In this week’s Our Take, TaskHer challenges misogyny in trade works, a children’s rights initiative that creates garments that shouldn’t exist. Boomers are blowing up the dating scene online, and EastEnders has brought their plot line to the London Marathon!
Trading Places
TaskHer teamed up with LGBTQIA+ decorating collective Corky’s Painters for their latest campaign, Trade Places, which spotlights a serious issue in the construction industry about respect…or the lack thereof.
Studies have shown that 39% of tradeswomen aren’t taken seriously in their jobs because of their gender, with almost one in ten experiencing a customer refusing their work when they discovered their contractor was a woman. Didn’t realise that having a d**k was central to playing with bricks…
Dressing up in drag to envision their male counterparts, women shared exactly what it feels like to be in a male-dominated industry in a snappy video brimming with derogatory comments and vulgar slews that they encounter every day.
It’s an intimidating watch. But that’s the point.
Unless we start tackling these issues head-on and saw them in half (like what we did there?), they’ll always persist and it’s time that they are highlighted as inappropriate. Hard hats off to TaskHer for hitting the nail on the head (okay, sorry, we’ll stop) with this one.
Workwear for kids
Workwear for Kids is a new campaign stitched together by SOS Children’s Villages to raise awareness of the hazardous labour that millions of children, as young as five, are forced to perform daily.
Creating child-size workwear garments that only come in size XXXS, the campaign expertly weaves in messaging on the conditions that children have to endure using key garment features to showcase the harsh environments.
Jackets come with reinforced wrist guards that shield tiny hands, a special pocket holds an oxygen tube for emergencies, a face mask protects from dust and chemical fumes while pants feature reinforced knee padding to ease crawling through narrow mine tunnels. Harrowing stuff.
The campaign launched in a showroom in Stockholm, strategically positioned near premium kids’ brand stores. A limited number of the three-piece collection is available for purchase, with the price deliberately corresponding to the amount children earn per year within their respective industries. $290 in the brick industry, $385 in the tobacco industry and $865 in the mining industry.
It’s a powerful campaign for a monumental issue, forcing the public to reflect on the jarring realities of child labour today. For more information and to donate, you can visit the website.
MARATHONS AND MELODRAMA
TV soap actors Emma Barton and Jamie Borthwick ran the London Marathon last Sunday – and in a plot twist, it was all part of an EastEnders storyline. The actors who play Honey Mitchell and Jay Brown, ran the Marathon to raise money for charity, with scenes shot in character for the show.
The idea originated from a storyline which saw much-loved character Lola Pearce-Brown, played by Danielle Harold, pass away following her diagnosis with a brain tumour. The storyline continued with the actors committing to run the marathon, with the plot gaining momentum with the actors training for the big run in episodes.
From street to screen, the actors participated in the marathon with footage featuring on the April 22nd episode the very next day in a very impressive (incredibly tight) turnaround, more of a sprint than a marathon!
It’s always great to see outside-the-box thinking, and this first in soap history certainly grabbed media attention outside the normal channels—and all for a good cause, too.
And everyone is happy, for now, dum dum dum…
Boomers Blooming on Dating Apps
Boomers are becoming the fastest-growing users of dating apps, and we love to see it. In an article from WIRED, the publication has revealed research highlighting how silver singles who are ready to mingle have begun to get more comfortable using apps such as Tinder to find a match or just have some fun.
From Feeld to Match.com, some apps have seen a 340 percent increase in usage from members over 60 with older demographics accounting for 26 percent of platform users on average.
And when it comes to sex life, things are only getting better with age! According to a 2023 Singles in America study from Match, 90% of boomers were having orgasms during intercourse in the last year, compared to 54% of millennials and 50 % of Gen Z singles.
The findings are interesting, highlighting how older demographics may take a bit longer to get accustomed to apps but when they get settled and comfortable, they dive straight in.