Let's keep this stereotype.

The other day, I was watching a commercial for Boost Mobile. In the commercial, a couple is on a bike and the guy is riding behind the girl and what looks like her head hair at first is blowing in the guy's face behind her. Upon closer consideration, I realized that this woman had ridiculously long armpit hair! I'm talking armpit that reached her waist probably. It was completely ridiculous and gross and it was blowing in this guy's face! She mentioned how her armpit hair wasn't good and how hidden fees and cell phone contracts aren't good either and that's why she uses Boost Mobile. First of all, this commercial is completely gross. That kind of armpit hair on a man or a woman is out of hand. Especially on a woman who keeps clean shaven armpits typically. I think this commercial is going overboard a little on making their point about prepaid cell phones. Obviously, there is a stereotype that women don't have armpit hair and, equally, that a woman who does have armpit hair is some degree of disgusting. The Boost Mobile commercial exaggerates this stereotype by not only placing grotesquely long armpit hair on this woman but by placing her in front of a man on a bicycle and having that armpit hair blow in his face. The image is a little disturbing which, I think, was done on purpose as a way to get people to remember the Boost Mobile commercial. However, I don't think that women should stop shaving their armpits by any means. I think the ideal that women should have clean shaven armpits and legs is a good one and not a stereotype that should be changed. Perhaps maybe guys should shave their armpits too.

"Dad's a chick!"

As the creator of the ever popular show Family Guy, Seth McFarlane has a knack for exaggerating situations to poke fun at the standards in today's society. One particular episode entitled "I am Peter, Hear Me Roar," places emphasis on the typical ideas that people have about women. In this episode, Peter is forced to attend a women's retreat after making a joke about women to a female coworker who decides to press sexual harassment charges on him. After attending the retreat, Peter returns home with all the characteristics that are found to be typical in women, according to traditional ideas. From his exclamation that "Oh fudge! I broke a nail!" to arguing that The View be on for 3 hours per day, Peter is a walking stereotype. This episode is interesting in that Seth McFarlane highlights the stereotypes about women through Peter's extreme exaggeration of such characteristics. This is meant to be a comical presentation of these stereotypes in that they really do not exist in that form anymore. While it is typical for a woman to admire her newborn baby or to fight for equality between the genders, McFarlane takes it a step further when Peter attempts to actually breast feed his baby. Nowadays, women are not as emphatic about broken nails or daytime television nor do they walk around spouting about equality, at least typically. I feel that this episode makes an attempt to highlight these characters in a man for the purpose of emphasizing the difference between the genders. I do not feel that McFarlane is attempting to highlight the importance of equality in this episode, but that he is rather trying to emphasize the difference in typical gender characteristics. By going overboard with Peter' feminine traits when he returns home from the retreat, McFarlane makes it seem ridiciulous that a man or even a woman should be so emotional and oversensitive. The other female characters in the show are not as extremely feminine, especially Lois who is a housewife yet holds none of the bizarre feminine characteristics that Peter does after the retreat. McFarlane does make a statement about masculinity, however, when the episode ends with Lois getting into a fight with another woman and Peter is aroused at the sight and brings Lois home to bed. This makes a bold statement about men as being perverted and simple while simultaneously making women seem more sophisticated than what the stereoptypical ideas about women might suggest.

Super Bowl Commercial vs. O'Reilly

The O'Reilly Factor was on last night and when I tuned in, the topic of debate was a Super Bowl commercial and whether or not it was appropriate due to the gender messages contained therein. The commercial was one that showed a company office with a boss and subordinates. A scene shows the boss throwing a snow globe into one of the employees' crotches. This commercial was supposed to be hilarious and sends a classic message about hitting a man in the crotch, his weakest point. According to O'Reilly, this commercial was not at all appropriate. He said that it would not be appropriate if the boss were to throw a snow globe into a woman's crotch, so it shouldn't be okay for them to show him throwing one at a man. Another debater on the show last night came in to say that it is just fine to show the boss assaulting a male worker rather than a female because females are the weaker sex. O'Reilly came in then to say that if women are, in fact, the weaker sex, then they should not be cabinet members or run for office. They should just stay home and bake cookies all day. This particular episode of the O'Reilly Factor got me really fired up last night because O'Reilly is awesome! He completely said everything that I wanted to say regarding the commercial and fully demonstrates that in today's world, men and women are equal. It is not appropriate in any situation to assault a person in the manner shown in the commercial whether that person is a man or a woman. I think this particular converstaion on the O'Reilly Factor, a show about politics, makes an even larger impact in that O'Reilly wasn't simply discussing politics. He was discussing daily media and its impact on politics, in this case, regarding gender. He makes a bold statement about the equality of men and women in politics and society in general which I think is a big win in today's world.