Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Corporate Evil, Culture, Marketing Fail, Sexism
A few weeks ago, I saw these 2 headlines being shared on social media …
Look at them!
Seriously, the fact women deal with this blatant – and subtle – prejudicial shit every single day and don’t want to kill every man they meet, is proof they’re stronger than any man can be.
I cannot tell you how much I really, really hope sperm stops depression in men as well as women.
Not just because depression is an incredibly debilitating illness, but the headlines and machismo bullshit we’ll see from all the misogynists around us, will be hysterical.
Though in a perfect world, it will be women’s pee that will be discovered as the ultimate ‘cure for all’ … because that would really fuck with them.
I’m so over this bullshit and I know I am not the only one … but as I discovered in my time in America, saying you don’t like something is not the same as doing something about it because we know the misogynists will keep doing their bit.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Culture, Equality, Men, Sexism, Women
Remember a few weeks ago I wrote about the lack of female CSO’s … at least in comparison to male … and the need to fight against it by over-compensating for it?
Well, while my point of view was generally well received, I did cop some flack for it – unsurprisingly from men – and yet when you see the shit kids get exposed to from a young age, I wonder how they can feel the current situation is alright?
More so, I wonder how they can feel it’s fine if they’re parents to women?
Above are 2 pictures from an airline ‘duty free’ magazine.
Boys get to dream of being pilots.
Women get to dream of being air hostesses.
How many parents want their kids aspirations to be limited by their gender?
Of course there’s nothing wrong with being a member of the cabin crew – but that is about personal interests not gender limitations – and the only way this situation will change is if we remove the barriers and limitations placed on over 50% of the population and make space and opportunity for them to fulfill their potential.
Not – as I said in my original post – because it will make the world ‘fairer’ or even more ‘equal’ [though they both good reasons to do it], but because by enabling the potential of women, we all will experience the benefits of the way they see the World … a way that is often built on being better for everyone rather than just themselves.
Which, let’s be honest, is the definition of true leadership.
But there’s another reason for doing this.
It will make men better.
There is a lot to be said for being challenged by someone who expresses their talent in different ways to you.
Years ago – 2006, to be precise – I wrote about how the creative tension in the band The Who, pushed them to demand more from the music they were creating – as well as the people they were creating it with. Some of this was because of their occasional hatred for eachother, specifically Townsend and Entwistle, and some of it was because the band was so talented they would take someones musical ideas to ‘places’ they never imagined and they didn’t want to get left behind.
In other words, the tension pushed them higher … and given for so long women have had to play the support act to men – not just in companies but, as the pictures above show, in kids fashion – I believe it would be far more than just women winning if companies made more space for them to be the headline act.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Sexism, Women
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.
I guess that as the sexist Kevin Roberts once ran this company – or one very much like it – it should not come as a surprise that they only sell men’s clothing.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Context, Culture, Daddyhood, Family, Innocence, Jill, Love, Mum & Dad, My Fatherhood, Parents, Prejudice, Sexism, Social Divide
I love my son.
I love him so much.
He is such a sweet kid.
Sure he’s a bit cheeky and a bit mischievous, but he’s just a lovely little boy.
I want his innocence and wonder to never leave him – but sadly, I know it will.
I also know things I’d never wish on anyone will happen to him.
Bullying.
Heartbreak.
Sadness.
And all I can do is try to prepare him for it in a way where he knows he can come through the other side.
Of course part of that will be by making sure he knows he is loved and supported unconditionally by his parents … the other part is making sure he is brought up with as much openness as possible.
One of those things is him understanding men and women are equal.
As I wrote about a while ago, my wife and I have had some stick from relative strangers in how we’re bringing Otis up.
One of the things they’ve ‘questioned’ is why we let Otis play with dolls and brooms, why we bought him a kitchen set and why we let him dance wherever and whenever the mood takes him.
Of course it’s none of their fucking business … but the fact is, we don’t want Otis to grow up thinking boys do this and girls do that and seeing our little boy being as happy playing with dolls as he is with his iPad is utterly wonderful.
I have to admit, I find the level of sexism around me frightening. I find it especially bad when I hear it from a man who has daughters. I literally cannot understand that.
And yet many ignore it exists.
They say any wrong behaviour is ‘cultural’ rather than sexist.
Of course there are cultural traits that define gender roles – especially in Asia – but that doesn’t mean they’re right or you have to carry on with them, even more so when you are not from this part of the World.
And yet it is everywhere – even in supposedly liberal and developed nations, as this wonderful piece by Hillary Clinton shows.
While Hillary says the way women are judged differently to men is ‘not bad, just a fact’, I find it deplorable.
But it’s true.
I remember having to tell one of my talented female planners to clap her hands a bit differently because it looked too much like a little girl and a bunch of sexist pricks would then judge her for that. I hated having to do that … but there was no way I was going to let this talented individual be ignored just because they had decided the way she applauds looks juvenile.
And that’s why I like what Cindy Gallop is doing.
Or what she’s trying to do.
My problem is she’s treating all white men as the enemy which, in my opinion, not only doesn’t serve her purpose any good, but is the sort of generalised bollocks that certain white men have treated females.
And that’s why Otis is being raised to see equality not prejudice … because values, roles and/or potential shouldn’t be evaluated or judged by gender or demographic, even if the way society operates – including those supposedly fighting against it – wants to keep that the norm.