Gender in PR – are we doomed to be bunnies and barbies?

As part of my ‘Theories of PR’ class today we watched a student presentation about gender in PR and it really got me thinking and in some ways left me quite shocked.

The presentation revealed a study among women who work in PR and featured results of how they refer to themselves in regards to their profession. Some of these names included: “PR Bunny”, “PR Girly”, “PR Barbie Doll” and “PR Slut.”

If that wasn’t enough, some of these women then went on to describe what they loved about working in PR. Many of the agreed perks of the job included wearing great clothes, having lots of fun and giggling. Oh dear.

Fair enough, it was only one study of around 30 women but to think anyone would be that unprofessional and talk about themselves and other women in this manner is very shocking in today’s society. It also really devalues the PR profession generally.

The presentation introduced us to an interesting blog post ‘How Not to be a PR Bunny’ which highlights how not to fall into this stereotype. However, surely some of these things are obvious already and before you even get into a serious job you should have an acute awareness of how to appropriately dress and how to participate in meetings? Anyone who doesn’t know how to interact in this way should probably have rethought their career paths long ago.

I started thinking that maybe I’m reacting too extremely to this, maybe people should be entitled to call themselves whatever they want? And maybe that with further female empowerment women should be able to refer to themselves in whichever way they please even if the stereotypes they use give off such negative connotations?

Even if this is true I can’t really understand it myself. Particularly “PR Barbie Doll” and “PR Slut” – why anyone would wear these tags with pride is really beyond me.

I’d REALLY appreciate some more views on this. Am I being too ‘prudish’ to think that these names are degrading and unprofessional?

Also: I’d just like to point out this was a small study and probably reflects the views of a very small minority. I will find out more about the study to get appropriate links and details of participants, etc.

Tags: MA Public Relations