Rant&Rave: Gender
RANT&RAVE – Bite sized stories about life, the universe and advertising, written by those in the thick of it.
Man oh man, it’s getting harder not to say the wrong thing on the subject – but I just started this sentence with something that might offend.
I’m all for gender equality, and this article is nothing more than a light-hearted discussion about what’s appropriate, and what should change…
Q. Is it wrong to say ‘GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN?’
I really don’t think so.
Do you?
If it was printed on a T-shirt, would anyone complain?
Well, apparently, it’s totally wrong to print: ‘BOYS WILL BE BOYS’.
So wrong, in fact, that Peter Alexander had to pull his boys range of PJs off the shelves because of complaints.
‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’. (genre ‘non-fiction)
The title makes a bold, unapologetic statement that we are different.
In fact, worlds apart!
So, is it an offensive title?
If it was called ‘Men and Women are from Earth’ would be a best seller, or even published?
It’s interesting having our differences.
It’s fun.
Let’s enjoy them.
Explore them.
Celebrate them.
Learn from them.
I recently said to my partner who wanted a night-in
“You just want to watch a chick-flick…?”
I instantly realised, I’d just done the movie equivalent of #LIKEAGIRL
‘What’s a ‘chick-flick’ movie…?’
Eat Prey Love?
Sleepless in Seattle?
La La Land?
The Notebook?
HELL NO!
Girls want to watch Blade Runner just as much as boys (probably to get closer to Ryan Gosling and not my ugly, dumb, belligerent ass).
Totally understandable.
Best to say nothing and just ‘Netflix and Chill’
Times have changed…
I remember when ‘online dating’ was a new thing – and it was really creepy!
Cut to 2018, and the creepy thing is someone in real life approaching you and actually ‘talking.’
This is the ‘real time’ world we live in, where the wrong words can be your last words. Online quotes are forever.
Fact. We ARE different.
We have different bathrooms.
I’m wondering why we still have a ‘dress’ as a symbol for women on a billion bathroom doors worldwide.
A dress? That’s a little yesterday.
Maybe that should change?
A man walking home in his suit and tie and briefcase saying “Hi Honey, I’m home” feels totally out-of-place in today’s world, as it suggests the man is coming home to a woman waiting for him.
What would sound even stranger is the PC version of that cliche:
“Hi Partner, I’m home. Are you also here yet?”
It’s better to just change the narrative altogether and leave the past behind us – and start a new dialogue.
There has always been a line that separates good and bad – a laugh from a cringe – a universal line that every person instinctively knows NOT to cross. Especially now.
So play nice boys and girls – and not exclusively in that particular order.
Gender equality is something to embrace moving forward.
It should be the next giant step for mankind.
Oh shit! Can we say that?
27 Comments
The leftards are ruining the world.
Amen.
All too often, outrage is feigned to take down an office foe. Plenty of itchy trigger fingers out there rn.
Context, including cultural context, is everything. “Girls just want to have fun” has very, and only, positive connotations – from Cyndi Lauper’s song onwards. But “Boys will be boys” is an expression that has been used by some to justify a whole bunch of negative behaviour, up to and including sexual assault and rape. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stanford-rape-case-father-writes-moving-open-letter-to-brock-turners-dad-a7071951.html
A better comparison might be to ask whether “Boys just want to have fun” would be offensive. I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question, but it’s a statement that doesn’t come loaded with the same baggage as “Boys will be boys”.
LOL ‘the left’ are ruining the world somehow in spite of extreme right regressive governments in UK, US and Australia?
That is the derangement that makes all this tedious ‘anti-pc’ posturing so absurd.
‘hi honey im home’ sounds precisely the same from whatever perspective since honey means anyone even your cat.
People seem obsessed with false equivalency to make a point. It doesn’t wash.
nobody is being “silenced”, just expected to raise their shitty game.
I’m sorry so now Campaign Brief has anonymous articles as well as anonymous comments?
If you don’t see the difference between ‘Boys will be boys’ and ‘Girls just wanna have fun’ then you really are the ignorant bellend you appear to be.
To build upon what Luke has already pointed out, the phrase ‘Boys will be boys’ is an insidious, apologist phrase that absolves men of having to take an adult’s responsibility for their actions, regressing them to the same level of maturity as a group of 8 year olds who just kicked a football through gran’s window.
And since you touched on the ‘men are from mars, women are from venus’ thing…can I make a respectful request? Please watch ‘Nanette’. It’s on Netflix. It will offer you another viewpoint, and potentially another way of looking at how we celebrate ‘difference’.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/gender-and-schooling/201403/the-danger-boys-will-be-boys
This is going to be great.
Clem Fords new book is called “Boys Will Be Boys”, read it and learn something you absolute dddddiiicckkkkhhhhheeeaaaadd.
Oh shit! Can we say that?
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/current-affairs-politics/Boys-Will-Be-Boys-Clementine-Ford-9781760632335
@ Pugwash
“LOL ‘the left’ are ruining the world somehow in spite of extreme right regressive governments in UK, US and Australia?
That is the derangement that makes all this tedious ‘anti-pc’ posturing so absurd.”
You use the phrase “extreme right” in the way you did, and THEN go on to talk about derangement? Oh my.
Such a crap, ignorant article. Surprised that it was published. No wonder there is no name attached.
I too miss the days when I could ride to the store on my penny-farthing and pick up a golliwog for only 3 shillings.
Gay marriage ruined everything.
Too right you are Ser Archibald.
If you ask me, bathrooms are nature’s proof that the good lord intended us to ride side saddle. Of course you can’t say that – the PC brigade would have me burned at the stake! If they hadn’t BANNED THEM.
So we can’t say, ‘Boys will be boys”. But it’s okay for every second female to reveal the outline of their muff in activewear. Never before have tensions been the sexes been so high, and never before has so much muff been exposed! Go figure
Active wear comment.
I’m disgusted you work in the same industry as me.
And appalled I might have once shared a meeting room, or an office with your sick mind.
Women can wear what they want, and as has been quite vocally discussed of late, it doesn’t mean you can rape them, or make derogatory comments about their genitalia.
Insane comment.
Responses, like yours below, prevent meaningful conversation that may change opinions.
“Clem Fords new book is called “Boys Will Be Boys”, read it and learn something you absolute dddddiiicckkkkhhhhheeeaaaadd.
Oh shit! Can we say that?”
Aggressive and unnecessary. Your response is just as bad as the arguments that come from the opposite side of the debate. hateful, angry and unhelpful
@Slightly confused…
“Never before have tensions been [sic] the sexes been so high…”
Men and women are unfortunately no longer seen as complementary, but rather competitors. The saddest part is that more often than not, the fuelling tensions are funded by taxpayers money. It’s the only hope bad ideas have in order to survive.
A long, but very interesting read: https://www.city-journal.org/html/modern-manhood-11823.html
“The voice that calmed the violence of manhood—namely, the female call for protection—has been consigned to silence.”
Let me clear it up for you.
The outline of a muff is not a loaded phrase that absolves an entire gender of taking responsibility for their actions. It is not something that people say off-the-cuff in order to minimise culpability.
It’s a muff. A vag. Fairly benign, in the grand scheme of things. Out of interest, are you also offended when men wear speedos? When a group of lycra-clad men race past on their bicycles?
Get a grip.
I just want to be offended because I like to look at babes in lycra.
Especially in Manly when I get off the ferry and change into my Speedos before heading to the Steyne for a Chambord.
Let the #OUTRAGE begin.
@Account Circus
Are we supposed to call governments who silence dissent, torture the poor and incite bigotry and sexism centrist? The ‘left’ are tired of being called extremists when actual nazis are being called ‘good people’. Wake up dingbat.
I think the boys are a bit confused by “Girls just want to have fun” because they can only imagine girls having one type of fun.
Wow, what a bunch of shit.
Do any of you have friends of the opposite sex?
Or did you all go to private, same-sex schools and not learn how to co-exist with people of another gender.
You should all be ashamed for screeching like a bunch of Galahs at someone expressing a view. Remember views? Yeah, once we all had differing views and discussed them civilly.
Grow the fuck up. Respect one-another. Gender isn’t a competition. Differences are to be celebrated. Gladly, I don’t think the same way any of you do, and I’m totally ok with that.
Fucking bunch of sissies why don’t you spend some time solving real business problems or doing proactive for a charity instead of holding pointless discussions on a blog about the shit most people try and ignore.
Is discontinuing a kid’s sweater stating ‘boys will be boys’ a bit far-fetched? Probably. As is anyone getting offended by the lyrics of ‘girls just wanna have fun’. But these examples are just symbolic of a world that is FINALLY opening up a conversation about the construct of gender. That certainly is a positive thing.
Traditionally it has been less a ‘difference’ and more a stark binary that has been upheld between the sexes to reinforce positions in society that are now outdated (casually omitting members of the LGBTIQ community). Girls are pretty. Boys are strong. Girls are domestic. Boys are academic. With a competent and necessary male and female workforce, and more men choosing to take up domestic roles, the way we talk about gender is changing, how cool! And yeah, it results in a neat sweater being discontinued by Peter Alexander, but oh well, all in the greater good.
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is a perfect example of archaic attitudes. My mum read it in the 80s. We have many differences, but so much more in common, and how cool that recent campaigns can remind boys that it’s ok to cry, or that ‘running like a girl’ makes you a force to be reckoned with.
I agree that there are overreactions. But these examples are minute and trivial in comparison to the negative force of outdated and restrictive gender roles, and the imbalance of power that has been the norm for centuries and longer.
I feel like I am explaining something that is universally understood and blatantly obvious to grown adults. Apologies. Under his eye.
If you can’t understand the difference between celebrating differences and giving men a free pass to discuss grabbing women’s pussy’s, punching girls, raping women behind a dumpster and worse, then you shouldn’t be working in communications.
Because its dangerous having people communicating to the public who can’t grasp something that simple.
I’m sure you’re annoyed the #metoo movement is happening, probably miss the 70’s where you could slap your receptionist on the arse without so much complaint!
Calm down, you’ve just accused an anonymous blog of sexual assault.