Men need to learn from the Gillette ad
Men can be better, and the Gillette advertisement exemplified that point. Gillette posted an advertisement on Jan. 13 to their Youtube account, and while it may have faced some backlash, the message gets straight to the point.
The ad depicted the reality of toxic masculinity, that it not only negatively affects women, but men as well. The ad highlighted a major obstacle in the fight against toxic masculinity, that there is a long history of such embedded into our society. From TV shows to magazine advertisements dating back decades, there has been a portrayal of a “real” man in the media. As such, some men think that they are more important than women, and thus some men have felt that it is okay to intimidate and objectify women.
In the era of the #metoo movement, men should not stand idly by and watch the world change; we as men need to do better, to help one another. In the ad, multiple men were seen standing up to other men harassing or catcalling women, and those are just some of the examples of men standing up. We can also stand up for each other. The ad also showed the impacts that toxic masculinity has on men — it makes them feel inferior to the more masculine and stereotypical alpha males (not that there’s anything wrong with being that kind of guy, but it should not make other people feel like less of a man).
Terry Crews was also featured in the ad when he was testifying in front of Congress, and he summed the message up the best: “Men need to hold men accountable.”
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