7 Things (Guys Don't Have To Do)
Hey everyone! I've been reading posts for an awful long time so I thought I might create a post myself.
I found this video on Youtube and just wanted to know what other feminists thought about it... I'm kinda new to all this feminist stuff... so... don't throw rotten tomatoes at me.

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Awesome ! Women really do allot to make themselves conform to standards. What a waste of cash and time.
I hated it...
The music's fun, the lead signer has a good voice and she's cute and engaging, but the lyrics??
First of, there's the heteronormative assumption that all girls are straight, and that they are doing it "for you", the romantic interest (a straight man). Women groom for all sorts of reasons, sometimes to impress a date / boyfriend / girlfriend, a lot of the time to fit societal pressure of hygiene and beauty, to look professional, and / or because that's the way they like to look. So they do it for themselves, and for other women and men, most of whom are not romantic interests at all. The assumption that women all do it out of love, and more globally that women are all about love, is one of those sexist ways to portray women that annoy the hell out of me.
There's also the mislead assumption that all girls do all these things all the time, which, hum, no? wax your armpits (I shave)? wear tongs (so early 2000's)? wear heals (definitely not every day!)? colour your hair (a lot of women don't) flat iron? (never, but my hair is super straight) I get the point that most women's grooming routine is overall more time consuming than most men's, but I thought that was clumsily put, since there's a lot of range in what each woman does, and that at least some of it has to do with personal preference and choice (giving birth!!! well it should always be a choice anyways). Portraying women as the passive receiver of all of this undermines their agency, and their power to reject the pressure to undergo all this grooming / breeding. It's insulting. Overall, the whole thing sounds pretty immature.
I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who thinks that.
HOWEVER. We all have to start our journey into feminism somewhere. And if this video has raised some kind of awareness in the poster, then it's not necessarily a bad thing.
I mean, my first exposure to feminism was a part of being the Spice Girls generation with "girl power", then an assignment on womyn in politics in seventh grade which eventually led to me being the fountain of awesomeness that I am today.
I also kind of dislike the assumption that all womyn do these things. Especially just for men. I shaved my pits for the first time in three months the other day and it was just because it was annoying ME and I don't think I've painted my toenails in years. Oh and I don't wear high heels anymore.
Kittypuzzle, the only heteronormative assumption I saw here is you, assuming that when the singer said "we do it for you" the "you" meant a male romantic interest. I think the writer of the lyrics was portraying women's expected beauty regimen as being expected not just by men, but by all of society in general. Trust me, women judge each other on who's wearing the right mascara as much if not more than men judge women for that.
There also is no assumption that all women do all of these things, or that all women wear high heels every day - you're reading way too far into it. This list is just representative of the larger picture of beauty expectations that women are supposed to conform to, but men do not have to.
The part about giving birth is not saying that all women give birth, just saying that women who do deserve a little respect from guys who will never have to go through it. Same for periods and tampons - don't blow it off as just PMS-ing, or blow off labor as unimportant through policies that don't give paid leave or make you use all your sick days for it before you can get disability pay.
I, for one, found the video to be totally hilarious, and an excellent satire exposing the artificial expectations imposed on women that are not imposed on men.
That's what I think too. I just wanted to see what other people though of the video.
I def. agree with Erin.