The "What His Wife Could Have Been Story"

Those of you who are TV junkies such as myself may have seen a promotion for the "Billy Graham Story". The promo starts by showing some lovely pictures of a woman from the 40's saying, "She was destined to travel to Vietnam, serving the people of that country and making the world a better place," something along those lines. Then it goes on to say, "But then she met a man who won her heart. This is the story of Billy Graham and the woman who stayed by his side and supported him until the end."

Clearly, this commercial is appealing to the romantic within us all, but the feminist inside must be awakened! The "Billy Graham Story" is glorifying a woman giving up her dreams to be with her husband. It is idolizing the ultimate domesticated image! It is saying that it is the woman's duty to drop everything for her husband! It is saying that women will be rewarded more, not for their missionary work in foreign nations, but for their loyalty to their husband.

This is not a standard I plan on upholding, how about you?

Would You Like Some Product Placement with that Sexism?

My good friend Sam has gotten into the feminist spirit! His guest post, "Two Cunts in A Kitchen," is well-written and intriguing, and I hope he writes more for us soon!

Two Cunts in a Kitchen:

The phrase mentioned above is advertising industry slang for the standard kitchenware commercial. We’ve all seen the premise. Two women of different races stand in a immaculate kitchen discussing the life-changing benefits of switching to Gladware. Same old stuff. 

Few women realize how radical this type of advertising is when compared to the old routine. Gone are the days of 50’s advertising where the fresh-from-work mate would complement his wife on how nutritious the Wonder Bread was. The women were in command now. They would proudly announce to their clumsy husband that the frozen pizza wasn’t delivery. This shift in advertising occurred at the same time that women began to leave the confines of the kitchen and venture into the workplace in droves. The new version of the American woman was instrumental in transforming the American viewpoint on what constitutes femininity. 

But alas, the changing portrayal of women did not have a universally positive effects. Men increasingly became portrayed as stupid, clumsy or ignorant. This image of manliness has persisted today. You only have to turn on shows such as The King of Queens to find this degrading image blown up for all of America to see. To counter this, women in television became increasingly neurotic: overbearing nags who pestered their husbands to take on "women's work" in addition to their other schedules. 

If history is any indication, there will soon be a new shift in advertising, dedicated once again to the submissive housewife of the 50’s. However, I desperately hope not. Only when “An Overbearing Cunt and a Lazy Bastard” is advertising jargon will "true" equality be achieved and we're all equally incompetent. 

Columnist Marrin Hopes It's Reigning Men

Brit publication The Times is noted for it's frequently sexist articles on fashion, dating, and culture, but nothing takes the patriarchal self-serving cake like this little beauty, in which columnist Minette Marrin asks, "Are men really necessary?"

Marrin notes the "onslaught against masculinity," how women are becoming more in control of their financial, social, and emotional lives. Many women, Marrin writes with horror, are becoming, get this: independent! "It is hardly surprising," Marrin says, "that men increasingly feel dispensable."

Marrin goes on to say that single women and lesbians undermine a man's sense of his own masculinity, and produces a nice little rant about why we women need men: "Men have wonderful qualities which women often lack and need. Men are much more likely than women to be of exceptionally high – and exceptionally low – intelligence; they are on average stronger, funnier, and have a better three-dimensional sense and they are usually better at techy things."

The only quality a man has that women lack is a penis, and women only need that for purposes of procreation, which is purely optional and in no way a prerequisite for womanhood. (I ignore heterosexual intercourse, which I would only consider a nice perk, and only for some.)

And just in case our female readers thought their place was outside the kitchen or the bedroom, Marrin reminds us to keep churning out those babies. "Researchers warned that couples should beware of swapping traditional roles." (She does not cite this research.)

Marrin sums up her point by concluding, "What we need is the rehabilitation of real masculinity, because that is something most of us do need and like." She doesn't go on to describe "real masculinity," but if it's anything like her marginalized 50's-style real femininity, Marrin better leave the column-writing to the big boys and get back in the kitchen.