Gaelscéal: An Stail Ghaelach – sexual objectification of men?

Scéal le Colm Ó Broin i mBaile Átha Cliath : 

Tuairiscíonn Gaelscéal an tseachtain seo go bhfuil comórtas ar bun ag na Gaeil Óga chun an Gaeilgeoir fear is gnéasúla i mBaile Átha Cliath a aimsiú!

Beidh ‘An Stail Ghaelach’ ar siúl i gClub Chonradh na Gaeilge ar Shráid Fhearchair Dé Sathairn seo chugainn.

Bunaíodh Na Gaeil Óga in 2010 agus bhí an-ráth orthu ó shin i leith. Tá os cionn 80 imreoir cláraithe acu agus tá dhá fhoireann pheil na bhfear acu, foireann pheil na mban amháin agus beidh siad ag seoladh foireann iománaíochta go luath.

Cuireann siad foireann chuig Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta, mar aon le hiarrathóir do chomórtas an Chailín Gaelaigh.

Rinne roinnt de na mná sa chumainn gearán go raibh an comórtas ‘gnéas chlaonta’ ach spéisiúil go leor an bealach a thángthas ar ‘chomhionannas’ sa chás seo ná comórtas a eagrú do na fir (le póstaer d’fhear cosúil le Tarzan ag ardú liopaird ina lámha), seachas deireadh a chur le comórtas na mban.

An bhfuil ceist anseo maidir le ‘oibiachtú gnéasach’?

Seo sainmhíniú amháin ar an téarma: “Sexual objectification is the viewing of people solely as de-personalised objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities and desires/plans of their own.”

Tá mol mór ábhar arlíne faoin gceist seo, le mínithe cuimsitheacha ar an ábhar agus an dochar a dhéanann sé.

Rud atá i bhfad níos annaimhe ná sainmhíniú ar ceard nach bhfuil san áireamh faoi ‘oibiachtú gnéasach’.

Mar shampla nach bhféadfaí breathnú ar dhaoine mar “personalised objects of desire with complex personalities and desires/plans of their own,” nó an bhfuil fadhb le gach íomhá a leagan béim ar mhealltacht ghnéasach?

Gaelscéal na seachtaine seo, sna siopaí anois!

***

Gaelscéal reports this week that GAA club Na Gaeil Óga is holding a contest to find the sexiest Irish-speaking man in Dublin.

The ‘Stail Ghaelach’ (‘Gaelic Stallion’) event will be on in Club Chonradh na Gaeilge on Harcourt St this Saturday.

Na Gaeil Óga is an Irish-language GAA club that was founded in 2010. Since then it has registered over 80 players and has two men’s football teams, a ladies’ football team and is launching a men’s hurling team.

It sends a team to Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta (Gaeltacht Football Competition), a competition that includes a Rose of Tralee-style ‘Cailín Gaelach’ (‘Gaelic Girl’) contest.

Some of the female footballers objected to the ‘Cailín Gaelach’, saying it was sexist. Interestingly enough ‘equality’ was achieved by organising a contest for the men (complete with a poster featuring a Tarzan-like man lifting up a leopard over his head), rather than stopping the women’s competition.

Which brings us along us to the vexed question of ‘sexual objectification’.

Here’s one definition: “Sexual objectification is the viewing of people solely as de-personalised objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities and desires/plans of their own.”

A huge amount of material is available online regarding the topic, with detailed explanations of the issue and the damage it does.

Something that is much less common however is a definition of what ‘sexual objectification’ does not include.

For example, can’t people be viewed as personalised objects of desire with complex personalities and desires/plans of their own, or are all images that focus on the sexual attractiveness or men or women objectionable?

‘An Stail Ghaelach’ 2012

 


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