Let’s Talk About the Gillette Ad
Seriously, this is an invitation to a conversation
I watched the now infamous Gillette ad all the way through for the first time this morning. At the end I was teary — teared up at the prospect of our society really maybe trying to be better and of men taking a very active role in that; to stop bullying, to speak up about harassment, to encourage us all to be better people who take better care of each other and affirmatively raise our children to do the same.
Then I went and read a bunch of the criticisms, and I have to say, I really don’t get it. What is so offensive about pointing out that as of right now there are masculine-oriented systems that don’t do enough in this regard? I know, I know, not all men, but that isn’t remotely what they were saying. It never is and yet that still has to factor into absolutely every single one of these conversations! You can’t address social ills through the lens of personal identity and attempting to address them is not an attack on any specific man personally.
This ad showed men modeling being good human beings and it was as if it were the worst thing in the world! I do want to hear more from you, men in particular, but before we go there, here is my response to some of the criticisms I’ve already read and watched.
