Although I hate to promote Dove (or any other product, for that matter) this video says a lot to me, and I felt it was worth commenting on.
There are so many societal connotations that come out of this.
What is "real beauty"?
Women are constantly shown that the "end product" is important, what we look like is more important than what we think, how we act, or what our views are. And yet, feminists get cast into a bad light, or are equated with being automatically lesbian or bisexual. Now, I am not saying that is an insult, but that it is unfair to say that people fighting for equality and rights are just doing so out of sexual preference, or a dislike of men.
I consider myself a feminist because in being a socialist seems to require it of me. I believe in equality, fairness, and social justice. This leads automatically to the belief that a woman has a right to choose what to do with her body; that a woman has the right to earn the same wage doing the same work as her brothers; that women are not only meant for taking care of the house and children. If the amount of "free" labour women do-raising children, cleaning their respective homes, and doing general household chores-was actually added as a part of the GDP or of hours worked by Canadians...
Anyway, the point is that women have come a very long way in our fight for equality-but it is not over yet.
There are still women who are victims of sexual and physical violence, the most likely group to be below the poverty line are young single mothers. Equality is something that everyone should strive for-men included. I am not saying that men do not get a share of the stereotypes, or are not victims of abuse themselves-rather, that due to a patriarchal system...women do get the short end of the stick.
In the political arena, we need look no further than the disproportionate amount of men vs women in parliament, the monies being slowly siphoned away from childcare, women's funding, and affordable housing. While these issues affect all working people, they again disproportionately affect women because of our inherited role of care-giver. There comes a point where a woman will put her child before anything including herself, effectively shielding her child from any sort of harm or discomfort she can, irregardless of the consequences for her own safety and health.
It is time that glass ceiling is smashed for good; time for women to stand up for their rights-for their basic human rights around the world. The power we have together is absolutely incredible.
Imagine this solidarity-this sisterhood-shown at a higher level. Anything is possible if we remain united.
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4 comments:
Excellent post. That movie has it's message right. Of course, coming from Dove it's just a shallow marketing ploy (the guys who own Dove also owns the company that runs TAG body spray and those sexist commercials they have). But it's the thought that counts.
Sorry, I was mistaken. Unilever, Dove's parent company, doesn't own TAG, it owns AXE. Same difference.
which would be why I hated using it...but, if you took the "shallow marketing ploy" (which it is) out. It really does say a lot about societal views of women.
Although, it is ironic that Unilever would have Dove commercials and AXE ones running right after each other. Very different "messaging". Ah, the power of advertising.
I'm sure you are aware of the new so called scientific research on what is beauty. The studies say beauty is universally symetry. If your features are symetrical, you are beautiful. Where is there symetry in nature? Who funds these studies, plastic surgeons and cosmetic companies?
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