It might seem overly ambitious, naïve even, to think that we can one day see a socially responsible media, a media that does not endlessly objectify and stereotype [...]]]> Our latest guest blog comes from Dr Sasha Rakoff, founder and Director of OBJECT. OBJECT challenges the sexual objectification of women because of the harmful attitudes this promotes.

It might seem overly ambitious, naïve even, to think that we can one day see a socially responsible media, a media that does not endlessly objectify and stereotype women, a media that turns it’s back on the porn and sex industry, but half a dozen MPs have already signed up to a Charter demanding just that.

OBJECT’s Charter on Women and the Media calls on our decision makers to recognise the need for a socially responsible media and to take steps to achieve this – ranging from single issue measures (mandatory codes over the display of lads’ mags, the end of ads for the sex industry in newspapers or jobs in the sex industry in Government Job Centres) to tackling the wider picture – such as an ombudsbody to recommend and drive forward change.

Ambitious? You bet. Naïve? No.

Today we see new laws introduced which mean lap dancing clubs will no longer be licensed as cafes. Last week we saw the most profound changes to the laws on prostitution this country has ever seen (laws that will finally criminalise the purchase of sexual services from pimped or trafficked women). Lads’ mags editors have stated their publications will go out of business if renegaded to the top shelf. And just a few months earlier we saw WHSmith finally withdraw the Playboy stationery that had taken pride of place as the must-have ‘back to school’ range for pre-teen girls.

Add to this the highly publicised Home Office ‘Review of the Sexualisation of Young People’ – with 10 pages of recommendations, mostly calling for an end to the sexualisation of women in the media and it’s hard not to conclude that just maybe the walls are starting to cave in around the porn and sex industries, that the indomitable force that they represent seems just a little less overwhelming.

Leading politicians seem to think so. The following (who were MPs until the election was announced earlier this week) have already signed our Charter: Diane Abbott, Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Labour), Lynne Featherstone, Hornsey and Wood Green (Lib Dem), Jo Swinson, East Dunbartonshire (Lib Dem), Evan Harris, Oxford West and Abingdon (Lib Dem), Sir Gerald Kaufman, Manchester,Gorton (Labour), Martin Caton, Gower, Wales (Labour), Steven Pound, Ealing North, Labour

So write to your local political candidates now – ask them to support our Charter. Join OBJECT today. Become part of a movement that will stem the normalising of the porn and sex industries and all the harmful messages contained within them!

• Choice – do women really have choice? About abortion, about family planning, about when [...]]]> We’ve had some great suggestions about topics for future meetings from you all. A few of them are below and we’d really love to hear what you think of them and whether there’s anything else you want to talk about.

• Choice – do women really have choice? About abortion, about family planning, about when or if to get married, about when or if to have children, about what job to do or career to pursue. And if we do have a choice, do we always realise what that choice is?

• Women in politics and electoral reform – how do we get more women elected to office? What are the challenges they face when they get there, and what are the successes of women who have been elected?

• International women – how is life for women in other countries? What do we all have in common? And what is unique for us and for them?

What do you think? What else would you like to talk about? Let us know.