It isn't like that is a moving target either, where if the other 95% managed to get that rate, the 5% wouldn't now get paid more. (Such as via inflation)
I liken this to the "nothing to wear!" Cliche'. You know the one, where the attractive young woman opens her bedroom sized walk in closet, filled with 500 pairs of shoes, and enough female attire to clothe a whole apartment building. It's just that all *those* clothes were old fashions, and now she simply can't wear them!
Oh, the poor, poor dear! How she suffers! She has to settle for something less glamorous than her fickle ideal of the moment! How tragic!
Yes, my bias and sarcasm are showing.
Both are a part of something I have noticed for a long time, and which I call "Pink Aisle Madness." It might be a wholly US thing, but when I say "Pink Aisle", THIS is what I mean:
Items in the pink aisle almost totally and nearly without fail, appeal to a hyper-fantastic ideal that revolves around having the very best, all the time, and that *this* is what being an attractive young lady/woman is all about. Life lessons!? phhht! No way-- it's about the glamour of being a doctor, like Doctor Barbie,
who shows up to work in a labcoat that is useless for doing any kind of medical examination in despite what
REAL female doctors ACTUALY deal with-- (how else can barbie afford to go on endless shopping trips if she isn't making bank with that glamorous doctor job, where she can show up to work
in a pink satin labcoat covering a lacy pink tutu?--I am fairly sure that she did NOT buy that ensemble at
a normal healthcare supply chain. Where did she get it from then? Maybe an adult novelty store? More importantly, would YOU trust a doctor that shows up to work in a tutu?) Even if we dont bag on Barbie (despite her iconic perch), basically everything in the pink aisle plays up the fantasy aspects of the themes and messages of their respective products, and do not give a realistic view of what those things actually mean-- Take for instance, the "motherhood" theme. Being a mom sucks. It sucks A LOT. Diapers are stinky, gross, and never ending. A crying baby will harry even the most steadfast of souls when they are sick. Do any of these products give a more realistic depiction of this? No-- They focus on the "Oh, isn't the baby cute!!" and "Such a good mom!" messages. Dont even get me started on the clothing and shopping messages, or the messages about ideal boyfriends, or the fantasy of married life, or
how gendered toys and their distorted messages can screw up children's worldviews permanently.Japan is notorious for its cutsy-pooh ideals for its young women. It is very deep into pink aisle madness type delusion territory. The "I can only date the top 5% of income earners for my ideal perfect life fantasy that I have been promised since infancy!!" is a direct reflection of this.
Being "A woman" is not about the pink, the makeup, the clothes, the perfect homelife, or any of that shit. Being "A woman" is about dealing with all the difficult things that happen in a domestic setting, and being adaptive and intelligent in resolving them without introducing even more drama. If you want the ideal mother, it is a woman who has universal love for their child, despite their diapers and screaming, and works to assure that their child is prepared for the world. (the REAL world, where there are bad things and bad people.)
The problem is that actual femininity does not sell products. Psychological signals based conditioning sells products. Pink packaging-- girls wear pink-- you aren't pretty if you aren't caked in makeup-- Your value as a woman is dependent upon your ability to stand out as the center of attention-- your boyfriend needs to be a plastic metrosexual with endless cash to bring you happiness-- all very dangerous and WRONG messages: Routinely and shamelessly dispensed by the pink aisle.
Instead of TELLING girls what they should be, from a young and impressionable age-- ASK them what they want to become, and give them opportunities to experience those things to better actualize as actual people?
No-- that is much too hard in this modern world-- and if everyone did that, who would buy Barbies? /s
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Topic: Culture Wars - debate and discussion (Read 18459 times)