Your left hand plans ahead. Your right hand plans for anything. Your left hand gets it done. Your right hand shows the world how it’s really done. Women of the world, raise your right hand.
Little known fact about me: I love printed advertisements. Some printed advertisements, that is. Mainly, the ones that use words. The ones that use words well.
Your left hand likes evenings at home. Your right hand loves a night out. Your left hand reads stories before bed. Your right hand lives a story worth reading. Women of the world, raise your right hand.
For instance, I loved the Diamond Trading Company’s right-hand ring advertisements. I have copies of half a dozen of them in a file in my cabinet (I guess it’s good I have paper copies, because I’m having a hard time finding photos online.) They’re poetry, they’re empowerment. I love them.
Your left hand dreams of love. Your right hand makes dreams come true. Your left hand lives happily ever after. Your right hand lives happily here and now. Women of the world, raise your right hand.
Your left hand says you’re taken. Your right hand says you can take over. Your left hand celebrates the day you were married. Your right hand celebrates the day you were born. Women of the world, raise your right hand.
Some from the most traditional camps might complain about the feminism found within these ads. I don’t.
Sure, they’re emphasizing the right hand–but the point is that both the “right” and the “left” hands of women are powerful. Woman’s identity is not found merely in the ring found on the left hand ring finger–women are so much more.
Note that I DON’T have the above in my collection. I don’t really like this one.
Your left hand sees red and thinks roses. Your right hand sees red and thinks wine. Your right hand believes in shining armor. Your left hand thinks knights are for fairy tales. Your left hand says “I love you”. Your right hand says “I love me too”. Women of the world, raise your right hand.
You see, that one–that one’s not quite right. That one trivializes the left hand–and makes the right hand into a selfish being. It makes the left hand about fairy tales and the right hand about self-love–cheapening both hands, in my opinion.
So I’m not indiscriminate in my love of printed advertisements.
Well, today I found a new ad to love. This time, it’s a men’s empowerment piece:
Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone. Men took charge because that’s what they did. But somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khakis and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny. But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits idly by as cities crumble. Children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes. We need grown-ups. We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency. It’s time to get your hands dirty. It’s time to answer the call of manhood. It’s time to wear the pants.
It puts shivers up and down my spine and a prayer in my heart. Not that Dockers would make money (although perhaps they deserve it for this campaign), but that men would hear the call and respond.
“Yes,” I say. “That’s what we need. That’s what we want. Pay no attention to the feminazis who would say we prefer men to be weak, to be feminine. Stand up for a manhood that’s beyond lust, for a manhood that’s powerful in its own right. Men of the world, it’s time to wear the pants.”
It makes me very sad that you are so uneducated and ignorant. You desperately need to take a course in English literature or sociology or ANYTHING at a university. It’s very obvious that you hate yourself and that you feel having a man will make you feel better, but really you need to exercise intelligenge and independence and stop ignoring that sexism exists (you are certainly evidence of it!). Get out of your bible and into a university!
Lana-I’m sorry that my opinions disconcert you so much, but I fear your perception of me is incorrect. I happen to be a University-educated professional who has only to complete her thesis before obtaining her Master’s degree. I have taken University courses in English literature–but fail to see how such courses would automatically change my views on the matters in question. I do not hate myself–in fact, I have a rather high self-image (as anyone who knows me could attest.) I’m not sure how you decided that I feel that having a man will make me feel better, but I have a hard time seeing that from what I have written. I have never said (or believed) that sexism does not exist, but I do not feel that the answer to sexism is to deny differences between the sexes.
All said, I believe you have misunderstood this post and my comments on these two different advertisements. I appreciate the Right Hand ring advertisements because they affirm the role and power of women beyond the so-called “traditional” roles of women. What I dislike about the final Right Hand ring advertisement is that it seems to put down the “traditional” roles and implies that the “right hand” is selfish (and that selfish is a good thing). I feel that the messages often sent to men (both through advertising and other media portrayals) are not simply encouraging increased sensitivity (a good thing), but discouraging strength (traditionally considered a masculine trait). I appreciate the “Wear the Pants” advertisement because it chooses instead to affirm the traditionally “masculine” trait of strength–and urges men to use it to serve others (opening doors, helping little old ladies cross the street, helping to discipline children rather than being just another big kid around the house, etc.) I am all for encouraging empowerment of women and sensitivity in men–but I don’t think that needs to be done by degrading and demonizing the “traditional” traits associated with masculinity and femininity.
Excellent response, Rebekah. I don’t know what blog Lana was reading but, based on her comment, it wasn’t yours!
Rebekah, I couldn’t agree more. You are a strong woman whom I look up to, and am proud to know. I agree with Sara in saying that I don’t know what blog Lana was reading, because I definitely didn’t get any of what she said from your post. Wow….
Hey Rebekah,
I know this post is from a few years ago. But I’m doing a project for class and I would love if you had cleared images of each of these ads available. It’s hard to see them in the photo and I’m having a hard time finding them anywhere online as well. I would love if you could help me out!
Great post.