NEWS: Fast Times at Misogyny High

CULTURE: Fast Times at Misogyny High

Welcome, class. Please take out your textbooks and turn to the chapter on Media, Society and Politics. As you’ll see, today’s lesson focuses on the cultural intersection between two seemingly disparate topics: The new series of VW television ads, and South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds’s recent signing of a bill that bans nearly all abortions in his state. “What on God’s green earth is the connection?” You might be asking. Well, dear students—I’ll tell you. The latest television adverts for VW, which introduce the redesigned GTI, attempt to reinstate the sports car’s long lost cult following. And how do they attempt this feat? Why, they do it in large part by tapping in to the inherent misogyny of America’s fine young men, of course!

The spots are driven (so to speak) by an evil-looking totem: a little black monster called simply "Fast." The icon serves as the intended personification of young American men’s insatiable desire for speed (velocity, not meth) and freedom. We’ll call it speedom. In any case, the formula is this: a young buck, itching for speedom at the wheel of his shiny new GTI, treats his girlfriend like crap. For example, in one ad, a young woman—her hair flapping about her face as her boyfriend races down his own private Autobahn—asks sweetly if they might roll the windows up a tad. At the frightening behest of his “Fast,” he tells her no, ultimately shutting her up with the statement, “It’s really hard to enjoy the sound of the engine with all that yakking.” Another ad features a young man who locks his girlfriend out of the car as he prepares to leave on an errand, telling her that he’d “rather not carry the extra weight.”

It’s one thing to appeal to men under the age of 25—it’s another thing to do it by encouraging misogyny. And how does this have anything to do with Monday’s signing of a bill that denies women the right to their own bodies (even bodies that have been assaulted by rape or incest); a bill that aims to ultimately chip away at Roe V. Wade? Simple. The VW ads present and promote a society in which women are second-class citizens. VW holds up a mirror, and it reflects a country in which treating women with disrespect is considered acceptable and even amusing. Misogyny becomes a sales pitch, a marketing tactic. And it shows us why legislation like the bill signed this week in South Dakota needs to be regarded as a direct and very serious attack on the rights of every woman in this country. In a country that still hasn’t passed the Equal Rights Amendment, and in a country where women are increasingly denied the right to choose, there can be no room for complacency, passivity, or patience. American women have to act, and they have to act “Fast.”

I agree, hopefully a major threat to Roe v. Wade, like this South Dakota business, will shake people out of their complacency. It's critically important that we drive the right-wing out of power in this country, although unfortunately people are somewhat slow to see how quickly their rights are disappearing.

I'm rather fond of when they unpimp the auto though.

Yeah man. If it's misogyny or Germans, bring on the Germans!

where is that guy in the commerials from?! the unpimp your auto ones....he is so familair but i can't place him....he kinda creeps me out lol

These'll scare those sexists straight.

"Where's the money, Le-bowski?"

[Edited on Mar 11, 2006 by Hooraydiation]

I am pretty sure the adds are intended to be funny. My girlfriend drives a gti and loves the commercials.

Yes, that is painfully annoying.

Yes, "misogyny". A joke about how your girlfriend doesn't understand you need for speed is hateful towards women. It's not like you see commercials that argue that, say, if it weren't for fast food, some guys would starve. That smell must be you lighting your bra on fire.

[Edited on Mar 10, 2006 by Jeff_Fries]

Agreed. I don't think it's offensive in the least.

Seriously. This is really, really stretching the context of the commercials.

To the OP: Have you even seen the 'fast' ad about getting delivery? I sincerely doubt that VW made this ad campaign just to bring women down.

Also, wtf? Politics Editor, and this is your first post?

I would tend to say that it's not just an American thing. Any foreign company that thinks it's okay to exploit American Misogyny can't have that favorable attitude towards women either.

the main problem with innocuous commercials like this is that there is not just one or two, we are innundated with various sterotypes about manhood and gender roles. These commercials are not just being seen by 25-35 year olds, 11-18 years olds are seeing them as well and the younger ones especially are going to be influneces by them

Of course, a family environment that doesn't put this sort of thing into a moral context likely isn't going to raise anyone that concerned about it anyway, so I suppose there isn't much to be done for them.

Wow. Now that is a leap of logic.

He was one of the nihilists in The Big Lebowski.,

http://imdb.com/name/nm0001780/

The problem with this argument is that it suggests that VW has a will of its own. Anyone (with an education) knows that all human activity is driven by cultural forces beyond your control. The decision in SD essentially created this commercial. Perhaps you don't see that, or are not willing to. That is why we have editors.

[Edited on Mar 10, 2006 by Jeff_Fries]

I think thats kind of the point that he's brash and over the top...

So they appeal to young men in one commercial and mock them in another...

Free speech does not apply to just you. Its supposed to be a fucking free country, people already say a million things a day that offend me and I offend them. The people have a right to express misogynist views if they choose and we have the right to respond.

oh nevermind, I'm staying out of this.

Yeah, I hate that, when white kids from the suburbs try to argue that racism effectively doesn't exist anymore. Also it pisses me off when people try to say that there's no wage gender gap by saying that more women go to college than men. I mean come on, dumbass, you just read that in Mallard Fillmore or something, a little basic knowledge of statistics would tell you that to make a credible inference you want to look at a large population, not a segment of a stratified population; considering the average American doesn't get a 4 year degree and that women have less access to vocational training that allows entry into careers that pay decently and don't require a BA, I would hypothesize that women are, in fact, paid less than men on average. Godamn...

[Edited on Mar 10, 2006 by Ska_Boss]

The spots are aimed at men. Clearly. Now, does that mean that they're not sexist? Of course not. However to say that because two ads out of the 5-6 that I've seen have a guy "choosing his fast" over his girlfriend that these ads are somehow simultaneously capitalizing on a vast groundswell of misogyny in this country and indirectly providing support South Dakota's ridiculous anti-abortion legislation... that's more than a bit of a stretch.

There is unabashed sexism portrayed in virtually every advertisment for products aimed at either men or women. Women are portrayed as sex objects. Men are portrayed as oafish lechers. What on earth made these relatively innocuous ads any different than any one of the beer ads I've seen, um... ever?

Aww, I love that guy.

He's a genius.

[Edited on Mar 10, 2006 by Jeff_Fries]

I've always thought that those "fast" commercials were a) dumb, b) protraying men as idiots. Thats me though. I'm a kooky guy.

I AM FAMOOSE RUSSIAN COSMONAUT!