I need to rant.
You see I’m totally fucking over subtle sexism.
Don’t get me wrong, I am over overt sexism as well, but this subtle shit is doing my head in – especially in ads.
On face value, it’s nothing.
It almost feels normal in fact.
But when you stop for a second, you see the little digs.
The references to women loving shoes.
Or the colour pink.
Or some other cliched, sexist bullshit … like doing anything for doughnuts.
Oh they’ll say it’s “all in good fun”.
Or “… it’s not meant to be real, it’s advertising”.
They’ll claim you’re being too sensitive or that you “can’t say anything these days”.
Implying there was absolutely no other way they could approach the task they were given.
As if we’re bloody idiots.
And while some simply don’t get it – having spent their life living in the bubble of another era – deep down they know.
Or at least suspect.
The reality is they just don’t want to admit it.
Even if that’s just to themselves.
So they say this shit. Write this shit. Produce this shit.
And many will let it pass.
Mainly because they’re not paying close attention to the ads.
But it still seeps in.
Leaving it’s message.
Not the one the client wanted, but the one the old, conformist, sexist guys did.
And that’s why I think it’s the most dangerous sexism of all because when it’s done quietly, it affects slowly … creeping into the ears, eyes and minds of those who are exposed to it, while those who are aware of this shit, hear it like a scream.