A car was parked in front of a
public school in the San Francisco Bay Area, the epicenter of "gender equity." The care bore 
a bumper sticker, 
Girls Rule, Boys Drool" with a picture of a girl stomping on a face-down boy.
When I got home, I googled, "Girls Rule, Boys Drool" and there were 239,000 results, most of them text and 16,400 images. Here are some I found particularly interesting.
Imagine that you were the parent of a boy. How do you think you'd feel? He'd feel?
Your comments?
a bumper sticker, Girls Rule, Boys Drool" with a picture of a girl stomping on a face-down boy.When I got home, I googled, "Girls Rule, Boys Drool" and there were 239,000 results, most of them text and 16,400 images. Here are some I found particularly interesting.
Imagine that you were the parent of a boy. How do you think you'd feel? He'd feel?
Your comments?
I have two very young boys and when they see stickers or signs of that nature naturally ask, "Does that person really think that's true Daddy?",“Why would they say mean things like that?”,“We don’t think bad things about girls.” My wife and I have to show a modicum of restraint in attempting to explain why people think it's funny to bash boys and NOT girls without further contributing to the idiocy. I can’t even imagine the PC sh*t storm that would ensue if girl-bashing stickers, subtlety disguised as “cute” and “oh, it’s all in good fun”, were to suddenly hit the main stream. Pathetically, the double-standard has reached comical levels. Thank you for continuing to highlight the subversive, yet sadly acceptable, anti-male rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of a book that I saw at a gift shop in my neighborhood. It is part of a series of gift items.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, there is also a girl-bashing book by the same author, which I also saw at the same shop, but it appears there is not a corresponding series of gift items to back it up.
The company that makes these items, which was started by a man, is referenced in this 2005 article. Here's one of the opening lines from the article:
Bryan, who lives in suburban Detroit, isn't offended. The shirts remind him that boys are often disrespectful to girls. "We are stupid," he says. "Girls should throw rocks at us."
Sounds like he was joking. Maybe.
I have two teenage boys and one teenage girl. I find this sort of stuff reprehensible. (As I do the plethora of disrespect in the name of humor that is so prevalent.)
ReplyDeleteA little while ago I heard a local radio spot for something and it said "women rule the world." I will pay attention more next time so I can tell the business owner what I think of his (or should I say "her") marketing.
Yeah turn the tables on this stuff and the bovine excrement would surely hit the PC fan.
We've had to get used to the relentless male bashing but boys were somehow protected.
ReplyDeleteThen, as you say, Jeffrie, there was that "Boys are stupid. Throw Rocks at Them." tee shirt that raised a bit of a stir back in 2004 when it came out.
I would have thought it dissipated. It turns out, on the contrary, it has metastasized. As you indicate, many, many products, from many manufacturers now are emblazoned with it: "http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22boys+are+stupid%22&x=0&y=0
And when I googled, "Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them," there are 792,000 mentions of the term. I expected that many if not most of those mentions would be criticism but, in fact, the large majority are selling a product emblazoned with that denigration of and call to violence against boys or otherwise are supporting it.
That suggests it is no anomaly that the "Girls Rule" tee shirt and bumper sticker, which came out around the same time has proliferated, not just in the number of products, but as I've shown in the post, the extension of the message to far more vicious forms, and extending it upward to adult males. You'd think that women were doing all of the difficult and dangerous work.
I grew up while male bashing was coming into prominence. Luckily, my parents (my father, but even more-so my mother) had zero patience for this sort of drivel and the people who produce it...so I never internalized any of it while I was a boy. The truth is, there are a lot of stupid people out there, both men and women, and many of them spend a lot of time belittling others based on gender. These people are no-account nitwits, anyone who supports or excuses this behavior is also a nitwit, and all of them should be identified as such to our children and everyone else without apology. I haven't met anyone with an IQ over room temperature who would argue over this, and it doesn't deserve the dignity of further discussion. To me, it's actually much more of a concern for young girls than for boys: it makes women seem (and encourages them to be) insecure yet complacent, spiteful, and simple-minded -- in other words, it fulfills many of the negative stereotypes that feminism tried to dispel. This will harm the women who buy into it more than it harms men who have to listen to it.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, while I agree that stupid women can get away with this more than stupid men, I can't say that the motor bike shirts that say "if you can read this, the b*tch fell off" are any better...
Dear Dr. Nemko,
ReplyDeleteI have been a great fan of your blog and your podcast and your other works. Thank you for everything you do. I am a new father and a new husband. I was wondering if you could recommend some books on being a better father, husband and in general, a better man.
Thank you so much.
William
Here's another example, courtesy of Time's Ecocentric blog.
ReplyDeleteTitle: "Why Men Are Worse For The Planet." Really.
William, you might try http://www.amazon.com/Things-Kids-Need-Dad-Difference/dp/0736927239/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1298535088&sr=8-7.
ReplyDeleteBut if I had to reduce advice about how to be a good father:
1. Communicate with your wife about how to parent, so you have a united front.
2. No corporal punishment.
3. Parenting is difficult. Give yourself a break. Kids are resilient. As long as they know they can count on you to be usually consistent and on their side, it's okay.
4. What you do is more important than what you preach: e.g., re smoking/drinking, temper, violence, laziness.
5. Quality time matters more than quantity time.
6. Play with your kid. Be a kid yourself.
Book by Dan Abrams:
ReplyDeletehttp://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/why-women-really-are-better-at-almost-everything-q-a-with-author-dan-abrams-2460114/
So, the question is, how do we define "just about everything else". Are men only good at 10%, 20%, of "stuff", etc.?
I profoundly believe that men are as good or better than women at many if not most things. The bias of Mr. Leftist Abrams and of feminist researchers is clear. In such research areas, common sense must trump "data." I do believe that, on average, men are better spatially and lower-maintenance, psychologically.
ReplyDeleteMr. Nemko,
ReplyDeleteI myself would likely be classified by you as a "leftist". When it comes to the clear realization of the misandrist society in which we live I take a back seat to no one. Many times I have had to restrain myself from throwing a brick through the tv screen because of the program content of news shows, talk shows etc. As for Mr. Abrams, he is clearly a man with too much time on his hands. I really resent you assuming that all males with a left-of-center view of things automatically confer, knee jerk approval of a feminist movement that clearly has morphed into a female supremacist movement. Please refrain from doing so in the future