Jayne: Just accept it, we white men are not the oppressed ones

Anyway, the commercial shows young boys bullying each other and older men touching women’s shoulders in a business meeting and suburban dads repeatedly saying “boys will be boys.” A voice-over intones the slogan, “Is this the best a man can get?”

No! Because the commercial then shows one young man urging another to stop ogling women on the street; and a father teaching his daughter to say, “I’m strong”; and a dad breaking up a fight between children. All of which might be fine examples of fully evolved masculinity, but it’s not clear what they have to do with razors.

Personally, I am offended that a Gillette disposable razor with one refill can cost $12 on Amazon; for that amount of money I would expect it to provide a shave and prepare Eggs Benedict in the morning. But my Twitter feed says I should be offended at how men are being portrayed. One columnist reminded us that it was “boys will be boys” alpha-male types who stormed the beach at Normandy on 9/11 and captured El Chapo — or something like that.

It’s better to evolve

To be sure, the ad is a misfire. Using feminism to sell a product used solely by men seems self-defeating. Sparking a national discussion about masculinity tends to obscure the message when we’re supposed to be talking about razors. And if women or a minority group had been portrayed using stereotypes of supposedly bad behavior and told to clean up their act, there would be plenty of righteous outrage.

There are discussions that need to be held about the glorification of violence and the entitlement mentality that finally saw some pushback with the #MeToo movement. A razor commercial probably is not the place to hold them.

And yet I’m just not that aggrieved, and I can’t figure out why so many white males cling to the notion that they are somehow the oppressed ones. Fear of others can be a powerful motivator. So can fear of change. Exploiting those fears can get you elected president.

But it seems that defending offensive behavior as some sort of anthropological predisposition is to sell ourselves short as a species and as a gender.

When I was in high school, during a swim class, one of the boys pulled down one of the girl’s suits in the water. At the time, I thought she was making too big a deal out of it, that it was just a joke. Now I realize how offensive and violating the act was, and I know that I would be livid if it happened to my daughter. All of which has nothing to do with razors, but has a lot to do with the discussion that needs to be held.

So, yeah, I’m not aggrieved. But I’m trying to evolve, and I think that is the point of the commercial.