Does this cowboy make you think, “Yeah…he has a virility problem?”
Impossible standards are thrust upon women in society daily. The perfect body, the perfect Mom, the perfect Career Woman, the perfect homemaker. How you should and shouldn’t do things. Blah blah blah, right? Because of this web site and our building Bitch Rebellion, I am hyper-aware of all these impossible standards thrown at us. Today I was struck dumb (not easy in my pre-coffee state) of how this is done to MEN as well.
I’m preparing breakfast and turn on the TV. One of those commercials on a drug to help male “virility” is playing. I’m only sort of half aware, coffee on my brain. I look up after a few moments and was blown away by the young, drop dead handsome male they showed on the screen. To top it all off, the commercial used the ultimate American symbol of masculinity: The Cowboy. All tanned glory and going about his highly physical activities. The first thing I thought was “Wow…he is way too young and virile to need the virility drug. Or to be worried about his virility. Then I stopped thinking about it because I was, again, in a pre-morning coffee fog.
Later, after the coffee kicked in, after I put out a few fires and organized the day, I thought about that commercial. You could look at it and say, okay. Even the most masculine men can need some help. These drugs and the companies behind them fulfill a need: Helping men who need it perform sexually. When men can feel good and perform in this way both of us-men and women, benefit. Yes to that!
What disturbed me with the marketing behind the commercial:
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The marketing to younger men.
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The FEAR this company was marketing.
The commercial preys on a mans’ fear. He is competing with a next to impossible standard to measure up and perform to. Dude: You’re a stud. You’ll conquer the West and the woman just by taking this little pill. It’s like if I put Giselle one of those degrading “douche” commercials. Douche daily gals and you will be the ultimate beauty and smell so fresh and clean, just like Giselle. Don’t get me started on that one.
I’ll never forget what Dr. Christiane Northrup http://www.drnorthrup.com/ said during a speech she made. She said that the Women’s Fertility Industry is full of wonderful doctors, nurses and professionals. But it makes its money based on woman’s fear: that they won’t be able to have children. She did an internship at a Catholic Hospital and said “You couldn’t stop those 48 plus year old women from getting pregnant.” How many times have you heard the story of a woman who stopped trying to get pregnant and that’s when she gets pregnant?
This is the bottom line. Beware of the impossible standards thrust upon all of us, including men. We have enough to think about in our daily lives. We don’t need commercials, politicians, or fashion magazines “fearing” us into doing something.
© S Stevens Life Strategies
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