drawn towards political rhetoric or policy considerations involving greater legal regulation of the media. Violence against women is real – over 50 000 women are raped in South Africa every year. The age of women surviving or succumbing to sexual assaults by men is getting younger and younger, while the age of perpetrators is also getting younger and younger. Warped attitudes of men towards women – as objects for the pleasure of men, or worthy of being disciplined by men – are real and widespread. At the same time, media titles – with imported formulae and templates for content and design – are being targeted at publics who are not generally media savvy or who have access to the resources to scrutinise or challenge the ethical codes that’s supposed to apply to these media. A convenient state of affairs for the media, but a dangerous scenario for those at the receiving end of the warped gender attitudes stemming from the discourse of these media titles. The last time any constructive request was made to the media to “strip their back page”, those making the suggestion were publicly humiliated as mother grundies and the powerful decision makers made it clear they would have nothing to do with it. That was still a mild dismissal compared to those who tried to challenge Die Kaapse Son around its page 3 girl. The overall threat here to media freedom is the classic tale and one which in fact was behind the concerted push by MISA in the late 1990’s for the development of voluntary media councils in the region – get your house in order, or someone else will do it for you. In South Africa, and even more so in other countries in the region, the voluntary media councils and codes of ethics that do exist, do not enjoy great public legitimacy or trust. If this persists, the efforts by sneaky politicians at times, may well be bolstered by the failure of the media to respond to or engage with genuine public discontent around its content, particularly with respect to gender representation. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -9- Media Institute of Southern Africa