Hoardings erected for the "Ghetto Games" event in the Rīga suburb of Grīziņkalns aimed at young people include a series of pictures of scantily-clad female fantasy figures and slogans in English and Latvian declaring "A real woman never lets her man go to Ghetto Games hungry or horny" and "Some bitches are always ready for opportunities"
Biedrība @centrsmarta aicina ielu sporta un kultūras kustību “Ghetto Games” novākt pilsētvidē izvietotus plakātus, kas, pēc biedrības paustā, aizskar sieviešu un meiteņu cieņu. Tajos angļu valodā izmantoti necenzēti vārdi, redzamas vardarbīgas ainas, attēlotas puskailas meitenes. pic.twitter.com/R4VVSkVSPV
— LTV Panorama (@ltvpanorama) July 2, 2019
The crude slogans and images drew criticism from the Marta Center for women, which helps victims of domestic violence and addresses other women's health issues. The Marta Center pointed out that such posters are particularly inappropriate for young audiences whose perceptions and behaviors are particularly impressionable.
"These posters are a blatant violation of the fundamental principles of gender equality and are seen as offensive to the dignity of women and girls... We are ready to work with the Ghetto Games management team to explain why messages of this nature are harmful to young people and society at large," Marta Center wrote on its Facebook page.
However, the organizers of the event were unrepentant. "If someone has doubts - no, we are not sexist," said Ghetto Games on its own Facebook page, and seemed to suggest that the criticism directed against it was bogus, saying: "We are accustomed to being in scandalous headlines when it comes to earning clickbait." It also suggested people objecting to its posters "should say thank you" because they had started a debate.
Ghetto Games also said the word "horny" meant "satisfied" or "contented", reported LTV which suggests that despite their posture as aficionados of hiphop, they have never had the dubious pleasure of listening to 2 Live Crew's notorious 1989 release "Me So Horny".
The content of posters was also criticized by the Ministry of Welfare and the Ombudsman's Office.
