Men: I'm pissed for you

[White_Lightning]

Firstly, may I quote a friend? As kabbes once said:

Originally posted by kabbes
Not everything you read is meant to be taken in a literal sense. In fact, I’d say that most things outside GD and GQ should be taken with a heavy pinch of salt. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Laugh. You’ll live longer.

I don’t mean to say I made my original remark in jest. Just that it’d serve some of us well to think initially that someone might be a nice person before thinking they are being malicious.
It’s like when you’re playing outfield in Little League. When a fly ball gets hit to your area, it’s always best to take your first few steps backwards, just in case you misjudge where the ball’s gonna drop. It’s much easier to run forward to catch the ball than it is to backpedal to get to it.

And secondly, the point I was trying to make in my first post to this thread was merely that I think it’s inappropriate for men to whine about how badly they are treated, and that they’d do well to keep in mind how shabbily they have treated their ‘better half’ throughout history when thinking about these issues. That is all. Admittedly a very superficial level of reasoning. Had the OP been in GD or GQ, I would not have posted at all. In fact, the only reason I posted my opinion here was that I was astonished to see that by the time I got there, there was nary a dissenting voice in the entire thread, and that surprised me into action.
So, to address the point made by Necros. I’m not sure if you think I am female (I am male), but ‘revenge’ has nothing to do with my opinion on this matter. I also don’t know what the NOI is. Sorry.

Manda JO and zut: thank you for your well-reasoned responses. I would like to make one thing clear: I do not support the perpetuation of negative stereotypes, of any sort, about anyone. I realize that my original (very short) post did not make this clear. I did not mean to advocate commercials containing negative male stereotypes. Rather, I meant to advocate a little self-examination on the part of men (in this thread as well as in general) who get worked up about being put down every once in a while. I also did not mean to imply that these negative male stereotypes would in any way benefit women; I don’t think that is the case. Negative stereotypes are just that, negative, and benefit no one. I realize that “it’s about damn time” is somewhat of a positive endorsement, but I was using that expression mostly for rhetorical impact, and did not mean it to sum up my true advocacy.

Originally posted by zut
I don’t really think “equality of the sexes” means “trashing men to the same extent as women, because then everything will be OK.” … reinforcing “stupid male” stereotypes is implying that “stupid female” stereotypes are acceptable also, and accepting that would do more harm to women than it would do good.

I can’t say it any better than this. I agree with this statement 100%. The acceptance of stereotypes of any kind inherently spreads ignorance and hurts the cause of equality. And anyway, it’s not as if I want to be considered a universally incompetent lout, and I don’t think that would be a fair characterization of my ability, but I do think that if someone who didn’t know me at all said that that’s what I was, I wouldn’t be too broken up about it. I also think that the Collective Male Ego can stand the bruising applied to it by these commercials. But, Manda JO, you are right, I had not thought about the issue you are raising, that the negative image of men very directly results in women having to shoulder more of a burden in family life.
And lastly, I would like to congratulate the fathers, husbands, brothers, boyfriends, and any other men out there that do their part to contribute to society, their family, their children, and to just be good people in general. I would further like to congratulate the mothers, wives, sisters, girlfriends, and women that do the same, frequently for far less gratitude.

[El_Zagna]

*Originally posted by Necros *
**I must say, though, as much as I hate this types of advertising that promote sexism, if you think all commercials these days show women as all-powerful and successful, you aren’t paying very close attention. **

I probably don’t pay much attention to commercials since the remote control, so can you give me some examples of commercials in which a women are portrayed as less-than-powerful or unsuccessful? I can’t think of any.

[don_Jaime]

*Originally posted by pluto *
Since this is the Pit I’ll take the time to point out that John Cash Penney would object to you leaving the second ‘e’ out of his name. The OP got it right, everyone else who tried has missed it. P-e-n-n-e-y-apostrophe-s.

You mean James Cash Penney?

Let’s face it: ads suck, and people who watch them and live their lives by them are idiots. Thank Allah for the mute button and TIVO.

[Necros]

White Lightning said:

I’m not sure if you think I am female (I am male), but ‘revenge’ has nothing to do with my opinion on this matter. I also don’t know what the NOI is. Sorry.

No, I thought you were male. But there are a lot of males who have bought into the whole “bashing women is bad, but bashing men is OK” self-hating thing, thinking it makes them “sensitive” or something. But your subsequent comments have cleared this up for me. If your aim in your flip comments was to point out that men need to gain a little insight on their past behavior based on how male-bashing makes them feel, that’s OK.

BTW, NOI is the Nation of Islam.

bnorton: The advertising industry has gotten much better at portraying women in a positive light lately, although there are many, many problems with what Manda JO talks about (women being shown consistently unobtainable goals). But if you do watch a lot of commercials, you’ll find that in some ways, women are still relegated to second-class status.

I don’t want to sound like someone deconstructing pop culture for ideological gain, but last night I was watching TV, and a commercial for Misubishi cars came on. (You know, the “start the commotion” one?) Anyway, I noticed that among the groups they had, driving around, in no case was the woman in the driver’s seat. They were always in the passenger seat, with their men driving. Why is this?

You also see a constant presumption that women are the ones who are responsible for child care, cooking, and cleaning. And, despite seeing more women in powerful roles, those women are often placed in a role of subservience to more senior males. Let me check out the tube tonight so I can provide you with some more concrete examples.

[kabbes]

It seems rude somehow to be mentioned and not say anything, so I’ll say “well said” to WL. Your clarification is why I’m happy that you call me a friend.

pan