What is pinkwashing?

02/01/20 • 3 min

What is pinkwashing?

Pinkwashing is a practice used to appear LGBT-friendly for political or business gains. The choice of such a strategy by states and companies is motivated by a desire to have a modern, progressive image. Whereas in reality they are sometimes hiding practices that aren’t at all respectful towards sexual minorities.

The term pinkwashing was created in the early 2000s to critique companies taking advantage of breast cancer campaigns to improve their image. Soon, use of the term spread to also apply to communications strategies by brands or institutions wanting to appear gay-friendly.

One of the most flagrant and criticised examples of pinkwashing came from the Israeli government. It launched a “Brand Israel” campaign to paint the country as being modern and relevant. The Tel Aviv tourism board even invested $90 million in branding itself as an “international gay vacation destination”. Brands are also turning to pinkwashing more and more.

Many would see it as a good thing if institutions want to be inclusive to LGBTQ people, rather than rejecting them. But students and associations are critical of the supposed double standards behind pinkwashing. For example, homophobic attitudes are prominent in Israel outside of Tel Aviv. As explained by professor Sarah Schulman writing in the New York Times, many believe the pinkwashing campaign is just a smokescreen. They claim the aim is to manipulate the country’s international image, and conceal human rights violations in neighbouring Palestine.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is pinkwashing?

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

What is phage therapy?

What is phage therapy?

Phage therapy refers to the use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. While it has been used scarcely in the Western world in recent decades, some doctors and researchers see a need for it in the future, to combat antibiotic resistance among bacteria.

In 1917, French-Canadian microbiologist Félix d’Hérellee discovered phage therapy. Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are actually viruses which are extremely common in the biosphere. They’re able to kill bacteria by invading them and multiplying within them.

Phage therapy can be used to treat basic wounds, as well as different kinds of bacterial infection, like bone infection, respiratory infections and MRSA. Instead of using antibiotics, which destroy all bacteria they come across, specific strains or cocktails of phages are used for each patient.

At the time antibiotics were created, public authorities considered them more simple and effective than phages. To such an extent that phages were gradually forgotten and even destroyed in many countries.

But in the 21st century, certain bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, which is a major health issue. Researchers have renewed their interest in phages and are looking at their potential uses to fight otherwise incurable diseases.

Some countries actually already use phage therapy, most notably in Georgia. Sick patients from around the world are spending thousands of dollars to travel to Tblisi, the country’s capital. They then spend several weeks undergoing treatment at the Eliava Institute.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

What is juice jacking?

What is juice jacking?

Juice jacking is a type of cyber attack which involves hacking a smartphone or tablet through a public USB charging point. Imagine, it’s the middle of a fine day, the sun is shining and you’re looking forward to a spot of lunch. All of a sudden, shock horror your smartphone shows 3% battery.

Disaster, totally ruins your day right?! How are you going to find your way around, reply to emails, meet up with friends in the evening?

Fear not, technology has a solution for everything. Just find a charging point to connect your cell phone via USB. ambiance gare These are more and more common in public places like stations, malls, restaurants and public transport.

Well, it might not actually be the best idea to connect to the first USB port you come across. In November 2019, the LA district attorney actually warned travelers against using public charging points, saying they “may contain dangerous malware”.

Hackers are known for being resourceful people; they use a few different techniques to hack cell phones. Some install malware directly in the charging point. Others have developed clone charging points, which infect devices wih viruses, or steal personal data like bank details, emails and photos.

Juice jacking is not totally new. As far back as 2011, the Defcon hacker convention was trying to raise public awareness of this kind of cyber attack. Event organisers set up informational juice jacking kiosks, which displayed warnings any time a visitor plugged their device into the charging point. The first such kiosk changed its display from “Free charging station” to “You should not trust public charging stations with your devices”. In 2012 the NSA issued a warning to its employees about juice jacking. But the general public is relatively unaware of the risks of USB charging points.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices