#Trending: Gillette gets backlash from taking on toxic masculinity

Fayetteville Observer - 1/19/2019

Jan. 19--As you may have heard (and I don't see how you could have missed it), Gillette has a new commercial that takes on the toxic masculinity in our culture.

The ad juxtaposes poor male behaviors such as bullying, objectifying women and other boorish actions against men stepping in to stop those behaviors.

As you may have guessed (I'm sure you have), there's been some backlash against it.

It's understandable to some degree; I mean, who wants to be preached to by a company that sells razors?

But come on, y'all. There's no need to get THAT up in arms over an ad. Actor James Woods tweeted, "So nice to see Gillette jumping on the 'men are horrible' campaign permeating mainstream media and Hollywood entertainment. I for one will never use your product again."

Oh, calm down. If this commercial offends you that much, it's quite possible you're part of the problem.

This ad is by no means implying that all men are bad. Anyone with common sense already knows that not all men are sexist, boorish bullies.

What this ad is conveying, however, is that being a man shouldn't equate to bullying people you perceive as weaker or looking upon women as objects to be ogled or grabbed.

There should, instead, be more room under the umbrella of masculinity for treating other people with respect. Being a good man should mean speaking out and intervening when you see other men behaving poorly.

The tagline of the ad is, after all, "We believe in the best in men."

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