I hate jewelry commercials. I really, really hate them. They just portray women as such gold diggers, and perpetuate the idea that all a man has to do to keep his woman happy is give her jewelry. And that's all a woman wants, right? We don't need respect, or to be treated as intelligent individuals, or a partner who knows our individual likes, preferences, hobbies, etc. The generic gift of jewelry will make every woman happy! And you don't even have to put any thought into it - the jewelry stores conveniently come up with a special gift for each holiday, so just shlep in, ask for whatever the specialty gift of the moment is, and take that home. You don't have to put any thought at all into it. And regardless of your wife/girlfriend's personal taste, she'll love it, because she's a woman and all women automatically love all jewelry.
And then I read about the New York Times' recent piece on "push presents", which is just gross. The name is gross, the idea is gross, and the attitude of the women who push this idea of their partners is gross. Grossest of all was the quote from a woman whose husband gave her a pair of diamond earrings after 17 hours of labor: "I wonder what 17 hours of labor will get me next time?"
I think the worst part is that a jewlery supplier, of all people, attributes the growing popularity of the "push gift" to "assertiveness in women". So, assertiveness in women apparently means more assertive demands for jewelry. Sigh. Unfortunately, those jewelry commercials that I hate so much do have a target audience that falls for them.
And before anyone says "There's nothing wrong with getting a gift for a woman who has recently givent birth!" let me say no, of course not. When a freind of mine had a baby a couple of years ago I got her some nice bath gels, lotions, and bath salts so she could pamper herself. But what I find disturbing is pregnant women who drop hints to their partners that they want a gift for giving birth, and hint for things like tennis bracelets, diamond earrings, etc. The fact that jewelers are starting to market to this trend with slogans like "She just had your child, now give her s set of twins" for advertising diamond earrings and having "push gift registries", to me, is consumerism at it's worst.
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I think that my favorite part is that these push presents don't even come close in value that someone who have to pay a stranger-woman to carry their baby. So these women are all like "pay me for my birthing services" but they're selling themselves at 70% off. :)
The whole idea is disgusting.
Even the name is just vile. When I read that I just wanted to vom. And if "baybees are the greatest gift" what do you need a piece of jewelry for? You know what that reduces you to? A whore. Yep. A whore. Bought and paid for. Nothing more than a service provider.
Exactly.
I hope I won't offend anyone, but I also think that stay at home moms are partly whores. Their husbands wouldn't be okay with them staying at home if they just did absolutely nothing: they earn their keep with their cleaning, cooking, chaffeuring, birthing and child-rearing services. And sexual services. They trade sex for a roof over their heads.
It's time for another episode of "Truly True Advertising"!
"Is your wife pregnant? On that special day, give her a gift that will remind her she is nothing but a broodmare you pay to preserve your worthless DNA! Give her beautifully cut diamonds, straight from the African war zone to her heart! Because diamond-fueled wars and sexism are forever!"
*eyeroll*
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