Snips & Snails

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive...nsen112504.htm
Snips and Snails
November 25, 2004

-------------------------------------------------------------------

by Pete Jensen

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Normally I'm of mixed feelings when the boycott calls come out. I have
supported Glenn Sacks in the past, especially against David and Goliath,
but "suspicion" might be the best word to use for me when many men start
grumbling about misandric ads.

I am disgusted by tendency to portray Dad as a dope both in popular
media and in commercials; what I'm more concerned about is that when Dad
isn't being played as a dork, he's being portrayed as someone who might
very well have their head shaved and find three sixes as a birthmark.
Hottie wife and balding potbellied doofus - yeah right. When is the last
time you saw that? I have to ask myself, "Self! What is WRONG with that
woman that she settles for such a goober?" Seriously, some of the nerds
you see as "leading men" make the stereotypical 30 year old,
still-lives-in-mom-and-dad's-basement Trekkie look like James Dean.

Toys-R-Us, though, has ****ed me off.

It took me a while to see their latest offering, where two boys are
trying to get out of their room to get to the Christmas "Toys-R-Us"
catalog. They get stuck in the door like the two stooges, too dumb, of
course, to go one at a time. Their sister snottily says "Maybe next
year boys," while she names the catalog and goes into her bedroom and
closes the door, which has a sign saying "Girls Rule, Boys Drool."

Nice message to send to boys. Stock up on the Barbies, Toys-R-Us. I'm
advising people to go to Kay-Bee or somewhere else. Apparently you
don't want the business of men or boys. So to hell with you.

It's one thing, I think, to pander to female tittering and "tee-hee-
hee" to peddle wares which most men have little or no use for. I need
laundry detergent, I buy it, and buy what is on sale. I don't agonize
over which one will mean I "Love my family more." Choosy Dads choose
the peanut butter he can get in the 55 gallon drum for a houseful of
kids. Let Choosy Moms dither over "peanutty" taste. I spend maybe 5
bucks more a week in the store than the average shopper - but I sure as
hell spend half the time. Damn male efficiency.

So, when the usual man-bashing crap comes out, I tend to ignore it.
I'm a grown man. I can take it. And the first time I saw the Toys-R-Us
commercial, I greeted it with a BFHD. Another? Same old, same old.

Until I happened to witness it over at the house of a couple with their
son and daughters present. The sisters immediately caught the chant of
"Girls Rule, Boys Drool" and began poking at their brother with their
oversize pencils. Mom got a titter out of it.

Junior put up with it for about 2 minutes, and a look of pure hatred
came across his face, and he snatched the pencil out of one sister's
hand, hissed "I HATE you!" at her, and stomped off. Of course, Mom was
shocked and appalled, and full of comfort for the two little
harpies-in-training, and only dad insisting that since the girls
started it, any punishment of one would be punished on all prevented
Junior from having her full wrath fall on him for not letting his
sisters tease him.

Yeah, women love their sons. I wonder, sometime on down the line, when
his little sisters get picked on or have a pass made at them, if Junior
is going to be there. As of right now, I'd bet they are on their own.
But of course, such commercials are harmless.

I don't know about you, but I'll fess up - when I was five years old,
the little witch chanting the old "snips, and snails, and puppy dog
tails" and "sugar and spice and everything nice" sure made me want to
smack the taste out of her mouth. Drool, though, is mean. Wonder what is
going through your sons heads when they hear it - and I'm talking what
they think, not what they admit to when you ask them.

No. There's other toy stores out there. As for me, unless we get an
awfully abject apology, I'm not inclined to write to Toys-R-Us until
after Christmas. Send your message with your wallets, and tell them why
after January 1 st. I'd suggest sending a copy of your receipts from
other stores to them to make the point. Let the girls and Feminazis
support Toys-R-Us.

They aren't going after men - but at boys. Our sons. Our kids. Time to
make them pick on someone their own size.

Let's make this a Christmas these sons-of-bees won't forget.

Pete Jensen

Click here to check out Pete Jensen's blog on MND


DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE IN THE FORUM!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pete Jensen is a Computer Engineer and Curmudgeon who lives in the wilds
of Southern Indiana. He enjoys satirizing political correctness, and
mocking its advocates. If you'd care to write him and talk reasonably he
welcomes it. If you'd care to write him and froth at the mouth
ideologically, he welcomes that too. You'll be grist for the mill, and
know in advance he doesn't regard any such diatribes as privileged
communication. That's right, you too can wind up lampooned by his
searing wit and insightful barbs in front of millions on the internet
---------------------------------------------------------------------



--
" I'm a man... But, I can change... If I have to... I guess. "
The Man Prayer, Red Green.

They aren't going after men - but at boys. Our sons. Our kids. Time to
make them pick on someone their own size.

The commercial that gets me is the ....I believe it's a Radio Shack
commercial which is offering picture phones, the dad comes in and offers his
2 girls the phones and announces that "now we can talk to each other as much
as we want" *crickets* then mom pipes up that "and....you can talk to your
friend all the time". BIG HUGS for mom and dad gets portrayed as some
ignoramus, stumbling and bumbling through raising his kids where mom is the
real brain.

I try to be mostly positive about gender and race wars, but it really seems
to me that the .....now don't get mad.....white male is really been put in a
position as of late as being the punching bag for everyone who might have
been discriminated over the years, and what's worse is there is outright
racism and gender bashing toward us guys on national TV and nobody is saying
anything about it. I can deal with it....I have to, but it seems to me that
this kind of thing doesn't promote harmony, only resentment.

Maybe I should be more wink wink nudge nudge about this kind of thing but
it's something that has been showed in my face over the last 10+ years and
it's really not something I want to subject my son to, I don't want him to
feel like a second class citizen.

Mulligan

"Wilson" wrote in message
. com...

They aren't going after men - but at boys. Our sons. Our kids. Time to
make them pick on someone their own size.

The commercial that gets me is the ....I believe it's a Radio Shack
commercial which is offering picture phones, the dad comes in and offers his
2 girls the phones and announces that "now we can talk to each other as much
as we want" *crickets* then mom pipes up that "and....you can talk to your
friend all the time". BIG HUGS for mom and dad gets portrayed as some
ignoramus, stumbling and bumbling through raising his kids where mom is the
real brain.

I try to be mostly positive about gender and race wars, but it really seems
to me that the .....now don't get mad.....white male is really been put in a
position as of late as being the punching bag for everyone who might have
been discriminated over the years, and what's worse is there is outright
racism and gender bashing toward us guys on national TV and nobody is saying
anything about it. I can deal with it....I have to, but it seems to me that
this kind of thing doesn't promote harmony, only resentment.

Maybe I should be more wink wink nudge nudge about this kind of thing but
it's something that has been showed in my face over the last 10+ years and
it's really not something I want to subject my son to, I don't want him to
feel like a second class citizen.

For what it's worth, I, as the sole custodial mother of 2 children, am equally
offended by the cell phone commercial - though I believe it's Verizon, to which
I will NOT subscribe - I have a son as well, and would hate to have him treated
that way by his (sometime in the future) family.


Mulligan

In article , Wilson says...


They aren't going after men - but at boys. Our sons. Our kids. Time to
make them pick on someone their own size.

The commercial that gets me is the ....I believe it's a Radio Shack
commercial which is offering picture phones, the dad comes in and offers his
2 girls the phones and announces that "now we can talk to each other as much
as we want" *crickets* then mom pipes up that "and....you can talk to your
friend all the time". BIG HUGS for mom and dad gets portrayed as some
ignoramus, stumbling and bumbling through raising his kids where mom is the
real brain.

I try to be mostly positive about gender and race wars, but it really seems
to me that the .....now don't get mad.....white male is really been put in a
position as of late as being the punching bag for everyone who might have
been discriminated over the years, and what's worse is there is outright
racism and gender bashing toward us guys on national TV and nobody is saying
anything about it.
====
Well, some folks have been discussing this for years on ACS and have brought it
to the attention to manufacturers--unfortunately, it isn't just "of late." At
one time, I posted a list of father-friendly companies and those degrading men.
My belief is that if the genders in the commercial cannot be reversed without
degrading women, the ad is inappropriate. Believe it or not, there has been some
progress in this area--most notably with more commercials presenting dads as
nurturers. Volvo did this a few years back as did some airlines. But, the
commercials still need to be monitored and brought to the attention of
manufacturers when gender roles cannot be palatably reversed. The one I found
most offensive was the mother eating ice cream and hearing the dad choking in
another room. Rather than go check on him, she pushed the kitchen door closed
and smiled over her next bite of ice cream. Can you imagine the outrage if those
genders were reversed?
====
I can deal with it....I have to, but it seems to me that
this kind of thing doesn't promote harmony, only resentment.
====
We all must bring it to the attention of the companies committing the wrongs and
send notes of appreciation to those who get it right. BTW, I am mom, stepmom,
adoptive mom to 5 boys and we do notice these things. And, while certain
watchdog groups do speak out against other forms of offensive advertising, there
are few who speak out on behalf of men--Well, I had a round with our local
women's shelter about a letter to the editor they wrote for father's day. (If
interested is seeing how some of us handle these things, you can Google for
Letter to Editor, alt.child.support, gini or Gini52.)
====
====

Gini wrote:
In article , Wilson says...


They aren't going after men - but at boys. Our sons. Our kids. Time to
make them pick on someone their own size.

The commercial that gets me is the ....I believe it's a Radio Shack
commercial which is offering picture phones, the dad comes in and offers his
2 girls the phones and announces that "now we can talk to each other as much
as we want" *crickets* then mom pipes up that "and....you can talk to your
friend all the time". BIG HUGS for mom and dad gets portrayed as some
ignoramus, stumbling and bumbling through raising his kids where mom is the
real brain.

I try to be mostly positive about gender and race wars, but it really seems
to me that the .....now don't get mad.....white male is really been put in a
position as of late as being the punching bag for everyone who might have
been discriminated over the years, and what's worse is there is outright
racism and gender bashing toward us guys on national TV and nobody is saying
anything about it.

====
Well, some folks have been discussing this for years on ACS and have brought it
to the attention to manufacturers--unfortunately, it isn't just "of late." At
one time, I posted a list of father-friendly companies and those degrading men.
My belief is that if the genders in the commercial cannot be reversed without
degrading women, the ad is inappropriate. Believe it or not, there has been some
progress in this area--most notably with more commercials presenting dads as
nurturers. Volvo did this a few years back as did some airlines.

We had a discussion about this the other day with my honors class (have
been talking about gender roles in society lately as it has much to do
with literature from around about the civil war period). I brought up
"Finding Nemo" as a good example of a movie where Dad is not portrated
as a bumbling idiot or Satan -- although even then Nemo's father is a
bit neurotic and needs some "help" from a female in order to get his
relationship with his kid right. Then again, the helping female isn't
portrayed without flaws either (she is much more of a bumbling idiot
than he), so it's all good in my book. I liked that movie -- it's the
first one I ever took my son out to see in the theatre.

- Ron ^*^