Meat + masculinity = BFFs
I generally love RedEnvelope for their nice gifts (though a bit overpriced), yet this made me laugh out loud. Of course the picture of their monogrammed branders (of your monogrammed choosing) has to be of "son" and "dad." Because there's nothing manlier than doing some grillin' some steak and branding your manliness into the meat.
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Because they expect my daughter will only eat a sprig of parsely and an egg white? In fact, my pink-loving, girly little daughter is also a broad-shouldered battering ram. I don't know what kind of fussy eaters my kids might be, but it's a good bet that at 13 she'll come home from Brazillian Jiu Jitsu class with sweat dripping from her Gi, point to the biggest, gnarliest slab of sirloin on the grill and say, "that one's mine. Leave it bleedin'"
They learn from us, now, how they're allowed to perform gender. If we tell them it's constraining, it will be. If we tell them it's a la carte, it won't.
I think that's a cute idea... wish they had a Dad and Daughter set, my dad is a great grill chef and he's been teaching me a little every time i come home from college... I love cooking on the grill.
Yes they must have deliberately not made "Mom" and "Daughter" sets foregoing all the potential profits just to shaft women.
Here is a thought, let's attack the culture that made it less likely that female oriented bbq sets would make money, the culture that makes dads pass on certain traditions only to sons, etc; not the retailer who is trying to make a buck and not a statement.
Based on the many posts here at Feministing that have examined the societal attitude that eating meat is "masculine" while eating salads is "femininine" by focusing on various commercials and pop culture references that perpetuate this dynamic, I think it's fairly clear that it IS the cultural aspect that Vanessa is attacking here.
"not the retailer who is trying to make a buck and not a statement."
Um. What? So we can't comment on and criticize companies who clearly use sexist stereotypes to sell their stuff? Really?
We can no longer demand that companies take responsibility and STOP selling sexist crap? Really?
You do realize that this is part of the culture that perpetuates sexist stereotypes and ideals, right? That this culture you speak of isn't independent of consumerism, but instead a part of it?
I mean, we recently criticized company calendars that glamorized violence against women and slavery. Should we just shrug and go, "Oh well, they are just trying to sell shit and promote their company. It's not their fault, it's the culture!!!!!!"
Ugh.
And I don't actually think that this particular product is sexist, or their advertisement is (at least not intentionally) since it's something you can customize, but I do think it's kind of far-fetched to say that we can't criticize about a company that sells sexist products.
Just to clarify what I was actually commenting on.
Yes that's exactly what I'm saying: "You're not allowed to say this." clearly. I'm certainly not saying that it's unfair to go after those entities which subsist on a system before going after the system, no not at all.
Also it is specious to call a "father/son" marketing device sexist in this context. If they are simply trying to maximize profit without regard to gender then they are not being any more sexist than companies which make shoes marketed towards women are being homophobic/transphobic for not making those same shoes in larger sizes.
If this reply came of as asinine or pedantic it was purely by intent, just as your "Um" thing came of as degrading by intent.
Do they make mother/daughter, father/daughter or mother/son sets? If so, there shouldn't be a problem.
If meat is for men, they can keep it! Maybe women live longer because society pressures us to eat less meat? Fine by me.
Ha-- to be fair, at $80 for three letters, daughter would have cost nearly $200. But I see your point.
Ha-- to be fair, at $80 for three letters, daughter would have cost nearly $200. But I see your point.
I went to the Red Envelope site and was immediately turned off by the "him" and "her" gift sections. That really ticks me off.
I think saying websites shouldn't have "his" and "hers" sections is a bit silly. The gendered divisions just make the gifts easier to sort through, and the gifts are generally divided very logically. On Red Envelope, for example, the "For Her" gifts include women's jewelry, women's sized robes and pjs, jewelry boxes, etc. And the "For Him" section includes things such as cuff links, men's sized robes, money clips, etc. So I think it's taking feminism a bit too far to say that shopping websites should no longer have gender categories. Who would want to have to sort through twice as much stuff to find a gift for someone?
The problem with "his and hers" sections is that usually "hers" gets stuck with all the frilly gifts -- like bath gift sets and frilly slippers -- and the "his" gets all the tools and watches. I can't say anything about Red Envelope, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was mcuh different from typical "his and hers" gift sites. Sure, it makes it easier to sort through, but it still perpetuates sexist stereotypes by assuming that only men want power tools.
And wouldn't it be just as easy to organize and sort by gift type, rather than the "sex" of the gift? What makes a power tool "his" instead of "hers"? Why not just put it under "power tools"? And robes under robes, with a sub catagory for men and women sizes? Same with slippers? Why the need to seperate entire sections of gifts into "his and hers"??
I've been doing some shopping through furniture and housewares sites aimed at children and teenagers lately (what can I say, I'm a sucker for bright colors and simple lines) and the gender divisions border on the ridiculous. Boy's furniture is black or brown, girl's furniture white. Primary colors are for boys only, apparently, and even pop culture and nature themes are divided along gender lines. On the Pottery Barn Kids site, for example, girls get polka dots, flowers, and birds while boys get sports, zoo animals, and a monopoly on all of the licensed merchandise, including Star Wars and comics characters like Batman and Spiderman. Anything approaching gender neutral is regularly labled masculine. And on most sites there is no way to view the entire company's product line as a whole, with the option of then selecting a gendered view, once you're stuck into a gendered slot there is little to no indication that other options exist.
even at the height of my meat eating...
Ew
comes to mind.
I don't want words branded into my food- ew
there is something really icky about that.
and yeah, gendered gifts and gift catalogs ought to be a thing of the past by now.
Hmm... Jan Svankmajer's Meat Love, anyone? ;D
Yeah, I didn't notice the grossness of branding your name/ words into your food (maybe because I'm a vegetarian & feel more distanced from meat?) but you're right,there is something rather ...icky about that...
As Vanessa was careful to say in the post, it's not a "dad" & "son" set. They're selling custom, three letter brands. "Daughter" wouldn't fit on a brand. She seemed to pointing more to the accompanying photo, with the "dad & son" example.
As Logrus said, this seems to be pretty far down the list of cultural tendencies (men & meat) whose expression is bothersome.
You stole the words right out of my mouth.
I suppose there wouldn't be such an outcry if it was "Mom / Son" in the picture. Other than that, I don't know what they could've done with 3 letters which would've been universally familiar.
well vanessa didn't say "let's boycott these sexist assholes and send them to hell" she said "this made me laugh out loud."
obviously we've all seen things that are much more sexist than this, that's why this was a casual post.
If they need a three letter word to fit on the brands how about "Mom", "Dad" and "KID"? Then you could use it for either a son or a daughter.
"Kid" isn't generally a personal title. Why would anyone call their child 'Kid'.
There's no way I would spend 80 bucks on something that said "kid".
"Mom" "Dad" "Sis" and "Bro" could work, but I know that for many families "Sis" and "Bro" wouldn't work for single children.
Please make a list of a variety of "cultural expressions."
Order the list from "stuff thetestosteronewars considers to be worth making a fuss about" all the way down to "stuff that isn't significant enough to warrant a post a feministing/humanist analysis."
I want you to take a red magic marker and draw a border line at the point on the list where you believe the cultural expressions have really dipped down into "don't merit discussion."
And then explain your reasoning.
This is the exercise I perscribe to you and all your "It isn't FGM, for god's sake; isn't there something more important to compain about?" kindred.
Because we all know that there's either Genocide-World Peace-Sex Slavery on the one hand or Pantene adverts and gendered steak brands on the other. And we're incapable of giving attention to both/all.
If you take issue with everything that you possibly see as even the smallest slight to women's rights then you become the person who is crying wolf. Also, it gives off the impression of anger and self importance when you approach people who mean you no ill will criticising them for their actions.
So, when you pay attention to every issue no matter where it falls on some sort of 'spectrum of importance' you harm the overall goal that you are setting out to achieve.
Sweet!
I'm going to get one that says PETA.
How about one that says "MOO"?
But... but... that's awesome... *puppy dog eyes*
I'd probably get one that reads "NOM" and then stamp it repeatedly, with the first iteration having the 'n' cut off, reading: OM NOM NOM NOM...
"NOM" is awesome! My sister and I bought one of these for our stepdad some time ago. I believed we ordered, "YUM." Other possibilities included, "WTF," "OMG" and "LOL."
If your mom is a griller, also consider that "MOM" can double as "WOW" (depending on the font). So you get 2 for 1!
"MMM" would be great too...which is what I'm thinking by looking at the photo (I hope it's rare).
Yeah, I don't think it was intentional -- looks like it was just the easiest, three-letter full word they could use that would be recognizable.
yeah, except in this context virtually nothing is accidental.
Recently, I've been really into the work of Carol J Adams who writes about feminism and vegetarianism. I can't recommend her books enough. She links the factory farming system and the consumption of meat to the objectification and abuse of women.
I loved both The Sexual Politics of Meat and The Pornography of Meat - though the second it a little more accessible.
Am I the only one who totally loves this concept? Now if they would only put "DAD" and "SON" on a set of dishes and a bottle of Dawn, then we could have both the cooking AND the cleaning re-gendered away from me. Williams-Sonoma, are you listening?
If only!
Wow, I can't believe how many people are quick to say that they want these for themselves. Yeah, there is definitely NO relation between how animals are treated in our society (particularly FEMALE animals) and how women are treated....not at all...
Now I wonder if these branding irons could be used for vegetarian grilling. Maybe if an eggplant was sliced lengthwise instead of crosswise...?
Agreed. These are really disgusting, and (intentionally) invoke the branding of living bodies, something which is/has been done to animals to show 'ownership' and to women and racialized people to demonstrate male/white dominance and to emphasize the 'subhuman' social status of the latter groups. Not merely consuming the bodies of killed beings, but also reenacting a ritual of 'possession' through the infliction of scarring -- this appeals to some sick tendencies in the human psyche.
I'm a white male who enjoys eating steak - I guess I'm a bad person who secretly wants to dominate black people and women.
I guess when I cook meat on a grill, the grill lines are a symbolic representation of how I believe in the slave trade and captivity of africans and other ethnicities (since they CLEARLY invoke "bars", symbolic of jail).
I wonder what you are like in person. Would you like to meet for coffee sometime?
Jeebus, James, why don't you make it all about you?
For heavens sake - what is wrong with you all?
With all the problems we have in the world right now you instead look around for ANYTHING no matter how TRIVIAL in order to 'justify' your deep seated need to portray yourselves as victims of those 'nasty men'. I suppose you were equally pissed off over all those "Boys are stupid throw rocks at them" T-Shirts that were being marketed to young girls not long ago? No - you say - that was 'different' you say - really? Get real sisters - if we want to break out of just being known as hard core circle jerkers then we really have to raise our game and stop playing the victim when we are anything but! Get some self respect and stop apologising for being female - resenting masculinity is a key symptom of insecurity within ones feminine psyche and the smart anti-feminists know this all too well. It is one thing to selectively 'expose' rabid e-mails from the dumber end of the anti-feminist spectrum - but there are too many like Glen sacks for example who would eat any one of us in here for breakfast had we the guts to take them on in honest debate. If we don't stop preaching this message of resentment and bitterness we will be trapped and doomed to be branded intellectual cripples by the wider community that we ultimately want to influence.
Heh. Your rant makes little sense, Julia, but you might want to search the site before making assumptions about what's been covered.
there are too many like Glen sacks for example who would eat any one of us in here for breakfast had we the guts to take them on in honest debate.
Um, yeah. All I've got to add is speak for yourself. Sister.
But there can't be 'mom' and 'daughter' brands. Because good women are dutiful self-flagellators who identify so deeply with bred-for-purpose animals that they would never think of spending money on selfish things like personal nutrition. Good women undergo breast augmentation so they can appear in PETA ads.
In short, I am so through with the virtuous women = grass-fed cow formula that hits us from so many fronts, 'progressive' ones as well as those traditionally misogynistic.