This morning, I saw a story about Honda making a car called "Honda Fit She's"--marketed exclusively toward women. It's pink. The apostrophe in "She's" is a heart. It's apparently supposed to be "adult cute", according to the designers. The car also comes in brown and white, the "color of eyeshadow". Apparently, it's only being marketed in Japan. So, I went to the Japanese Honda site and this is their ad for the Fit She's. Very pink and very cutesy.
Now, obviously Japanese culture is different than American culture. The "cute" factor is incredibly amped up in Japan; or maybe it's massively down-played in the States. When I saw the story about the Fit She's, my immediate reaction was, "That's terrible! It's so demeaning. Not all women like pink. And the heart?! Come on, I'm not 16." Then I got to thinking about it. Why shouldn't the car market try to appeal to women? Almost all the other markets try to attract a specific set of people, don't they? I looked at the ads during the first hour of "Good Morning America" (68% of GMA's viewers are women) to see which companies were obviously trying to appeal to women.
Out of 55 total ads during the first hour, I felt that 34 of them were geared toward women. There were 14 campaign ads (3 of which were appealing to women), 9 food ads (6 of which included a mom with her kids; 3 of which were coffee ads), 6 beauty product ads, 1 each for "Katie" and "Ellen", and some clothing and appliance ads.
So, if 62% of the ads on GMA were trying to appeal to the female market, why did I feel so weird about the Honda Fit She's being "for women?" Since I had to go back through my DVR to re-watch all the ads to count them, I had some time to think about this.
I think American women have gotten used to the notion that we can hold our own and be as good as, or better, than men. While this may or may not be true in different areas, it does not mean that we are the same as men. I know a bunch of my "feminist" friends are not going to be happy about that statement, but it's true. And why would we want to be the same as men? We get to be women!
I feel like many of the women who complain about not being treated the "same" as men are also the ones who say that "men are sh!t." "Chivalry is dead" is a common saying among "successful" women. Maybe it's dead because super-feminist women have killed it. Half the time a guy holds the door for us, we say "thank you;" but the other half of the time, we get upset that he is treating us like women and being polite to us, instead of letting us "do it ourselves." God forbid a guy be polite.
We have a huge double standard going on here. We want the same treatment as men, but we want our political candidates to cater to the "women's vote." We want the same respect that men get, but the way many women bitch and complain about the lack of respect leaves men (and other women) disgusted. We want to be equal to men, but then we're upset when men don't put us on a pedestal and hold the door for us.
Going back to the Honda Fit She's topic, while I think the main market for a pink car with a heart on it in the States would be 16-year-old girls with rich daddies, I don't think Honda should be faulted for doing what companies' marketing teams are supposed to do best: find their target consumer and do whatever it takes to get that consumer to buy their product. And, obviously, Honda has done that. The Honda Fit She's is selling in Japan, but it's not even on the market here, because American women (over all) wouldn't make it worth Honda's time and money.
So, women, this morning I felt that chip on my shoulder; the chip that I feel I have to have to keep up with men, or prove myself, or whatever silly reason. Take the chip off today. Leave it at home. Enjoy being a woman today. If that includes allowing men to be kind to you, let it happen. If it includes realizing, not resenting, but realizing that you wear makeup for yourself and not the "male dominated society," let it happen. Am I saying "let guys treat you like crap today"? No. I'm saying, embrace your femininity without putting men down or blaming them for the choices you, a liberated woman, make.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
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