Lotsa photos below the cut. Slow connections beware.
Stolen from Shakesville: The Man Game. “May the best man win!” “Warning: women can play, but they better not win!” Exciting speculation in the comments about what kinds of sexism will be evident in this game is appreciated.
The Man Card! For those of you who can’t see images (those of you who can can skip the rest of this paragraph): the Man Card is like one of those frequent-customer reward cards where they punch ten holes in it and then you get ten dollars off, except instead of purchases you earn points for drinking whiskey, stopping purse snatchers, building a log cabin, surviving a rattlesnake bite, smoking a pipe, rescuing a kitten from a tree, earning a huge face scar, killing a twelve-point buck with a bow, growing an epic beard, carrying a buckskin knife, learning to weld, entering a lumberjack contest, hiking the Appalachian trail solo, rebuilding an engine, and being 1/10 as manly as Steve McQueen.
I really like the “ha ha only serious” aspect. “Look! We are so exaggerated! Men are actually supposed to be tough and violent and rescue people and do manual labor, but the fact that it’s a card is hilarious!” Also, I find the deliberate historicity of it interesting: manly men do things like pipe-smoking that no one except Noah Brand has done for decades. I think it ties in to the “end of men” anxiety and anti-feminist backlash– in the past there were Real Men, but now we are all sissy boys.
Hat tip to Sociological Images for the next couple images.
“Boys can play out their favorite airplane adventure with the new Imaginext Sky Racers.” Because, of course, all boys like airplanes, and no girls like them. I find the “boys like vehicles!” thing almost as pointlessly gendered as the “men hate vegetables!” thing. I mean, what?
…Or, you know, we could have boys AND girls like Spider-man AND Disney Princesses, because they’re both objectively awesome.
Things boys like: space, possibly the military (?). Things boys hate: magic, mazes, palaces, the color pink.
Boys are trouble! The patriarchy has contempt for men: sure, “boys will be boys” offers a certain amount of freedom for boys to get in trouble that girls don’t really have, but only because boys can’t be expected to do better. Fucking sucks for everyone.
Awwwww. Because I refuse to leave you with nothing but sexist shit, here’s a little boy playing with a kitchen set with a little girl.
Is it just me, or does “Pink Palace” sound like a euphemism for vagina?
Also, what’s the use of booties that say “trouble” on the BACK? By the time they’ve passed you’ve already found that out.
I’m not sure what’s obviously sexist about the ‘trouble’ slippers. Blue is traditionally a boy’s colour, but not as obviously as pink is for girls. I think it’s just gender neutral enough to be cute. I’d buy a pair for my stepsister’s new daughter.
I have done… exactly zero of those things. Probably, anyway, as I have no idea who Steve McQueen is, but since I don’t have any interest in emulating so-called paragons of manliness, I don’t care enough to google him. Apparently I’m not a real man then. Good to know.
There are 3 items on the Man List that I have ticked off, and consider myself rather good at. Cat rescue, engine rebuild, and welding.
But considering I was between 10-12 years old when I first performed the items, I’m pretty unsure as to the “manliness” required therein… 😉
I thought the man card was quite funny 🙂 Ever been to beardly.com ?
I can’t even grow a beard. Hell I don’t even have underarm hair or chest hair, but I’m still a man. I present my own “Man” card instead:
THINGS YOU MIGHT BE DOING IF YOU’RE A MAN!
“Being Rad To Other People”
How is the last picture sexist?
It isn’t:
Ahh makes sense, thanks. Brain no worky today lol.
I don’t think the kitchen pic is sexist, but I also didn’t think the vitamins, toys, or booties were sexist. If I did have a problem with those others, then I might have also noted that in the kitchen pic: * The kitchen is blue. (What, a toy has to be blue for a boy to play with it?!) * There’s a girl in the picture. (What, two boys can’t play with a toy kitchen?!) * The boy is wearing a blue shirt. (More blue?!) * The girl is wearing a pink shirt. (Why isn’t she wearing blue, too?! What’s… Read more »
The Man Game is very real and, even ignoring sexism, looks lame.
Actual product description:
A game MEN will REALLY want to PLAY! A game of chip pitching, knot tying, football flicking, head scratching, chest thumping man fun! Playing is as easy as opening the box and drawing a card –because real men don’t read instructions.
– Best looking man goes first.
– Draw a card and begin playing.
– Have fun. No fighting.
– Last man standing wins.
I think both the gummies, and the maze/space ones aren’t sexist on their own. They don’t say anything about boy/girl, they just have SPACE! and MAGIC! I mean its obviously gendered marketing, but its only gendered because boys and girls have been trained by society to like different things already, creating (or leading the marketers to believe their are two) two demographics: The pink, fairy tale loving kind, and the blue, BSG loving kind. (Which of course have some overlap.)
P.S. Spelljammer. They clearly need MAGIC IN SPACE!
To be fair, the little blue booties aren’t necessarily gender specific (unless you’re going by the assumption that blue = boys and pink = girls, which is pretty prevalent in baby gear). Even so, I’m sure they have pink “girl” booties with a similar phrase on them.
Okay, there is no such thing as a Buckskin knife. Possibly the person writing thing was aware that Buck knives are a thing, skinning knives are a thing, and buckskin is a word, and just kind of… decided they were all probably one thing. So, way to write about things you don’t understand, Mysterious Man Card Author. Oh, and for the record, five items, counting the high school welding class that eventually got shut down by the fire marshal. I have no idea how one is to “earn” a huge facial scar, though. Do Real Men have jobs that don’t… Read more »
“Oh, and for the record, five items,”
You remind me of my friend who will talk at length about how IQ is a meaningless measurement that doesn’t determine anything but always find a way to slip in that his IQ was tested as 153, just as an aside.
As I’ve written before, you can know perfectly well that IQ is a bullshit metric based on phony tests that don’t prove anything, but you still want to know your number. We are a weak species.
Maybe they mean something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensur
The mensur scars were symbol both manly bravery and high class, a nice kyriarchy two in one package.
So what’s wrong with welding? I’ve been doing that on and off for over 30 years. Pretty good at it too. State D.O.T. certified and everything.
Welding is awesome. I approve of it. In fact, I approve of it SO HARD I don’t want it to be on the Man Card, I want it to be on the People Card.
Welding is a very hot, dirty and labor intensive job. I’ve met a few women welders but not many. It’s not the type of work that women typically choose. Make your own people card, it won’t change the fact that women will avoid that type of work.
Sure, because sexism has nothing at all to do with what kind of work women and men are pushed to go into….
Because god knows none of the jobs women are expected to do are hot, dirty and labor intensive, right?
Interesting point, but it could be a difference in where these jobs are. I’ve seen very few female roofers, or other jobs where women work in extreme heat (here in Aus roof temperatures get up to 50+ celcius). Quite frankly I’m surprised there are men that want to do that job:P But I think there is a fair point to be made that it seems more men are willing to do certain types of jobs that are far more extreme in environment (major danger like fishing, forestry, mining, high-altitude building/rigging/anywhere you can fall from more than a few meters). I’d… Read more »
The last picture doesn’t say “THEIR very own kitchen”, it says “MY very own kitchen”. And it’s blue. Obviously it must be the boy’s kitchen, and he’s just letting her play, too. Surprised you missed that.
A good number of the things on the “man card” are neat things for people to do. Hike the Appalachian Trail? Drink some fine scotch? Learn to weld? It’s so incredibly dumb that these are gendered activities.
I also have to agree with MCA that coding dangerous, stupid behavior as “manly” is a great example of patriarchal expectations hurting men.
The “survive rattlesnake bite” is a perfect example of how patriarchal expectation of gender behavior harm men – 98% of US snakebites occur in men, with 65% occuring on the hands/arms, which is almost perfect proof of doing something very, VERY stupid. Several US species have mortality rates *above* that for gun violence. From the stories I have more detailed knowledge of, the pattern of behavior prior to the bite is mostly “stepped on unawares”, or “did something breathtakingly stupid”, with the latter involving so many Darwin Award candidates and attempts as to require a multi-volume set called “Encyclopedia Stupida”.… Read more »
98% of all snakebites or rattlesnake bites? There’s a difference. I’m sure a huge amount of snakebites happen to reptile handlers, workers in snake farms, and people who own snakes as pets (all of these demographics are male-dominated). Those usually don’t kill the guy or even do much damage since domestic snakes typically aren’t venomous.
Surviving a rattlesnake bite is a really stupid way to judge masculinity though. I don’t understand what part of being bit by an animal and getting rushed to the hospital in time for them to give you antivenom or amputate a limb is manly.
98% of USA venomous snakebites. Non-venomous snakebites are both common and trivial in all but the most extreme cases, and that’s coming from someone who’s had to extract his hand from the mouth of a hungry 12 foot python.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with the gummies. One has princesses, one has Marvel heroes – and? Does it say in fine print that the photo renders illegible that the princesses are for girls and the heroes are for boys? I met a little boy once who loved princesses; is someone trying to stop him from getting princess gummies?