Debra Black
Staff Reporter
A radio contest in Halifax that is offering a trip to the Czech Republic and four dates with Czech women registered on a mail-order bride website triggered heated criticism in the House of Commons on Wednesday — the day before International Women’s Day.
Megan Leslie, NDP MP for Halifax, asked Parliament yesterday: “Who would have thought a hundred years ago that in 2012 women would be able to run for election, have successful careers and be given away as prizes in morning radio contests?”
“This is the environment we are asking women and girls of Halifax to live in, one where they are offered up as trophies, that is, their Czech Republic counterparts, anyway.
“A radio station in my riding is running the charmingly named “The male is in the Czech”
competition, promoting a mail order bride as a prize and using damaging ideas about foreign women’s sexuality to titillate Canadian listeners,” Leslie said in the House.
The contest is being held by Halifax’s Q104.
According to the station’s website, the Mighty Q as the radio station calls itself, and Czech-Bride.com are offering to help Nova Scotian men find their so-called soul mate, offering a flight to Prague where the winner will date “a bevy of Czech beauties, compliments of Flying Hearts International Dating Service.”
Ironically, the deadline for contestants entering the contest is March 8th, International Women’s Day.
Leslie isn’t the only person offended by the contest. There have been complaints to the CRTC and the radio station itself. There also is an online petition with a Facebook page, protesting the contest.
In her statement in the house Leslie extended an apology to all Czech women and to the 50,000 Czech women living in Canada. She added: “If the bride gets here…we will make sure that she knows something else that Canadian women have won in the last 100 years: the right to a divorce.”
Q104 manager JC Douglas said in an interview with the Star he doesn’t really understand the fuss. The contest was not designed to offend women, he said. Nor was it meant to make a statement about International Women’s Day.
“We didn’t think it would be offensive to women,” he said of the contest and the campaign which uses what he describes as raunchy double entendres as well as a scantily clad woman in a bikini on its website.
“We didn’t know International Women’s Day was March 8th. I would think most people are not aware what day International Women’s Day is.”
The contest was a spinoff from a Valentine’s Day contest the station held, offering a free divorce, said Douglas. That contest also received some criticism. The radio station ended up retaining a lawyer for a lesbian couple to get a divorce.
This time, the staff thought it would be fun to give away a wedding, Douglas said. With that in mind they started brainstorming and someone came up with the idea of mail order brides and then the puns started flying. Then someone came up with the phrase they thought said it all — the “male is in the Czech”.
Douglas said the contest was innocuous and he rejected suggestions that it supports human trafficking, prostitution and sexual exploitation.
“The reality is we’re not animals,” he told the Star. “We have wives, daughters, mothers. We have female co-workers. Women were involved in the development of the contest and are working on the contest. If it was offensive they would have spoken up. They would have given us a wake up call.”
In an interview with a Czech newspaper, posted on the station’s website, Douglas said the contest was designed to entertain the radio station’s audience. “Q104’s listeners love this stuff. To them, it’s a little harmless fun.”
The winner will be selected from bachelors on March 12, Douglas said.
And he adds there’s no guarantee that a wedding will follow the dates. That’s up to the winner and the four women he dates. The dates, by the way, will be supervised by the woman who runs Czech-bride.com.
“There is no implied or explicit understanding of physical contact between the woman and the man,” Douglas said. “If it leads to something that’s completely up to them.”
Staff Reporter
A radio contest in Halifax that is offering a trip to the Czech Republic and four dates with Czech women registered on a mail-order bride website triggered heated criticism in the House of Commons on Wednesday — the day before International Women’s Day.
Megan Leslie, NDP MP for Halifax, asked Parliament yesterday: “Who would have thought a hundred years ago that in 2012 women would be able to run for election, have successful careers and be given away as prizes in morning radio contests?”
“This is the environment we are asking women and girls of Halifax to live in, one where they are offered up as trophies, that is, their Czech Republic counterparts, anyway.
“A radio station in my riding is running the charmingly named “The male is in the Czech”
competition, promoting a mail order bride as a prize and using damaging ideas about foreign women’s sexuality to titillate Canadian listeners,” Leslie said in the House.The contest is being held by Halifax’s Q104.
According to the station’s website, the Mighty Q as the radio station calls itself, and Czech-Bride.com are offering to help Nova Scotian men find their so-called soul mate, offering a flight to Prague where the winner will date “a bevy of Czech beauties, compliments of Flying Hearts International Dating Service.”
Ironically, the deadline for contestants entering the contest is March 8th, International Women’s Day.
Leslie isn’t the only person offended by the contest. There have been complaints to the CRTC and the radio station itself. There also is an online petition with a Facebook page, protesting the contest.
In her statement in the house Leslie extended an apology to all Czech women and to the 50,000 Czech women living in Canada. She added: “If the bride gets here…we will make sure that she knows something else that Canadian women have won in the last 100 years: the right to a divorce.”
Q104 manager JC Douglas said in an interview with the Star he doesn’t really understand the fuss. The contest was not designed to offend women, he said. Nor was it meant to make a statement about International Women’s Day.
“We didn’t think it would be offensive to women,” he said of the contest and the campaign which uses what he describes as raunchy double entendres as well as a scantily clad woman in a bikini on its website.
“We didn’t know International Women’s Day was March 8th. I would think most people are not aware what day International Women’s Day is.”
The contest was a spinoff from a Valentine’s Day contest the station held, offering a free divorce, said Douglas. That contest also received some criticism. The radio station ended up retaining a lawyer for a lesbian couple to get a divorce.
This time, the staff thought it would be fun to give away a wedding, Douglas said. With that in mind they started brainstorming and someone came up with the idea of mail order brides and then the puns started flying. Then someone came up with the phrase they thought said it all — the “male is in the Czech”.
Douglas said the contest was innocuous and he rejected suggestions that it supports human trafficking, prostitution and sexual exploitation.
“The reality is we’re not animals,” he told the Star. “We have wives, daughters, mothers. We have female co-workers. Women were involved in the development of the contest and are working on the contest. If it was offensive they would have spoken up. They would have given us a wake up call.”
In an interview with a Czech newspaper, posted on the station’s website, Douglas said the contest was designed to entertain the radio station’s audience. “Q104’s listeners love this stuff. To them, it’s a little harmless fun.”
The winner will be selected from bachelors on March 12, Douglas said.
And he adds there’s no guarantee that a wedding will follow the dates. That’s up to the winner and the four women he dates. The dates, by the way, will be supervised by the woman who runs Czech-bride.com.
“There is no implied or explicit understanding of physical contact between the woman and the man,” Douglas said. “If it leads to something that’s completely up to them.”
