We're no bunnies
The board of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has refused by a two-thirds majority, on grounds of sexism, a $33,000 sponsorship deal which rested on approval for the Playboy bunny trademark to adorn Mardi Gras flags the length of Oxford St.
The sponsorship offer was part of a marketing strategy for a range of Playboy condoms and vanilla-flavoured "Lollyes" dental dams distributed by major Mardi Gras sponsor Kia Ora Pacific. The board's refusal has reignited accusations of a lesbian feminist domination of Mardi Gras and stirred debate about commercialisation of the event.
Mardi Gras president Susan Harben, one of the eight board members who voted against the deal, has called the Playboy bunny a "pornographic icon". "For me this is a fundamental principle of whether or not Mardi Gras accepts an anti-woman trademark", she told the Sydney Star Observer on February 5.
Bluestone Media, publisher of the Gay and Lesbian weekly newspaper Capital Q and Mardi Gras sponsorship agent, organised the sponsorship deal with Kia Ora. Capital Q broke the news of the deal in an article, published January 29, headed "Mardi Gras knocks back $33,000 sponsorship offer". The article points out that the deal included distribution of the condoms and dental dams at the Mardi Gras Parade and party.
Janey Woodworth, managing director of Kia Ora, told Capital Q the company was "stunned" to have its offer knocked back. She claims that in her negotiations with the board she noticed that the Playboy connection "didn't seem to be an issue with the boys, but it did seem to be an issue with the girls".
Woodworth hasn't been the only one to point the finger at the women on the board. In a letter to the editor in the Star Observer on February 19, Andrew Marshall agrees that Playboy magazine denigrates women. However, he says, his overriding concern and, he hopes, that of all gay men, is that "we men are dying". He goes on to rail against "radical lesbians hijacking gay cultural and political concerns".
"For Harben and the board to place women's social issues before that of saving lives is serious and disgusting", he says. "Gay and lesbian interests do not
automatically coincide. This dreadful outcome demonstrates this truism all too clearly."
But the real political significance of the Playboy sponsorship dilemma is not the contradiction between lesbian and gay interests; it is the contradiction between the interests of those fighting for gay liberation and those seeking commercial gain.
Neither lesbians nor gay men benefit from the sexist commodification of narrowly defined heterosexual sex, as practised by Playboy magazine. Neither lesbians nor gay men benefit from the AIDS epidemic. Both lesbians and gay men will benefit from the destruction of the economic, social and political straitjackets which maintain the roles of women and men within the family.
Congratulations to the Mardi Gras board for a good decision. In the words of Susan Harben, "We don't need that money. We are a strong community. We must place a value on ourselves and who we are and what we do ... you don't put a price on integrity or on Mardi Gras identity. It is priceless."
Happy Mardi Gras.
By Karen Fredericks