Silly Suffragette

I know I haven't really been doing weekend blogs, but I read an article this morning that irritated me. Now, mind you, I've been reading articles with a similar basis as this for a while but for some reason, this morning's goaded me enough to write about it.

Here's the article:
Burt's Bees Apologizes for Lotion That Invites Catcalls

If you're reading this on Saturday morning and you're still in your PJs and trying to pump coffee into your system and you're feeling too lazy to read the whole article, I sympathize. I'll give you the Readers' Digest version. Burt's Bees puts this: “Soak in the moisturizing seductiveness of shea butter and indulge in the scent of vanilla and rice milk. And let the catcalling commence.” on a body butter label. Feminist freaks out.

At the risk of sounding "controversial" in any way, I really didn't think this was that bad. Actually, I found it sort of cute. I mean, it's called BODY BUTTER for Pete's sake. I do happen to think that the woman was overreacting (in the article she asks if she was) and that she should just readjust her panties and move on with her life. I'm not a hardcore feminist, but I do believe women should be treated equally. Which leads me to question whether this thin-skinned protestor has ever seen a stripper, watched Magic Mike or stared at a fireman calendar at any point in her tiny little life.

Women have made amazing strides throughout the years to get to the point we are today. Although it may not be even steven, it's pretty damn close. I think the problem is that there are still inherent "caveman" tendencies in the human race. Regardless of our advanced individual thought process, we are still slaves to nature and the genetic history of our species. So what if a guy catcalls out to a girl? As long he's not tackling her to the ground and forcing himself on her, what's the problem? Said girl ought to take it as a compliment, smile and move on with her day. Give them a little wave even. Or don't. But for crying out loud, don't petition against a company for trying to put a cute little ditty on their product. I say, be glad he didn't club you over the head and drag you back to his cave!

For an "oppressed unit" (women) to be so strong, and have endured and overcome so much, it seems ridiculous that something as little as a man whistling at you, or implying it on a body butter tub, breaks down hundreds of years of progress. Do you make more than that heathen? Some woman somewhere does. Did you give birth to a child? Okay, you're already a million times stronger than that dude. I personally don't think it's offensive for a guy to show his appreciation for a woman's body, whether it comes across as insensitive or not. It's natural.

At this point, for me anyways, women who throw tantrums about this kind of thing (and offensive tshirts, or anything else that induces a feminist movement): 1) have had a true "caveman" type guy in their life, 2) have nothing else to do with their time or 3) want attention. Maybe I'm super old-fashioned, maybe I have a guy's brain in a girl's body or maybe I actually just make sense. Whatever the case, I'm tough-skinned and really don't care if a guy whistles at a girl or hits on a girl or if a company tries to be cute on an item they're marketing as "sexy". Don't buy it then.

I think women who complain about this sort of petty crap makes us women look weaker in general. Please don't encourage men to find us sexy on an item that encourages us to be "seductive". It's degrading. Please don't put strippers or girls in sexy outfits on TV or in movies, even though I'm not like that, since showing them reduces our value. It's degrading. For crying out loud, stop being so sensitive!

Women can be just as degrading to men and nobody ever says anything about it. Why? Because guys have figured it out. Love the attention. Bask in it. If we don't complain about it, they'll just give us more. You know why we never hear guys bitching about labels on products? Because they simply don't care. Furthermore, it doesn't say explicitly on the label that the product is for women. If a guy used it and a girl is all "wow, you smell so yummy" should he press charges against Burt's Bees for being sexy? Duh. Come on, ladies. Stop making me look stupid.

***I read and weighed in on the comments section of this article. It seems I'm not crazy, a lot of people feel the same way I do. Thank goodness!