EDIT: I’ll put this disclaimer up top, since I think no one is actually reading my comments. I realize that sexist advertising does work, but I’m disappointed that it does. These ads stereotype men just as badly, if not worse than they stereotype women. I’m not sure why all you guys are raging at me so much since I’m on your side. Now if you’ll excuse me, apparently I have to go prepare to tear off some testicles and shave my head or something (thank you, commenters, for proving my point).
There was so much buzz about the Tim Tebow/Focus on the Family Super Bowl ad that it ended up being kind of anticlimactic. I’m fairly apathetic about football; I’m one of those people who dutifully watches all of the commercials and then leaves the room when the actual game is on. But Jesus Christ – are Super Bowl ads always this sexist or have I just not been paying attention?
This year was so bad that it was hard to narrow them down to ten. But here’s a showcase of what I consider the 10 most sexist ads from the 2010 Super Bowl:
10.
Hurrrrr Megan Fox in a bubble bath. Everyone ogles her and/or frantically masturbates. That has everything to do with a cell phone.
9.
Ha. He loves the tires on his car more than his wife. That’s funny, right? …Right?
8.
You know, I think this commercial is actually meta-sexist. It’s actually showing how fucking annoying it is to have men totally disregard your opinions because you’re a woman. Too bad Budweiser fails to recognize this in nearly all of their other commercials.
7.
Apparently even babies have stereotypical hyper-jealous girlfriends.
6.
Men are the ones who are strong and brave and have to do random silly crap for their obligatory wife, right? I didn’t realize Dove was originally just for women, but apparently I’m just not manly enough to recognize that.
5.
Yep, because two stereotypically hot women talking to each other sexily while one rips her clothes off has everything to do with web hosting. Not to mention it totally reduced Danica Patrick to nothing but a hot babe. I’m not a NASCAR fan, but it’s quite an accomplishment to be the first woman to win an Indy car race. Apparently that doesn’t matter when you have boobs.
…Ditto.
3.
God, women. They’re just so bitchy and demanding. They all make men do such tedious things like basic hygiene, and never, ever, ever have to do what her partner wants. I mean, psshhh, what relationships feature compromise? Instead you must assert that you want a fancy, manly car that obviously no woman would also want!
2.
All men like sports. All women like shopping. Men who do not conform to these strict gender roles are whipped, spineless, and girly, therefor buy our product. …Uh, what?
You know, I don’t know if women or men should be more annoyed by these commercials. At least my gender is being portrayed as the one who is trying to engage in thoughtful intellectual conversation. Men? Yep, you’re just all beer, sexually innuendo, and douche baggery. The problem is we’re supposed to see this sort of behavior as humorous – I mean, who would want to go to a book club?! Anyone with a Y chromosome must sympathize with that dude, and run out and buy some Bud Light. Oh, and women? Eh, they’re probably too busy drinking wine coolers or something, no need to advertise toward them.
I know there are probably going to be people who will say I’m taking this far too seriously. But you know what? These types of commercials are fucking annoying. It has become the norm to make fun of women as jealous, domineering, wet blankets whose goal in life is to whip men into submission and ensure they never ever have fun. We’re supposed to laugh at these and go, “Ha, his girlfriend is a bitch. Amen brother.” Why do people want to condone this?
Not only does it stereotype both men and women, but it effectively ignores women as consumers. These are targeted towards men, because obviously the Super Bowl is so pumped full of testosterone that anyone with a uterus runs away from all TVs screaming in fear. If it’s not a joke about a stupid girlfriend, it’s something pink and flowery that somehow assumes I want to lose weight.* Can’t we just…I don’t know, have gender neutral ads when gender neutral products are being advertised?
Sigh, I give up for now. I guess I’ll go paint my toenails and emotionally manipulate some men before I go to bed.
*If you haven’t done so already, you must go watch Sarah Haskins’ Target Women series on advertisement towards women. She’s hilarious, but the commercials are kind of depressing.
Purdue’s National Secular Service Day makes local TV news
The Society of Non-Theists at Purdue University have yet again made it to the local TV news, this time for their participation in National Secular Service Day!
1. They managed to say Non-Theists correctly this time, huzzah! No more non-thesises.
2. I give up on getting people to pronounce my last name correctly (though I find it amusing that she also almost messed up “Jennifer”). Remember: McCreight is always right. It rhymes.
3. Props to my fellow members for standing awkwardly in the background while I was talking, hehe.
4. Speaking of me talking, jeez my voice sounds low. I had a cold, shut up!
The comments WLFI’s website are positive so far, too!
Awesome, we need more people like him! (Jen’s Note: Uhhh, him?)
Some of the fraternity brats should do this too.
You will never get these frat pigs sobered up long enough to pick up after their own drunken orgies, good luck getting them to clean up someone Else’s mess. Thank you, society of Non-Theists, the world would be a better place with more good people such as yourselves!
Uhhh… okay, maybe not too positive towards the fraternities, but good for us!
WLFI summarized what we were doing pretty well. Eighteen members from the Society of Non-Theists went around the Chauncey Village neighborhood from 9am to 12pm picking up trash from sidewalks and business area. We weren’t allowed on the lawns of private property, unlike what the news cast said, which was kind of unfortunate. After Purdue’s awesome defeat of Ohio State Saturday afternoon and the insane partying that followed, so many places were completely trashed with beer cans and red solo cups strewn all over the grass. We tried to clean up what we could without trespassing.
Yeah, it was kind of gross sometimes. We had gloves though!
Walking back from class today, I was surprised by what a notable difference we made. Usually the remnants of a weekend remain for a while, but instead it was surprisingly clean. I was able to enjoy the beautiful fall colors without seeing Keystone Light cans mixed in with the leaves on the ground. Yes, we got positive news coverage for non-theists, but we also cleaned up the community. That’s what it’s really about. National Secular Service Day isn’t a publicity stunt – non-theists are always participating in some sort of community service, but no one ever hears about it and then they claim we don’t volunteer. By all participating on the same day, we show that you do not need religion to be an ethical person.
Purdue's National Secular Service Day makes local TV news
The Society of Non-Theists at Purdue University have yet again made it to the local TV news, this time for their participation in National Secular Service Day!
1. They managed to say Non-Theists correctly this time, huzzah! No more non-thesises.
2. I give up on getting people to pronounce my last name correctly (though I find it amusing that she also almost messed up “Jennifer”). Remember: McCreight is always right. It rhymes.
3. Props to my fellow members for standing awkwardly in the background while I was talking, hehe.
4. Speaking of me talking, jeez my voice sounds low. I had a cold, shut up!
The comments WLFI’s website are positive so far, too!
Awesome, we need more people like him! (Jen’s Note: Uhhh, him?)
Some of the fraternity brats should do this too.
You will never get these frat pigs sobered up long enough to pick up after their own drunken orgies, good luck getting them to clean up someone Else’s mess. Thank you, society of Non-Theists, the world would be a better place with more good people such as yourselves!
Uhhh… okay, maybe not too positive towards the fraternities, but good for us!WLFI summarized what we were doing pretty well. Eighteen members from the Society of Non-Theists went around the Chauncey Village neighborhood from 9am to 12pm picking up trash from sidewalks and business area. We weren’t allowed on the lawns of private property, unlike what the news cast said, which was kind of unfortunate. After Purdue’s awesome defeat of Ohio State Saturday afternoon and the insane partying that followed, so many places were completely trashed with beer cans and red solo cups strewn all over the grass. We tried to clean up what we could without trespassing.
Yeah, it was kind of gross sometimes. We had gloves though!
Walking back from class today, I was surprised by what a notable difference we made. Usually the remnants of a weekend remain for a while, but instead it was surprisingly clean. I was able to enjoy the beautiful fall colors without seeing Keystone Light cans mixed in with the leaves on the ground. Yes, we got positive news coverage for non-theists, but we also cleaned up the community. That’s what it’s really about. National Secular Service Day isn’t a publicity stunt – non-theists are always participating in some sort of community service, but no one ever hears about it and then they claim we don’t volunteer. By all participating on the same day, we show that you do not need religion to be an ethical person.
Video of my Creation Museum presentation
At long last, here’s the video of my presentation about my trip to the Creation Museum – yes, the one that Ken Ham is already blogging about. I do warn you, it’s long. My talk is about an hour and then there’s about 25 minutes of Q&A. The first couple minutes are a little rocky because I was kind of nervous, but then I get in my groove and I think it’s pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Overall I received very positive feedback, even from some of the theists in the room. As you’ll see if you watch the Q&A, Pastor Brent Aucoin of the Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette attended. He was nice enough to email me and ask if he could come to the event (of course he could!) and disclosed that he helped with the construction of the Creation Museum (and I can only assume he is the supporter that Ken Ham mentions in the post about my talk). He was very civil, and I thank him for that, but he did repeat the same creationist arguments that we hear over and over again. My favorite part is at the 1:09:00 mark. At the very least, watch it for my friend doing a literal *facepalm* twenty seconds later.
Though, the thing that made my talk totally worth it? My former Human Genetics professor (you can see her behind the Pastor) who’s 80-something, super liberal, intelligent, hilariously witty, a fan of Stephen Colbert, a non-theist, and a Holocaust survivor came up and shook my hand for about five minutes straight, saying how we needed more people like me who were brave enough to speak out against this stuff. Coming from someone I respect so much, that meant a lot.
Oh, and the tiny little blip about 50 minutes in isn’t us hiding something, it’s us changing the tape, haha.
More Indiana Fail: Rep Baron Hill
Baron Hill (D) is the US Representative for the 9th district of Indiana (south eastern Indiana). He recently had a town hall meeting on the health care debates, and someone recorded this troubling clip:
Hill, do we have to remind you what the definition of Representative is? You are a public servant elected by the people, not a dictator. You don’t get to do whatever you want. It’s not your town hall meeting, it’s our town hall meeting. We most certainly will tell you how to run your congressional office because you’re supposed to freaking listen to us! That is your job.
At least he was right about one thing: videos end up on YouTube and put him in a compromising position…because he was being a jackass and deserves to be in that position. Maybe instead of censoring everything, you should think before you speak, Representative.
(Thanks to Shawn for the news tip)
Chop Suey for Charity
Not sure why none of you suggested this one, but I thought it was the most hilarious pick. Keep in mind I’m embarrassing myself for charity. Enjoy the silly singing and complimentary boob jigglage.
Thanks Mark for the backup vocals.
(Sorry it’s not the full song…camera battery died right when it cut off =( )
This is post 25 of 49 of Blogathon. Pledge a donation to the Secular Student Alliance here.
Catholic Priest by day, techno singing Drag Queen by night
This is pretty much the best thing ever (from The Freethinker):
“THERE is much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Roman Catholic circles in the US over the recent revelation that a Catholic priest, Father Anthony (aka Vincent Capretta), is a drag queen who performs as Big Mama Capretta.
Not only that, the gay priest, from Columbus, Ohio, has a single that is currently No 25 on Billboard’s Club Play dance chart called “Big Mama’s House.”
Said Capretta:
It’s Big Mama, y’all! And I am no longer afraid to come out of the closet as a gay Catholic priest! … I am enjoying my life being who I am and who God intended me to be! Now let’s dance, y’all!”
Apparently Catholic Online is in a tizzy about this story, no surprise there. They’re saying he’s not a real Roman Catholic – he’s part of the Old Independent Catholic Church – so it doesn’t count at the Catholic church endorsing gay rights. Because that would be a horrible, horrible thing. Uh, okay. I actually think the world would be a better place with more drag queens, but we all know I’m a little strange.
Here’s the video for his song, for those of you who are interested:
(Thanks to Grant for the tip)
This is post 6 of 49 of Blogathon. Pledge a donation to the Secular Student Alliance here.
How to Make a Baby
Here, have a random cool video:
Via Womanist Musings
EDIT: Wow, I really need to figure out how to make the left column of my blog bigger so big photos and videos don’t completely engulf everything. Sigh.
Video # 6
Video # 5