ironic?
Besides, aren't we a country where we laugh off vicars and tarts parties, Viz magazine, not to mention the aforementioned Little Britain's Vicky Pollard?
With that in mind why do we still get irate by the use of publicity which, with only fleeting scrutiny, is obviously taking the Mickey?
As well as having a bit of fun, the Filth team did this to attract attention, and by complaining to the authorities about their perceived stupidity those 'outraged' individuals made sure they got it.
I'd say that makes them pretty smart.
Soft down south
AS the current snow storms blanketing northern Britain this week started to move south, Loiners and Mancunians instantly started to mock those in London for the panic which adverse weather usually prompts. Ya know, "they whip themselves into a fit of hysteria while we all just get on with it".
Well, I've always tried to steer clear of stereotyping and cliches, but then a friend of mine who lives in Islington informed me that, after just one night's snowfall and little more than an inch or two of the white stuff, he left his house to be confronted by farcical scenes.
He couldn't believe his eyes when he found some residents of the capital donning (quote): "Padded romper suits, yeti moon boots and ski sticks."
Sometimes stereotyping and cliches are tricky to avoid.
Peter the not-so-great
PETER ANDRE, what a berk. His people recently contacted the Yorkshire Evening Post proposing an interview to publicise his forthcoming appearance at the 02 Academy.
Now, while the former Mr Katie Price isn't a top priority when it comes to offering readers coverage of quality artists coming to the city, he is someone in the public eye.
Except Peter didn't want to talk about being in the public eye, he certainly didn't want to talk about Jordan, or their relationship, in fact he would only carry out the interview if we didn't mention his private life at all.
Question: where would Andre be now if he hadn't married Jordan? Answer: certainly not getting booked at venues the size of the Leeds 02 Academy, that's for sure.
And just to make it all the more unbelievable, his people insisted we could only run the finished article once they had seen it and given it their approval. Naturally we told them to put their proposal in the same place Peter's music comes from.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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