Aldi Makes Cheaper Razors

Last updated on: January 15, 2019 at 8:56 am by Anne Kennedy

Aldi Makes Cheaper Razors 2019-01-15T08:56:30-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This might be a pugilistic week for me. I have a thousand contrary thoughts about everything, and from all my too much time spent online, I can see that I disagree with all my friends about everything. Starting, probably, with the Gillette advertisement, and that business about the APA casting the masculinity as a mental health issue. To which, of course we can say, it sure is, but also, probably not in the clear cut obvious way the APA imagines.

But first the Gillette ad, and probably only the Gillette ad if we are honest with ourselves about how much time we really have both to write and to read. I’m pretty sure I should be doing something else, like answering email, and you should be doing something else, like not scrolling endlessly through the internet.

There’s a lot to like about the Gillette ad. It starts out with the old jingle—Gillette, the best a man can ge-e-e-t—and then cuts to a bunch of tragic scenes. Cyber bullying, #metoo reporting, a line of men with their grills, shrugging their shoulders and mouthing ‘boys will be boys,’ and lots and lots of misogyny and sexual harassment. Then a clean-shaven man adopts a determined air, the music lifts, and lots of men begin taking responsibility and policing other men who are still Neanderthals. There is the appeal to our future—boys will someday be men—and scene and cut. Or rather, lots of music, but still no razors.

I’m always on the lookout for a good razor, and based on both the wokeness of the ad, and the total absence of any men using a Gillette razor, I will probably not rush out and buy a Gillette razor (guilty secret, men’s razors are so much better than those marketed to women, because of the Patriarchy I think). But not because I’m a bigot, just because I…oh never mind.

Anyway, the ad is right about a lot of things, but they, just like the whole culture, don’t know why they’re right, and they certainly have not a single iota of an idea of what to do about it.

The main way they’re right is that the cultural acceptance of a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude turned out to be a drag. Boys should be allowed to be boys, but that’s not what ‘boys will be boys’ means. ‘Boys will be boys’ is the Man Show brand of ‘masculinity.’ If you were ever out looking for toxicity, there it was. I particularly loved that segment of the Man Show (which I did watch once or twice in horrified fascination) that featured a more than usually large boy being trained up in the way he should go. He was sent out with a camera crew, and would sidle up to unsuspecting women, and say something foul. Then everyone in the studio would laugh. In this way the distinction between the bad shocking behavior of the man, and the supposed innocence of a boy, was deliberately blurred. Man (get it), those were the days.

The distinction between man and boy is a good one though, on its own. Boys should be growing up into men, but that process takes patience. They start out as infants, grow slowly, and end up as men. This, and I know this is shocking to say, happens with girls as well. They begin as babies and then slowly grow up—oh never mind.

I don’t think it is too controversial to observe that boys once were allowed to play and be aggressive in certain acceptable ways—like with kick the can and baseball and stuff. The very different temperament and inclinations of boys used to be socially acceptable. There was room for them to walk haltingly in the first tottering steps of real masculinity—all with an eye toward the fact that they would eventually grow up to be men who got married and got jobs and had children and showed up to do their honorable and respectable duty.

I say ‘used to’ because of course the past wasn’t golden, and misogyny has always been the way, ever since Adam stared out of his bored eyes at Eve and decided he just didn’t care that much. But there did used to be a cultural distinction in the west between the Man—who was reviled when he was a low wretched creature, and honored when he did his duty and sacrificed himself for the sake of others—and a Boy who was supposed to grow up into that second kind of man.

Then everything comes into a muddle. Women became enamored with the idea of free sex, and so did men actually, and now sex is the only paper bag out of which men and women are trying to climb, and it is not going very well. Everyone sees how ugly it is, but no one knows what to do about it. And that not knowing is turning out to be one big giant humiliating scold.

Every time I see a tweet that starts with, ‘Men need to…’ I die a little inside. And I’m a woman, so I can’t imagine how it must be for the ordinary guy out there looking for a stupid plastic, but slightly more expensive, razor. If I hate being told how I need to be and how I need to feel and how I need to act, and I am only, cough, a woman, how must it be for all the men? Most of whom, incidentally, have grown up thinking that almost all women like free sex, and that they themselves would love to have free sex, and what’s the point of having a job anyway, when the gig economy is so rife with possibilities.

I watched a long video of a man decrying the reality that it is no longer acceptable for a man to go up to an in-real-life woman, unmediated by an app or the internet, and say something like, ‘May I buy you a drink?’ That used to be a thing, he insisted. Real life relationships used to be a thing. To which I repost, yes they did, but the drink isn’t just a drink, is it. How is she to know that it is just a drink? It is much more likely to be ‘just a drink’ and then ‘just a pop home for something immoral,’ and then she ‘just never sees you again’ and certainly she ‘just doesn’t get married.’ On the other hand, maybe she doesn’t want to marry you, because maybe you are still a boy and not a man, and also because of the awesome-sauce gig economy.

What was it that singer suggested? That really famous one who was so wonderful. She spelled out a word very slowly in the middle of a song. R E S P E C T. One of those ancient gifts that you give to other human people when you are trying to treat them like people and not like throw away objects of sexual desire. So the advertisement in that sense is very right, but also not really, because no one is suggesting that the free sex part of the whole society is still the bad idea that it was in the first place. Whenever something is free, you should always ask, ‘But how much will I have to pay for it later on in heartbreak, guilt, and misery?’

We walk in dangerous, if interesting, times. And that is because the people who really need to be told something are usually not the ones listening. When you preach against gossip, none of the gossips hear you because they are too busy thinking of all the other people who need to hear the sermon. When you scold men, the ones who really take it to heart are the ones who already feel unhappy about the unkindness of other men. They are often mild mannered and maybe even shy. They have sometimes already retired into the background and are ready to apologize for their very existence.

Even more, there is nothing redeemingly beautiful about a scolding, woke, philosophically incurious mob. They lack, what do you call it? Finesse? Nuance? Kindness? The same respect that they themselves are demanding. The number of tweets bashing any man who might have watched the Gillette commercial and felt the usual helplessness of one’s own humanity called into fundamental question is not likely to make those men behave any better. Women don’t like it. I don’t like it. Why on earth would men like it? That doesn’t ultimately produce the change of character everyone so longs for.

Furthermore, children and young people pick up on these things. It is a common joke in our family—the one about ‘toxic masculinity’, and the other one about ‘mansplaining.’ Occasionally I stop the joking and momsplain, ‘You are not toxic…do you know that? You are not toxic. Being masculine is not toxic.’ I say that because my boys are kind and interesting and good, and I don’t want them limping along, afraid and anxious, through their very lives. I want them to rise to the challenge of being human, and being able to respect and honor other humans, especially their multitude of sisters. And also, their father gave them actual swords for Christmas, so everything is so much more exciting.

Christianity used to be good at this. Men being men. Women being women. Jesus being Jesus. The pulpit being the place where all the conviction was laid out, sweeping the stones out of the road for ordinary people to carry on with their lives, confessing their own sin, turning constantly to the cross for forgiveness and help. But now Gillette is the one telling us all how to be. Well, count me out. I’m going to stick to my weird Aldi razor.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 14, 2019

Resurrection Feelings Podcast and Links

Next Post

January 16, 2019 Why Can’t Eating Bread Be My Spiritual Act Of Worship?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Jacob" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Supplanter Friend of God Full of light Justified

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »