10.03.2008

women r teh roxxorz, sez media



One thing that I've noticed that's prevalent on television commercials is a subtle shift of the appearance of superiority.

Basically: the woman remains the domestic housecleaner, but is the "wise" one about housecleaning. Commercials display the husband and children as helpless, dumbfounded and unable to guess what it would take to clean up a mess or cook a meal; along comes the youngish, short-haired, capris-wearing modern wife who "solves the problem" with the featured product.

Thus results a pretty solid stereotype now in commercial media: men are silly and dopey, women know best.

Which is fine.

Except that it still rings of patriarchy. It's almost as if the ruling apparatus is saying, "Here, have your illusion of superiority, your vapid You Go Girl! moment... your minor success is fine with us as long as you don't notice that you're still being kept in your domestic place."

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