[QUOTE=catsix]
Before I ever even saw the movie, ‘Dueling Banjos’ to me was ingrained with ‘Squeal like a pig’, and after seeing the movie several times, the very first thing into my head at the sound of ‘Dueling Banjos’ is the rape. The rest of the violence follows, but the first thing is ‘cue the city boy getting raped by the inbred hillbilly.’
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Ah. See, my first encounter with that movie was the edited-for-TV version.
[QUOTE=saoirse]
That and the deodorant commercials. WTF?
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There’s a subtle difference. Most of the deodorant/body spray ads show hordes of women going into a feeding frenzy once some guy douses his body in walrus pheromones (or whatever’s in that stuff), but they’re not usually falling-on-their-face stupid about it. There was that one that showed a series of women dry-humping their drainpipes because product-using man on the top floor was taking a shower, but they were doing it well.
[QUOTE=Cat Fight]
I demand more shows, movies and commercials with unsexualized, average-looking, even overweight women and hot, brainless men.
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Thank you. King of Queens , According to Jim and Still Standing come to mind as shows with overweight and rather doofus-ish men with women who are fit, pretty, and smart. How often do you see that in the other direction?
[QUOTE=Anaamika]
THANK YOU. With all of the vanity sizing that goes on, you have to try on everything to be sure it fits. I can wear 3 different sizes at the same store depending on the designer/manufacturer.
Anytime a woman is out of her house she is apparently looking to be picked up. At the library getting a few books? At the grocery store? Standing in line at the bank? At the gym to work out? Putting gasoline in your vehicle? You must be waiting to be approached and have game spit at you. None of my male friends have mentioned having this happen often.
Also, I’m glad the woman-on-man violence was mentioned. That is a serious pet peeve of mine. There is a commercial now with some kind of language barrier issue where a man gets slapped by at least 3 women. I hate it.
[QUOTE=DigitalC]
One of this days Alice POW! to the moon! [cue laugh track]
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That’s not an example of funny violence against women, unless I missed the episode where Ralph actually followed through on his threat and clocked Alice. If anything, it’s an early example of the fat doofus husband married to the attractive, smart woman.
So… you post here often? 
The really rough part of being the “guy” is when it comes to protecting your “woman”. If someone comes up and pushes your SO to the ground, your expected to do something and if you dont your a wuss. No matter if the other person is a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier!
I immediately thought of the dads “babysitting;” glad to see others mentioned it.
I think the doofus husband on TV shows and ads grows out of the idea that it’s OK to make fun of the group that traditionally had power. You can mock men for being incompetent boobs, because in the real world people don’t really believe that (generally speaking), but you can’t portray women as stupid or inferior, because in the not-too-distant past, society was a-OK with women being treated as intellectually deficient children.
I’m not saying that makes it OK, just musing on the reason for the discrepancy.
In the other direction, I do have to say I think there is a lingering idea that women have an obligation to be sexually attractive, regardless of the situation. Sure, guys will sometimes get insulted for being fat or ugly, but IME it is far more acceptable for a man to be physically unattractive, and it is far less likely to provoke comments. This is kind of related to the “woman out in public must be looking for a date” idea - women are only worthy insofar as they are potential sex partners.
Oh, and what is up with the stock character of the fat/ugly/repulsive woman who is a sex-crazed maniac chasing after men? This crops up in a lot of “comedies.”
(BTW, I don’t have any problem with someone saying that they are not attracted to a woman because she’s too fat for their taste. You can’t control who turns you on and who doesn’t.)
I love this topic.
Let’s look at this song. How well do you think a male artist would do with a song like this describing in detail how he destroyed his ex’s car to make her “think next time before [she] cheats”?
[QUOTE=Cat Fight]
I demand more shows, movies and commercials with unsexualized, average-looking, even overweight women and hot, brainless men.
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Me too! I am prepared to sign a petition to that effect right this minute.
Topics like this always remind me of the movie 40 days and 40 nights, a COMEDY in which a guy trying to avoid having sex for that amount of time ends up getting raped and its played for laughs. Or The Simpsons episode were Homer gets sodomized by a panda while a group of school children watch, the line “look children, shes presenting! we thought it would take years to get to this point” makes me feel ill.
Not to mention Marge on steroids, and I could swear there’s another example although I can’t think of it at the moment.
40 Days? Doesn’t the rapist ex declare she’s done him a favour, and the new SO make out it’s his own fault?
I saw a poster once advertising some car or other. The photo was of a man’s hands cupped around his family jewels (either for protection or pain relief, which one isn’t clear)and the caption was “The {Shitemobile}. Ask before you borrow it.” Turn the sexes round and see what happens to your sales figures. :rolleyes:
Show me a newspaper article about DV and I’ll show you a picture of a helpless woman cowering on the floor before a brute of a man, and 98% of the text will be about male on female DV; one sentence, two in bizarre circumstances, will concede the possibility that men might occasionally be targeted “and of course we shouldn’t forget about them, but now back to the major topic of interest”.
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday]
Yeah, I hate that, too. He’s my kid, lady, and you can take your “It takes a village” crap that you’d never try on a woman, and stick it.
Oh, and because I’m out with my kid, doesn’t mean I’m an access dad, looking to pick up chicks with him as a prop.
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I hate how all women seem to want to give anyone who will listen advice about childrearing. I’ve gotten more unsolicited advice since I started showing when I was pregnant up to now, when my son is almost a year and a half old, than I ever had before he was born.
And I second not liking that I’m expected to be a baby person. It’s even more annoying for me now than it was when I wasn’t a mom. I’ve never been a baby person. I wanted children, and when it comes to my own kid, I’m all about him. But when it comes to other people’s children, I’m far more interested than I was when I was childless, but I’m not any more touchy-feely than I was before. Hell, I spend all my non-working time with a 26-pound child attached to me. Your newborn is lovely and cute as a button, but my back is killing me from carrying around my own child. If you need a break, I’ll be happy to help out, but I’m not going to make a grab for your child the second I see it and please don’t look at me funny if I don’t. I realize that this is a self-absorbed way to look at things, but my arms are tired, dammit.
It drives me crazy that people in my family - especially the men - who are older than I am expect me to be fully responsible for the upkeep of my house. For example, my dad comes over and the house is in chaos, it must be my fault. “Heheh. Just like you’re still living in college.” Given that I work full time and given that there are TWO adults in my household as opposed to one, both of us able bodied, if the house is slightly more cluttered than yours, the responsibility for that lies with both me and my husband (and, as my son gets older, my son), not just me because I happen to be female.
Oh my god, perfect example. I remember seeing it in the theater and I’m laughing through most of the movie and then wham. That scene.
And to add insult to injury, the girl who he was really in love with blames him for the whole thing.
Yep. If that had the genders reversed it never would’ve made it to filming.
[QUOTE=Cat Fight]
Sorry, I meant this for the black/white comparison. (if I wanted to bring academia into the ‘battle of the sexes,’ I’d mention Feminist Studies).
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Asians and Native Americans are over-represented at Harvard, Asians by roughly a factor of 4. Whites, blacks and hispanics are all slightly under-represented.
Sources: Harvard Gazette and 2005 Census bureau.
Men are never judged as harshly about their looks as women are. A guy can have a plain face, a soft body, and be old and still come across as sexy or attractive. Women actors past a certain age simply don’t exist in the media in the same way that their male counterparts do.
There is definitely a “men are stupid” stereotype perpetuated by commercials, but as equally offensive is the “women are the family servants” stereotype. Women are the ones shown putting the Hamburger Helper on the table. They are the ones shown mopping the floor while the men slumbers on the couch.
An upset woman is “shrill and hysterical”. An upset man is “angry”.
[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies]
King of Queens , According to Jim and Still Standing come to mind as shows with overweight and rather doofus-ish men with women who are fit, pretty, and smart. How often do you see that in the other direction?
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Is this worse for the woman or man? On the one hand, the man is portrayed as an overweight doofus. On the other hand, the woman is portrayed as someone who has given up her dreams to be with this overweight doofus. The doofus, despite being a doofus, still lands the hot chick. How is that fair? The ugly, or even not-quite-pretty chick isn’t even in the picture.
[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies]
Also, I’m glad the woman-on-man violence was mentioned. That is a serious pet peeve of mine. There is a commercial now with some kind of language barrier issue where a man gets slapped by at least 3 women. I hate it.
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Woman-on-man violence is “funny” because it is implied that women are too “weak” to do any real damage. If a man hits a woman in a movie, she lands on the floor clutching her face. If a woman hits a man in a movie, he shakes his head and maybe blinks a few times. It’s funny because the woman is not a danger and, in a way, it’s funny because the man is “letting” her slap him.
The thing is, even though a lot of things have changed in our society, there are thousands of years of history where women were beneath men, and this is still the case in many parts of the world. So while you can find female CEOs nowadays, and you soon might even find a female PotUS, all cleaning commercials are still directed at women, women still do the majority of the housework even if they have outside-the-home jobs, and women who aren’t pretty still get the short end of the stick. (No, I’m not bitter.)
[QUOTE=Miller]
That’s not an example of funny violence against women, unless I missed the episode where Ralph actually followed through on his threat and clocked Alice. If anything, it’s an early example of the fat doofus husband married to the attractive, smart woman.
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More than that, it demonstrates where the power is in the family. Alice pretty much gets what she wants, and Ralph only makes empty threats - and it is clear she knows they’re empty. She’s in about much danger as Ahnold getting punched out by Woody Allen.
One place where there is real inequality is auto buying. My wife wanted to buy an RV to drive around the country. She got totally ignored until I came with her one day - and since I wasn’t going, and didn’t do the research, I neither knew or cared about it. But I suppose this falls under the previous comment about car salesmen.
[QUOTE=phouka]
I’m stuck in a conundrum.
On a first date at dinner, I always offer to pay my half, and it’s a sincere offer. No man has ever taken me up on it. If it’s movies or a museum, I can always make sure I get first in line and buy my own ticket, but at a restaurant, I’d pretty much have to tackle the server, which is frowned upon. It’s such a strong social convention, that if I insist on paying my part, I’ve sent the message that I do not trust the man, do not like him, and am unwilling to go into his debt, no matter how slight.
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I’m well over 30, and haven’t dated in a long, long time, but I think this is a signal of romantic interest. Your wanting to pay sends a signal that the date is a friend thing, not a romantic thing. I went to places with women who were friends, and had no trouble with them paying half.
Now, I admit that this was back in the Dark Ages, and I’d keep paying long after the initial dates, but today there wouldn’t be an issue.
The Times a week or so back had an article on the problems of a woman making a lot more than a man. He’d want to pay, or at least pay half, and they wound up going to places cheap enough for him, and not places where she wanted to go (and was willing to pay for.) So not everyone has gotten the message, even after the relationship is established.
[QUOTE=Ludovic]
Purses. The traditionality and acceptability thereof for women.
Specifically, that there is no traditional object I’d be allowed, as a man, to take into a movie theatre without raising suspicions of sneaking in snacks or soda…which is what I’d be doing with it, of course. But women can get away with that, whereas if I tried to do it with a backpack or satchel or fannypak I bet I’d be found out.
In general, it seems like a useful item to be able to have, in between a wallet and a backpack, but if it were all that useful I’d have found a way to either wear one or find a substitute like a man’s handbag with strap (I’m sure they make stuff like that.)
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My dad used to (and still might) carry around what he called a “possibles bag”, which was basically a manly-looking purse. It was actually a bag with a shoulder strap, aimed at black powder shooting enthusiasts, and intended to hold the various tools necessary for black powder shooting. It was designed to be worn slung over one shoulder, and the bag itself would rest at hip level.
He started carrying it because his bad back made it extremely uncomfortable to sit with a wallet in his back pocket.
[QUOTE=Malacandra]
<snip>Show me a newspaper article about DV and I’ll show you a picture of a helpless woman cowering on the floor before a brute of a man, and 98% of the text will be about male on female DV; one sentence, two in bizarre circumstances, will concede the possibility that men might occasionally be targeted “and of course we shouldn’t forget about them, but now back to the major topic of interest”.
[/QUOTE]
I started a thread about the prevalence of violence against men a couple of months (?) ago here - if I’m a one-trick pony about anything, that’s the thing - that and men being portrayed as the idiot man-child. My husband was a victim of domestic violence, and it almost ruined his life (he has given me permission to share his story on these boards). It is no exaggeration to say that it changed him forever - I didn’t know him then, but he lost a lot of innocence when he was the one bleeding, and the police put HIM in the back of the cruiser. There’s your social inequality for ya.
I’ll second the experience of women with car salesmen - a couple of years ago, I was looking for a car. That’s right, I was looking - a woman. My husband usually went with me, because we’d both be driving it sometimes, but it’s basically mine. I did the research and knew what I was looking for; I’ll never forget the car salesman who asked my husband all the questions and directed answers to my questions to my husband. What a tool. In all fairness, though, most car salesmen were scrupulous about treating me as the potential buyer when we made that clear.
On behalf of actresses everywhere, I think their occupation has some of the biggest social inequalities going. How much would that suck - your career is basically over with your first wrinkle? Not to mention never getting to eat. :eek: