Diverse Customer Shoutout: We Believe: The Best Men Can Be | Gillette and Why Gender Stereotyping is No. 1 Reason Toxic Masculinity Persists!

Hello Lovely People! It’s been a long time since my last vlog-blog. This year has started with a lot of new projects on my plate! I am not complaining. I am in absolute gratitude for the quality work I am getting. I will be talking more about it in my next vlog. But for now, let me bring my focus back at the main topics of discussion today.

I have been meaning to write about the Gillette commercial. I was trolled big time for supporting it across my social media channels. Some men called me a loser because I did not share their opinion about the commercial. In many ways that behavior, where some bad apples feel entitled to bully the good apples is really the point why toxic masculinity must be called out! Which I did, with pride!

We Believe: The Best Men Can Be | Gillette 

It's about time men hold men responsible for bad behavior. This was really my point. Now it can be taken in any context. And I was literally abused by some men who felt this was putting men in a bad light. I persisted as always. I don't give up in the face of bullying. It’s good to structure the psychological baseline as bad behavior as is evident in the commercial. It’s this sense of entitlement that aggression, bullying, and sexism is a manly thing to do... what really manly THING is that men and boys are encouraged to take a stand against that entitlement. It’s the stereotype that the Gillette ad wants to break. 

As a diversity champion, I am not against any particular group. I am just saying that asking one group to be accountable for their actions is in no way detracting from any work that needs to be done on the other side. 

Accountability has to start somewhere and the statistics and history of male vs female behavior are strongly slanted to one side. The common phrase boys will be boys is an example of how bad behavior is tolerated. It is a precursor to accepting violence, aggression, bullying abuse etc. The whole point of the Gillette ad is to end this behavioral pattern of toxic masculinity. Because it is outdated and doesn’t fit the current inclusive climate.

Harmful gender norms persist sadly. A lot of it is attributed to how advertising across the world misrepresents the sexes. I strongly feel that bringing visual attention through media to this area and asking for the change in a positive way should be embraced wholeheartedly.

This is also the reason why countries like the UK have banned sexist ads that depict women doing housework or men driving expensive cars. The sexist ads are far more dangerous in my opinion because they are drip feeding sexism into children’s minds and subconsciously reinforcing society’s view of gender roles. 

And this reinforced view leads to many problems. Toxic Masculinity is an outcome and saying this is barely scratching the surface. Then there is the social malaise targeted towards increasing any or all forms of gender discrimination. It's the global patriarchy in action. There are similarly many theories regarding the gender pay gap for instance or altering results to exclude women that reverberate the same sentiments... tenaciously trying to compartmentalize women and condition them to the age-old mindsets of reinforcing stereotypes - that don’t seem to budge despite best efforts in creating more parity. Women know, that most workplaces and structure of society will prevent them from having a great career if they choose to have kids. I view it as a by-product of gender stereotyping, again a tool used to discriminate nonetheless and that is our point here.  

More to come... Stay tuned. Next, Blackface Controversy, The Suicidal Noose.. and why setting Diversity Councils is not enough - A word to Gucci, Prada and Burberry!

Best,

Amit