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When it comes to feminism, you’re never quite sure when you’re going to be accused of sexism. Open the door for a woman? SEXIST! Think it might be better for your kids if your wife is a stay-at-home mom? SEXIST! Think abortion is morally wrong? SEEEEXIIIIST!!!!!!!!
Apparently, Bryan Adams’ hit song, Everything I Do (I Do It For You) is sexist. Early nineties sexism, specifically. Sounds like a class they might teach at Wellesly. Here’s the offensive video:
Yes, yes, I can see the sexism. There are clips from — gasp! — Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (I am much more of a Robin Hood: Men In Tights girl)! Robin and Marian flirt, and kiss in the video. He even lowers her down from a tree fort on a rope! Truly, truly offensive. God, such horrible instances of not just sexism, but nineties edition sexism.
Who finds this offensive? Why, Feministing, of course! And what brough this on? An ad from the 1970s, something truly to be disturbed about in 2008. Here’s the sexist ad:
Here’s the text from the ad:
Sure. You live with him and take care of him and hang up his clothes. But just because you do the things a wife’s supposed to do, don’t forget you’re still a woman.
One of the nicest things you can do for a man is take care of your skin. That means Sardo. No other bath oil or bead has Sardo’s unique dry skin formula. It’s pure bath oil. The richest. The best. 3 out of 4 women saw and felt and loved the difference after just one Sardo bath.
How about you? Why don’t you do something soft and young and special for him. Feel wonderful all over with Sardo.
How horrible! A wife taking care of her husband?! Doing his laundry?! How dare she! And then on top of that, this ad is trying to suggest that a woman make herself look nice for a man? Do they not realize what this ad is?!
SEXIST!!!!
For the record, I love taking care of my man. I love cooking for him. I don’t love doing laundry or cleaning, but I do it because it’s nice. Not because he expects me to, but because it’s a nice thing to do. Just like he doesn’t have to pay for a trip to Disney World in a few months, but he is. And whether feminists like it or not, a lot of women want to look good for their men. A shocking concept, I know.
What’s hilarious is how offensive the feminists say this ad is, but the commenters have zero problem whatsoever insulting and deriding the man for the hair on his arms. So it’s OK to criticize men for their looks but not women? What if a bunch of men were making fun of a woman because of something beyond her control, like her arms being hairier than normal? These same women would be shrieking with outrage.
It’s stories like these that make modern feminism so out-of-touch with reality and the average woman. When you’re worried about trivial bullshit like an ad from thirty years ago, or a Bryan Adams video that’s over fifteen years old, and make abortion the holy cow of your entire movement, and then call it fighting for women’s rights, it makes people not really take you very seriously. The thing is, there is real sexism in the world, and real women who are fighting real oppression. Most of this takes place in the Middle East, but modern American feminism finds things like thirty-year-old bath oil ads and abortion more important than, oh, say three girls being buried alive for the “crime” of choosing their own husbands.
Where was the outrage on Feministing over that?? Oh wait, there wasn’t any. But hey, any time a bath oil product wants to tell women it’s a good thing to look good for her husband, then they’ll be ready to take them on.
Feminists: fighting for the real oppression in the world!
For the record, I love taking care of my man. I love cooking for him. I don’t love doing laundry or cleaning, but I do it because it’s nice. Not because he expects me to, but because it’s a nice thing to do.
What a delightfully nutty little oppressed fruitcake you are.
But I’m a lot crazier. Because, as a straight man, when I see women doing nice things for me I happen to like it. Now it’s true, I read all the comments over at Feministing and I didn’t see anyone telling me I should stop women from ever doing nice things for me. But I didn’t see them say what exactly I should do when the occasion happens along. For quite a few decades, I’ve noticed them leaving guys like me out like that. How are we supposed to know what our instructions are?
I think we’re looking at a multi-fold definition of the post-modern feminist — right here. They assumed:
1. That a woman doing nice things for her man, was somehow diminishing herself;
2. That this self-diminishing held up, even though the nice thing the lady was doing for her man was looking good and therefore improving herself;
3. Most telling of all — that the only motivation the woman would have for doing anything nice for her man, was to keep him from leaving (melponeme_k, September 16, 2008 1:48 PM).
And just as a bonus…back to a question you raised…what in the world is up with criticizing the fella for the hair on his arms? Is there some kind of sick high-fiving going on over that — oh look, thirty years ago it was thought to be appealing that a man had hairy arms, now we as feminists have managed to stigmatize it and pressure society to reject manly men and be more accepting of feminized men. Is that the thought process?
If so, I agree with you then — word of this should get out. People need to understand that feminism is, after all, an attempt to get rid of men, in spirit if not in body.
I R A Darth Aggie says: What’s hilarious is how offensive the feminists say this ad is, but the commenters have zero problem whatsoever insulting and deriding the man for the hair on his arms.
*glances at his arms, looks at the ad*
Oh, good, they’ll make fun of my furry arms and I won’t give them the time of the day. Hey, at least I don’t have a furry back. I think. It’s not like I can see it…
That’s because modern activism is all about the OUTRAGE. Not about discourse on the issues themselves.
When they have to dig up 30 year old ads to be outraged about to get their daily fixes, they should probably take a little time out and consider the implications of that fact.
But I won’t hold my breath.
Rob Farrington says: I go for the 80s ‘Robin of Sherwood’ TV series, myself. Definitely an underrated classic.
I myself am furry EVERYWHERE, but luckily my fiance loves it, although for some reason she locks herself in the bathroom whenever there’s a full moon.
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