I'm no feminist, but...
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Original Post
There's this commercial on tv and it drives me crazy and I need to vent. It's a laundry detergent commercial. First it shows two little boys outside playing in the mud, having a blast. Then it shows a little girl and her mom inside, happily doing laundry.
When will we get to a time when it's no longer okay to promote such blatant gender stereotypes? I have YET to see a man doing laundry in a commercial.
I mean, I understand all the sociology behind this, and all the marketing research, and the fact that women DO buy most of the laundry detergent in the world... But come on. This is just a small example of a larger issue that is and will continue to be self-sustaining unless something radical happens.
What kind of lessons are we teaching our kids? Boys, go make a mess; we girls will clean it up.
I could go on...but I won't. :)
Posted at 10:59pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
Responses
My children each have their jobs. My daughter has the dishes, my 1st son the trash and the 2nd son the laundry. I am teaching my boys to iron shirts this summer, sew on buttons, and cook. We are calling it our summer life skills project. My husband still brings home the bacon and I cook it but we work as a team and teach our children to do the same.
Posted at 11:19pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
By the way, I would still rather do dishes than change the oil
Posted at 11:20pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
My husband has been banished from laundry and lawn mowing. I love heels and makeup and I also have my own chain saw which I use on a regular basis. Am I a feminist? I don't know. Am I not a femininist? Don't know that either. Just know I'm me and lots of people like me and lots of people don't.
Posted at 11:21pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
stelladesigns says:
When I think feminist I think of hardcore women who want to do everything for themselves without a mans help, who don't shave anywhere etc etc.
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I am a feminist who makes pretty earrings! And I don't shave, but only because I prefer to wax.
Posted at 11:21pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
Exactly aliana, good to hear.
My hubby does his own washing, we both work full time, he has two arms, two legs and a heartbeat.
Posted at 11:21pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
I thought 'feminist' meant someone who thinks men and women are equals?? Proud to be a feminist here...
Posted at 11:22pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
Yeah I guess that's the problem I had with the title:feminism is labeled a negative, which is INSANE.
Totally insane. But, to reference another poster, and the yoplait commercial: all I do is talk about shoes and chocolate. And beer, of course. See? Woman stereotype: dead-on. And yet I don't shun the feminist label.
Posted at 11:23pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
Somewhere along the line people got feminist confused with man hating hippie.
Posted at 11:23pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
Letitiah, I understand....I just haven't come across many feminists in my lifetime and they few that I have met had hairy legs etc, so I guess it is just an image that is stuck in my head. I by no means pretend to be a worldly knowledgeable person.
and I definately don't want to offend you or any other feminists in anyway.
Posted at 11:25pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT
Ummm yeah, farafield. It's just that nasty "liberal" (that's what it is always called, isn't it?) media that has turned feminism around to the femi-nazi thing. Equality can be so terrifying to some.
Posted at 11:26pm Apr 16, 2007 EDT