My principle objection to this bit of moralizing from Gillette is its lazy “round up the usual suspects” quality. The great social problems in America, those relating to the [two] sexes, do not stem from boys letting other boys fight, or from some boys calling other boys “sissies,” or even from men making humorous grabs at women’s posteriors. The problem — the real, serious problem — is that we pretend that men and women are or should be the same.
The very people most responsible for establishing and maintaining our broken status quo will applaud Gillette’s message. But the better message from Gillette would have been something like this:
Men, ladies aren’t men, and you can’t go treating them like men. Treat them like ladies, with the respect and protection due weaker, more vulnerable creatures. Admire them, be gentle with them, watch your language when you’re around them, and do the heavy lifting so they don’t have to. They’ll appreciate you for it. Oh, and they’ll appreciate good grooming, too, so choose Gillette.
That would have been a bit of preaching I could have gotten behind.
John Racette says:
Gillette makes women’s razors, too. Now I don’t know what to think.