From the harpy's perspective

Several of my friends -- male and female -- were taken aback by the Super Bowl commercials this past weekend. In what felt to me like a significant shift in the culture*, advertisements informed women (and reminded men) that women exist to cut off men's balls. Men are wearing skirts they've become so emasculated. They're seething masses of blank-eyed rage, holding on to sanity and civilization only because they have the chance to unleash their beast-within via the socially-accepted horsepower of a Dodge Charger. They're tackling their mothers to thank them for not aborting them.**

There was a stunned silence after the Dodge Charger ad at our party. I imagine it was me or someone like me who finally trilled, "did that seem really weird and angry at women?" The whole room nodded. It is this rage that upsets me, not the stupid advertisement itself, the porny nonsense of GoDaddy.com, or the plethora of ugly dudes in underpants. There was a socially sanctioned orgy of misogyny on TV Sunday night, and I think it's a far more dangerous trend for women and men than even one poorly produced and written spot for Focus on the Family.

These ads associate civilization with women and discontent. We are vampire-show watching sexless nags who live to spend and cannot brook dispute or competition. We demand incessantly and are never satisfied. Life is misery for men, it seems, and women are the problem. Marriage is a burden, sex a necessity, and love secondary. We make them take out the trash when what they'd rather do it wallow in it (see GoDaddy.com?).

Just as disturbing are the images men face when watching these ads. In the creepy baby e-trade commercial, men are shown to be cheaters while still in diapers, with carping unattractive fishwives battling over them. "Who you calling a milkaholic?" Men are bored, they are told, they are miserable, and have no joy in their lives except for fast cars and somebody's else's breasts. At least they can be pantless in their office fantasies. It is a miserable fate for all those involved. I would say "at least it's just the heteros," but even the gays are allowed some self-loathing when Megan Fox sends pics of her dewy self over the internet. Nobody wins.

I get nervous when men are given a sanctioned, televised reason to despise and resent women. This is how domestic abuse gets hidden, and this is how date rapes become normalized. Hysteria? Maybe. I'm sure my womb is off-a-wandering again. In short, I think these ads were poorly designed, tone-deaf, and not funny, which is what we all expect from our Super Bowl. I'd like to think Madison Avenue dropped the ball on this one, but I think we should make ourselves aware of what the zeitgeist is up to around us.

*I've had other friends insist that this is standard operating procedure for football games. Not on my watch, I say, but I will admit that I'm not all-knowing. Big of me, I know.

**This is a separate post. I'm still angry at both sides on how the Tebow ad was handled. NOW came off looking like a bunch of out-of-touch harridans (yet another post) and the ad ended up being hugely ineffective and actually, a bit odd.