Fayetteville, AR – -(AmmoLand.com)- Procter and Gamble’s Gillette brand stepped into the middle of controversy with a recent ad meant to respond to the #MeToo movement months after the fact, along with other aspects of masculinity in the modern world. It is the typically safe product of a corporation trying to sound woke, but even so, it has managed to draw the ire of many in the right wing who see it as an attack on being male.
The two concerns of the ad are bullying among children and harassment of women by men. These are certainly problems that need to be addressed, and it’s well past time to deal with them. But the question is how to go about that.
The solution according to Gillette is that men—in need of a shave or not—should police our own. Take the implicit assumption here—our present conception of masculinity is the problem—as a given for a moment. I must have missed the notice that wrongdoers will correct themselves if we ask them politely—excepting Wall Street, of course.
As a gun owner who writes in defense of the ownership and carry of firearms, I have some suggestions. No, dear gun grabbers, I am not about to recommend that we shoot anyone. Instead, I’m going to offer three answers that come out of my understanding of rights and responsibilities in a free society.
“Boys will be boys”? Isn’t it time we stopped excusing bad behavior? Re-think and take action by joining us at https://t.co/giHuGDEvlT. #TheBestMenCanBe pic.twitter.com/hhBL1XjFVo
— Gillette (@Gillette) January 14, 2019
Bullying is a problem in schools. It is an act of violence against innocents, and this is something that a just society cannot accept. We also have an obesity crisis among American youth. See where I’m going with this? Some basic martial arts training sounds like a good physical education program to me. This would allow children to learn an effective means of fighting back when someone decides to initiate violence against them. Won’t the bullies get the same skills? Yes, but bullies are cowards. Like many adult criminals, they want easy targets. Practicing a discipline develops a sense of confidence and ability, something that helps people stand up and stand together against those who feel entitled to abuse others. We’d have to rework zero tolerance policies to recognize that fighting back is different from starting a fight, but that’s a feature, not a bug.
That leads me to my second point, the national conversation that we need to have about the nature of rights. Each person has individual rights—which include the right to be left in peace so long as the person treats others the same way—and bullying and harassment are both violations of those. As we’re teaching children to defend themselves, we must also explain to them that not having to do so is preferable, and the more of us who keep to the principle that whatever we don’t want to be done to us is something that we shouldn’t do to others, the better off we’ll all be. Schools are increasingly subjected to testing of the lowest order of learning, but one of the primary jobs that elementary and secondary education have is to teach students how to interact with others in a civilized manner.
My last point asks us to think rightly about more than just rights. The phrase associated with the actions condemned in Gillette’s commercial is “toxic masculinity.” This is akin to “assault weapon” and other proliferations of verbiage that make a mess by attempting to sweep up too much. Masculinity is neither good nor bad, and initiating violence or harassing women is not inherently a male act. They’re just bad behavior and should be called that.
Gillette has come late to the discussion, and their contribution was a solid commitment to saying nothing new and nothing particularly challenging. So welcome to the party, Gillette. We’re clearing up, but there may be a beer left in the cooler on the back porch.
About Greg Camp
Greg Camp has taught English composition and literature since 1998 and is the author of six books, including a western, The Willing Spirit, and Each One, Teach One, with Ranjit Singh on gun politics in America. His books can be found on Amazon. He tweets @gregcampnc.
The biggest bully in the country is loved by the media and all leftists today: Robert Mueller. He used a 6 am raid with 29 guys in body armor and 17 SUVs with flashing lights to arrest Roger Stone. Is Roger Stone a mass murderer? A terrorist? Kidnapper? A threat to society? No! He’s a friend of President Trump.
Gillette go FGM yourself .
gillette ad producers go back to your true calling: biscuits, b**w-jobs, & diapers
If you really think this through, Gillette is the bully.
Harry’s. I just switched. Buy them online. They’re cheaper, and better, and there’s no corporate virtue signaling. Seems like Gillette hates men now too. F them!
You guys are missing the main point. YOU are the problem simply because you were born a male with….testosterone (ooh, vile, evil stuff). Also, in the commercial, we’re not given quite enough information to step in and stop what is supposed to be considered “bullying”. Of the two kids in the back yard–what if the kid taking the beating was actually the bully. Maybe he spit on the other boy’s hotdog. The kid finally had enough and is in the process of delivering the appropriate beat down. The group of boys chasing the one boy COULD be doing so because… Read more »
This new Gillette production is a feminazi’s wet dream. And it doesn’t at all address girls bullying other girls which can oft times be way, way more brutal than what the boys do to each other. Nor does it say anything about false sexual harassment claims that seem to be a epidemic these days. Men are to believed too, ya know.
For those who wish to make a point by switching to Schick – don’t. They are running a similar ad campaign in which they lecture and chide us nasty males for being so MALE and encourage us to be metrosexual and sissy.
I read a tip somewhere that Walmart makes a great Equate shaver and cartridge that’s cheap and as good as the name brand blades. That’ll be my next experiment!
You clearly have never looked in to all the ways in which Walmart has been destroying the American economy and culture for over a generation now. They just don’t preach to you about what they are doing, so you don’t notice it.
I shave a lot; just about everything that I can reach (haha!). Schick razors work well on my head, Henry’s blades work well on the face, and Flamingo blades work great on the bikini area and legs. Gillette Venus razors were great, but I won’t be buying any more of them. Oh, and there is also Dorco, which are fine razors that are internet-based that deserve a try; I keep one of them around as well; they will save you money.
Have to laugh. Gillette has pink razors for women that cost more than the men’s. Is that fair? Same razor only different color. It also has the “Gillette girls” in tight jumpsuits with Gillette across their butts. those photos were taken not all that long ago. (google Gillette girls). Seems to me like Gillette has a little toxicity of their own to clean up before they start lecturing their customer base.
Levi’s, the Boy Scouts, Dick’s, Gillette and many more corporations/organizations are going down the left-wing toilet for the sake of political correctness, but mostly out of greed. Shame on them.
Heck…Bullies have been around since day one. Always will be. (look at our Foreign policies)
It’s always been part of life at school etc.
Not sure where I saw it, but a rich guy walks into a fast food place and lo and behold, there’s one of his former bullies working behind the counter. What goes around comes around.
I have always thought schools should address how kids deal with bullies rather than trying to deal with the bullies.
I agree with you that they will always exist and any effort to deal with them is best made in the direction of “Get a few of your friends and kick his butt” rather than telling a bad boy to behave.
Six decades ago, as I was growing up, even 5th graders were aware that bullying is the kind of stupidity that deserves to be culled before it reproduces. The common approach was a swift kick to the bully’s groin, with verbal promises of castration if the bullying actions continued. THAT approach worked every time (at least, in every single instance I saw, from 1st to 12th grade).
In the past three decades, the socially-acceptable treatment of those poor misunderstood bullies in public schools… has absolutely NOT worked. At all.
Is there a lesson to be learned from this?
I spoke with a customer rep telling her I have used their products for 20 years and will be changing to Schick products as a result of their stupid, biased, untruthful ad. I also emailed the company saying the same thing only adding how my immediate family, consisting of 8 men, will be changing over to Schick. I wrote that as REAL men we will never support a company promoting liberal agendas. Of course, I do not think they really care but am hoping their losses will shut them down.
I stopped using their products and went to generic Wall-Mart 5 blade razors years ago (which work excellent BTW and are only about 1 buck each) when Gilette prices got stupid. It’s obvious to me this is a way to sell more of the Venus women’s razors since more of us are growing beards. I recently bought a Braun electric shaver. First time I used an electric since the seventies (old Remington). It’s doing a fine job; forty years of technology has paid off.
Gillette has been so snookered by the femi-nazi movement that they’ve virtue-signalled their way into jumping the shark with this man-hating crap of a “commercial.” God help us. (But if you want a good laugh, here’s something about femi-nazis that’ll make your toes tap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzDbqChaks8)
At end of the commercial they forgot to show the kids who grow up to be drag queens too.
Awesome comment! THAT would have been hilarious. Perhaps some inventive YouTubers will create that. In fact, I think I’ll give it a try. (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rancewyn&ref=nb_sb_noss_2)
Gillette’s ad is clickbait, I won’t take the bait.
I have a beard and will never ever use Gillette products.
Perhaps Mr. Camp is not aware of the current state of affairs in regards to defending oneself from physical attack. It is the policy in many school systems that if the person attacked uses force to defend themselves they will also receive punishment. This does need to be addressed before his martial arts solution is possible. And consider this; much/most “bullying” is done on the social nets and is not physical in nature.
Maybe you didn’t fully read, or understand, what Mr. Camp said. I quote,”We’d have to rework zero tolerance policies to recognize that fighting back is different from starting a fight, but that’s a feature, not a bug.” Furthermore, please post your statistics showing “much/most bullying is done on the social nets and is not physical in nature.” Please be sure it is a reputable source.
Reread the article, he addressed that. 1st paragraph under the picture.
Pretty sure you meant first paragraph under the video.
I will ensure that I purchase no Gillette product ever.
I agree
Same