March 3, 2010

I'm tired of it...

I am tired of hearing "That's racist, stereotypical, or sexist." It just seems like every time I turn around I hear one of those words.

Problem 1: Selling sexuality
Sexuality in ads? Is it a bad thing? Yeah it can be, especially if you thin down a model to abnormal sizes and make women think badly of themselves or stuff men's underwear and make normal men feel bad about their assets. But at the same time, we are human. I love the female form, it's beautiful I wish more women were okay with them selves (especially me, is that hypocritical...yeah but i'm not going to get into that one). Do I want to see a mom slide her boob out in Wal-mart to feed her kid....no. But I'm so tired of every time an add pops up someone says "look at that why is it they always put a sexified women on these adds, it's disgusting." It's not disgusting, she's probably hot but yeah I could see why someone would wonder what the female form and gasoline has in common. Kind of a stretch I know.

Problem 2: Stereotypes
Men are great at hard working jobs, women are great at homely jobs. Most of the time that's true. I'm sorry but yeah. Does it mean that I think every woman needs to be a house wife, no not in the least or every man needs to be a construction worker, nope. Some men become models, actors, chefs, ice cream cart owners. Women become CEOs, join the army, build houses, or become biologists...I don't know the lists are endless but when it comes down to some things I just can't get them out of my head.

My boyfriend is stronger than me...yes
Is he better with computers...yes
Better at guessing (on tests)...most certainly yes
Can I cook better than him...yes
Can I clean better than him... yes
Do I know more about home remedies than him...yep


now almost everything I wrote would be considered a stereotype. But is it..no it's the truth at least for me and my boyfriend. Does it change to suit each couple, yes. What works for one person doesn't for another. But look at it this way..

Am I better at thumb wrestling than him...yes
do I fart and burp more than him...yes
Am I more likely to say a woman is attractive...yeah
is he better at poetry..yeah
does he need a hug after a bad day...yeah
does he have a deep love for candy and chocolate...yes


When ever I meet someone for the first time I never curse because I don't know if they are okay with it or not, I always let them drop the F. Bomb first. But if they don't I make a mental note not to curse around them. If we follow different religious paths I tend to not bring it up. Does that mean I'm a fake? No It means I try to avoid an unwanted argument.

Problem 3: Racism
Not every monkey in a newspaper political comic is referring to a black person. And if you think so then maybe you are the racist one for going there in the first place.

Not every Asian person is great at math or likes pocky..reads manga or does that cute little peace sign thing.

Majority of Southern people don't marry their cousins, or have out houses, or go bare foot...

the list can go on but I'm going to stop it here...

I'm not say that these things don't exist or I don't regard things as racist or sexist but I just feel like we use the terms to much. Maybe we say they are because we want them to be? I don't know... can't we just have a good laugh and walk away not pissed off? Again I am sorry if I upset anyone or aggravated you. But I needed to get that out.

3 comments:

  1. It's good to vent! haha, I'm often guilty of being one of those peeps who whinges about sexism in ads :S But not so much that I object to sexuality being used in advertising, after all, like you said, we are human after all! I do wish though that perhaps an equal amount of ads featuring hot men were made so us ladies could get a perve too ;) hehehe.

    methinks peoples insecurities come to the fore when the media is discussed. Mine sure do! I get stupidly oversensitive about my body sometimes, and feel like if i don't look like the "hot chick" on tv then men must think I'm a fat fugly ho. In the end this is MY problem...I wish it wasn't there :(

    Interesting points for discussion!

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  2. Dolly: sigh, I was really aggravated last night but thank you for commenting. I am totally for more hot men in advertising but maybe a different range of men...I'm not attracted to big shiny muscular men...bleh not my thing. I'm more attractive to tone, slender, not oily men! :D

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  3. Same here! Big bulging overly "cut" men do ZERO for me. I likes nice healthy normal looking menfolk.Well "normal" in body type anyway....eccentric personalities are sexy :) More ads featuring quirky men please!
    Hmmmm...methinks that's what annoys me about the media- the assumption that we all like the same thing. I think the public are underestimated a LOT by advertising agencies!

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