Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram
Wednesday Oct. 25, 1989



      Sexism and a commentator's misplaced fear of fly

                       By 'Asta Brown

     Not long ago on National Public  Radio, there was a great flap over
a new advertisement for Sansabelt men's slacks. In  an  apparent attempt
to to  give  the  brand's  image  some new voltage, the ad shows a woman
confiding that she  never  decides  whether  a  passing man warrants her
attention  "until I look down." The  NPR commentator was having  none of
it. Since  such  crude  statements  about  women a no longer indulged by
society, she argued, we should now raise  a hue and cry on behalf of all
the men wronged by this reverse sexism.
     This is very high-minded, and surely there are at least a couple of
guys out there crossing their legs  and feeling grateful for the reverse
chivalry. But most men  aren't  going  to  find  such  an  ad offensive,
they're going  to  find  it for what it is: a feeble attempt to turn the
tables.
     To the dismay of any post-feminists  hoping this will show men just
how lousy it feels to be a sex object, men may  well  find  the scenario
amusing or even flattering.
     The ad is  not  guilty  of  reverse  sexism.  There is only sexism,
period, and it has always worked two ways. The same  sexism  that denies
the full humanity of women also denies the full humanity of men.
     While we have made some progress on behalf of women, sexism against
men is so ubiquitous and deep that we must break profound taboos even to
suggest that it exists. And  here  is  where  public radio failed us, in
railing against silly old Sansabelt: There is nothing very  sexist about
a woman  sizing  up  a  guy's  physical contours; in a way, it's kind of
refreshing.
     True sexism against men is far  more subtle, and the woman doing it
isn't looking at the front of anybody's pants:  She's  checking  out the
bulge of  the  wallet  in  back.  Just as sexism reduces women to sexual
objects, it reduces men to  financial  objects.  Just as woman have been
exploited as sexual and emotional commodities, men are exploited as cogs
in the economic machinery, expendable war fodder, and providers who must
never fail. For every two guys discussing a  particular  girl's physical
charms,  there  are  two  girls  discussing  a  particular  guy's career
prospects.
     For too long we have approached  sexism as a problem caused by men,
to be solved by women. It is neither. We all create it, and  we  are the
only ones who can cure it.
     No wonder the subject is  taboo:  Once  we face the problem and the
pain, we're going to have to do something about  it.  And  if  you think
there was  hell  to  pay  when  women  raised  the  first  flag  of non-
cooperation (Death of the family!  No  more  babies!  Extinction  of the
 species!), wait  until  men  finally  decide to chuck the moneyclips and
claim their  full  humanity:  Economic  disaster!  Political  and social
chaos! Goodbye global security! Despite the alarms, we've  weathered the
first uprising with families and babies to spare.
     The outcome of the next anybody's guess, but one thing is sure: The
men who raise the flag of  their non-cooperation will have the attention
of the female species, and they won't have to wear Sansabelts to get it.
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     Bowen lives in northwestern Montana.
