why i want to be a man

... there's a post over at my friend rob's blog about the usual fucking gender stereotypes. i've already said quite a bit over the years on that blog about the marketing/capitalist attitude to women. i'm sure that everyone is sick of hearing about it.

good, in a way.

and just as i was about to press 'submit' on yet another long rant, i realised that i didn't want to vomit all over his blog again.

but i did have a fair amount to say, so here's what i would have said over there, here:



rob, i know that it's your blog, but bring on the can of worms. seriously. you guys have probably more power to make changes about the place of women in the world than anyone else i know. and if we have to have ugly, crawling arguments on the state of women and their continued disadvantage, so that maybe one day, some marketing manager from a global corporate company you guys keep decides that they're going to go with a different tack that can of worms will have been fucking worth it.


i'm with peggy on it being fuckloads easier being a man because i'm sick and fucking tired of piping up every fucking time the age-old gender assumptions, or disadvantage come up. i'm sick of reminding everyone that women exist too and, wow, we're human beings too.


i know that every time i do, a guy who is sick of the stereotypes also benefits, but fuckin' hell - how about you blokes chime in some time.  


all you guys feeling boxed in by having to put up with the big tits blond bombshell "sex sells" line pipe up. 


or how about, if you're feeling claustrophobic because you're likely to be paid more, or promoted earlier than the ladies in your field, or that they're more likely to be intimidated and harassed by their male superiors, go right ahead, talk to HR on their behalf -  i'm sure they won't mind.


or fuck, if you feel like it's getting a bit hot under the collar because 2 out of ever 3 women you know have been raped or sexually abused by a man they know - jesus - don't let me stop you shouting about it. i mean, it must really fuck you off, right?






it's not just the boring, insulting stereotypes as mothers, homemakers and neurotic latte-sipping lovers of the colour pink that is wrong with this kind of marketing. it's that it's all part of  making women feel bad about themselves as women that really fucks me off.




and andy, i love you, but 'tell that to the man who can't get access to his kids'? really? you have GOT to be joking.