Sexist advertising on CFF?

[doublegee]

I'm female and I'm not offended. I just don't care. These types of games are just wanking fodder for teenage boys anyway.

No, teenage boys have porn for that.

Nobody actually plays those games. Not even teenage boys.

White 1st world males are the most privileged class in the world

Ummm no. It goes like this:

First-world females -> first-world males -> third-world males -> third-world females

the girls get Barbies and the boys get Lego.

They make Lego for girls now, you know.

Legos have always been gender-neutral, and have always been advertised as such, except for that weird "Paradisa"/"Belleville" phase.

 

[hoplitejoe]

Firstly the plural of Lego is Lego, Legos is stupid sounding.

There is like a thing on feminism and Lego here.

Link to video.

 

[Hygro]

Firstly the plural of Lego is Lego, Legos is stupid sounding.

Bollocks. "Legos" is a superior plural.

 

[Mise]

"Legos" sounds like a small child who hasn't learnt the correct plural of Lego.

 

[Kyriakos]

What gender is the legless lego legolas' lego lass?

 

[Hygro]

"Legos" sounds like a small child who hasn't learnt the correct plural of Lego.

Anyone who asserts what is "correct" regarding a relationship to lego has missed the true magic of lego.

 

[Mise]

So my understanding of the magic of lego is incorrect?

 

[Hygro]

So my understanding of the magic of lego is incorrect?

Legos

 

[hoplitejoe]

Legit question, do you refer to one lego brick as "A lego" then?

 

[Hygro]

Legit question, do you refer to one lego brick as "A lego" then?

Dunno, I don't usually talk about the singular pieces unless the conversation is already lego-centric, so I probably refer to one as a description of what kind of piece it is. Lego is often used as a prefix or a title of sorts, so like a lego guy or a lego piece or what have you. The plural designation "legos" usually refers to a sort of hybrid of an assortment of both pieces and categories of lego things.

 

[hoplitejoe]

Here you would only refer to a single piece of Lego as a Lego piece or Lego brick, so it makes sense that the plural becomes Lego bricks, rather than Legos. If you called one brick "a Lego" then I guess it makes sense to have Legos, despite how bad it sounds.

 

[Hygro]

Here you would only refer to a single piece of Lego as a Lego piece or Lego brick, so it makes sense that the plural becomes Lego bricks, rather than Legos. If you called one brick "a Lego" then I guess it makes sense to have Legos, despite how bad it sounds.

It doesn't make better sense, because not all lego objects are bricks, nor is there a good reason to not pluralize lego when referring to a collection of lego objects as having two words is so cumbersome that a slang term is preferable. Again, an assortment of lego pieces would be called legos because, again, the plural refers to a plural of a hybridized concept of both the pieces and the types of pieces fused into one plural called legos.

 

[Light Cleric]

While I agree that many/most households, the women do the shopping/laundry, etc., it seems in these adverts like it is a given that the "little woman" is always doing the housework. I know plenty of men who regularly do housework on a shared basis with their partners. Why, in a commercial, does it always have to be the woman in the kitchen with the mop? Why can't a man be shown scrubbing the toilet? Or the bathtub? Is it unmanly, or something? For that matter, why can't a woman be shown changing the oil or spark plugs on her car? I do it (because I got sick of being ripped off, and it doesn't make me any less feminine.) It's the assumed gender role that we object to. The portrayal of a woman enslaved in the house is offensive, that's all.

As for the stripperific clothing, you answered that one yourself. Yes it's sexist but:



You've made your own point, and I agree with it. The stripperific adverts are aimed at young males with (dubiously) disposable income. The household ads are the same. They're aimed at a demographic. I understand that, but if we're going to get all up in arms about the sexism here, we need to realize that other forms of sexism exist elsewhere, and they are just as offensive.

I'm not saying that I think I have the answer. I just have a different viewpoint. As a woman, the domestic adverts bother me more than the stripperific ones do. As a psychologist, the sexy ads here don't bother me. They're appealing to the natural human sexual response in young men (and gay women) and they are probably quite successful, which is why there are so many of these games about. They also may not bother me because I'm gay, I don't know, but it does bother me to think of myself enslaved in a house, expected to look after it. The cult of domesticity died with the Antebellum South, or at least the 1900's. Women are more than housekeepers and domestic workers in today's age, all I'm asking for is a little equality in the presentation.

Do you get the distinction?

I guess I do, but I just don't see it as "enslavement" in this day and age. Maybe it's a matter of gender perspective but I just can't imagine telling my future wife to stay home . I mean hey, if she wanted to be a housewife and later on stay home and raise the kids, that's her decision and there's nothing wrong with that because it ain't easy. My dad was a great provider and I know he loved us but in terms of actually interacting with/raising us my mom was basically both parents and I've always thought she had a way harder job than my dad did.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

You don't consider yourself a feminist??

It's a way of thinking not limited to X chromosomes, you know.

Besides, I thought that all Reds were de facto feminists? Perhaps there's a thread for that sort of question?

I have no wish to begin a polemic in this subforum or thread, but no, I don't identify as a feminist. I'm an ally of feminism, but since I'm not a woman, that's not a table I get to sit at. How can women escape men telling them what to do if men are telling them how to do that?

 

[danjuno]

Firstly the plural of Lego is Lego, Legos is stupid sounding.

There is like a thing on feminism and Lego here.

Link to video.

Look up "Feministfrequency: The Lego Syndrome" on Youtube.

 

[hoplitejoe]

Look up "Feministfrequency: The Lego Syndrome" on Youtube.

Never have I seen the point so well missed. There isn't even really an argument put against her, he just says repeatedly "but marketing says girls like this stuff so you shouldn't be able to criticise it" for most of the video. Of course she is aware of the marketing, and seeing as she is trying to break gender stereotypes, of course she wouldn't agree when one is reinforced, even if the marketing says girls say they want this. Good to see he treats us to an "Anita hates all men" even if it is slightly disguised. The quote "We focused in creating a play experience while heeding the way girls naturally build and play" isn't saying anything about how they made sets for girls according to him, obviously them heeding the way girls naturally build and play is just them looking at the "natural enjoyment of them building things".

I quite agree, the best way to fix her broken ******** ways would be to read some Dawkins.

 

[danjuno]

Never have I seen the point so well missed. There isn't even really an argument put against her, he just says repeatedly "but marketing says girls like this stuff so you shouldn't be able to criticise it" for most of the video.

He said there wasn't any point because they won't listen, because they're going to listen to their target audience rather than a social activist.

Of course she is aware of the marketing, and seeing as she is trying to break gender stereotypes, of course she wouldn't agree when one is reinforced, even if the marketing says girls say they want this. Good to see he treats us to an "Anita hates all men" even if it is slightly disguised.

And the multinational toy company still doesn't care. The video maker sounds more to me like he thinks she is hyper-focusing on minor issues or creating them where there is none.

The quote "We focused in creating a play experience while heeding the way girls naturally build and play" isn't saying anything about how they made sets for girls according to him, obviously them heeding the way girls naturally build and play is just them looking at the "natural enjoyment of them building things".

So you agree with the video maker then? AS was the one claiming the quote was referring to gender roles because he used the word "natural".

I quite agree, the best way to fix her broken ******** ways would be to read some Dawkins.

So you've run out of actual points to make and are resorting to calling him a neck-beard?

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I guess I do, but I just don't see it as "enslavement" in this day and age. Maybe it's a matter of gender perspective but I just can't imagine telling my future wife to stay home . I mean hey, if she wanted to be a housewife and later on stay home and raise the kids, that's her decision and there's nothing wrong with that because it ain't easy. My dad was a great provider and I know he loved us but in terms of actually interacting with/raising us my mom was basically both parents and I've always thought she had a way harder job than my dad did.

You can't fault a woman for being a stay at home mum. It's a noble calling, and I applaud those that do it. There's nothing even wrong with being a normal housewife without kids, if that's what a woman chooses to do. You go girl.

I guess what I mean by "enslavement" is society's expectation that the woman will look after the house. These commercials perpetuate that myth by always showing a woman in a domestic role. Rarely is man in this role, and if he is, he's being instructed by or set straight by a woman who knows more about the dishwashing liquid/floor wax/toilet cleaner. It's rare, but there are adverts once in a while that show a man doing domestic chores and he isn't a doofus, or forced into it by his wife. Those are nice to see. Even better is a commercial where the man and the woman are doing chores together.

It isn't the work that we get upset over. Everyone has to do housework. It's the unrealistic perception the adverts cause. They perpetuate a stereotype that is insulting to women. It's unnecessary and ridiculous.

Look up "Feministfrequency: The Lego Syndrome" on Youtube.

ROFL. Too darn funny! He made some very good points.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Sorry. Double post.

 

[ainwood]

At what point do I move this to off-topic?