When a woman is afraid to hurt a man's feelings, she does both men AND women a disservice. So how do we stop coddling men when we are afraid not to? We gas each other up and embrace our unlikability.
Yes yes fucking yes! I saw Barbie with my 10 year old daughter and we both LOVED it but she commented that we could never let her dad see it. I was like fuck that! We talked about how neither the matriarchy or patriarchy worked and why the movie isn’t anti-men, it just shows the struggle of womanhood...which at 10 she has already witnessed. It is his choice to see it but it is not our job to keep it from him for his comfort. I realized the impact of the movie when I was using it to explain why we are not sheltering her dad from our reality and feelings.
It’s SO deep. The protection of men over ourselves will take generations of unlearning. Which is why I appreciate EVERY move made in a direction that acknowledges that. Thank you for sharing. 💘
Yes to all of these comments...and to this article. What a perfect connection you make, Rebecca. Love your words and i 💯 agree. I do wish we could figure out how to live in Barbie land forever.
Family movie night for Barbie and it was glorious. I was ready to burst into applause after America Ferrera's speech but didn’t because no one else did. Lessons! Also a man sitting behind us yelled out, “Fuck this feminist bullshit.” While a little girl next to me yelled, “Men are so stupid,” every time Ken came onscreen. Greta Gerwigs subversion of an American icon is one hell of a feat.
This! But also!!! I have to say I was frustrated with the final Barbie and Ken scene. Barbie, apologizing to Ken?!? For not being nicer to him? Because THAT is what caused him to embrace toxic masculinity and bring the patriarchy back to Barbieland? And: “I guess Not every night had to be girls night.” Why, so Ken could finally sleepover…and have his way with her?!? Honestly, there was something so freeing, so liberating about the world in which “Ken is superfluous,” that I was frustrated to feel like in this last Ken and Barbie scene, that Barbie felt the need to apologize to Ken for making him feel aimless and useless and turning to toxic masculinity to make himself feel important again. It just felt like one more thing Barbie had the impossible task of solving. 🤷🏼♀️
I left this unread in my inbox when you first posted because I hadn't seen the movie yet, and I just found it and wanted to say AMEN HELL YES to every word. Words can't express how much I loved the Barbie movie, and it's for every reason you wrote in this article. It's just so damn hard to be okay with being unliked, though!
Yes yes fucking yes! I saw Barbie with my 10 year old daughter and we both LOVED it but she commented that we could never let her dad see it. I was like fuck that! We talked about how neither the matriarchy or patriarchy worked and why the movie isn’t anti-men, it just shows the struggle of womanhood...which at 10 she has already witnessed. It is his choice to see it but it is not our job to keep it from him for his comfort. I realized the impact of the movie when I was using it to explain why we are not sheltering her dad from our reality and feelings.
It’s SO deep. The protection of men over ourselves will take generations of unlearning. Which is why I appreciate EVERY move made in a direction that acknowledges that. Thank you for sharing. 💘
Yes to all of these comments...and to this article. What a perfect connection you make, Rebecca. Love your words and i 💯 agree. I do wish we could figure out how to live in Barbie land forever.
Obvs thought of you the whole time.
Family movie night for Barbie and it was glorious. I was ready to burst into applause after America Ferrera's speech but didn’t because no one else did. Lessons! Also a man sitting behind us yelled out, “Fuck this feminist bullshit.” While a little girl next to me yelled, “Men are so stupid,” every time Ken came onscreen. Greta Gerwigs subversion of an American icon is one hell of a feat.
This! But also!!! I have to say I was frustrated with the final Barbie and Ken scene. Barbie, apologizing to Ken?!? For not being nicer to him? Because THAT is what caused him to embrace toxic masculinity and bring the patriarchy back to Barbieland? And: “I guess Not every night had to be girls night.” Why, so Ken could finally sleepover…and have his way with her?!? Honestly, there was something so freeing, so liberating about the world in which “Ken is superfluous,” that I was frustrated to feel like in this last Ken and Barbie scene, that Barbie felt the need to apologize to Ken for making him feel aimless and useless and turning to toxic masculinity to make himself feel important again. It just felt like one more thing Barbie had the impossible task of solving. 🤷🏼♀️
I left this unread in my inbox when you first posted because I hadn't seen the movie yet, and I just found it and wanted to say AMEN HELL YES to every word. Words can't express how much I loved the Barbie movie, and it's for every reason you wrote in this article. It's just so damn hard to be okay with being unliked, though!