Superbowlshit

My friend Matt and I watched the Superbowl together, calling out the commercials and noting whenever a blatantly misogynistic commercial made someone laugh. Seriously? Thank god for this experience, or I would've thought I was sitting on my lonely feminist island again (I think any feminist will be all-too-familiar with the island syndrome). Some of my favorite call-outs of Superbowl ridiculosity below...

pam tebow needs better logic

I physically cannot stop myself from commenting on the upcoming anti-abortion Superbowl ad. There will never be enough that can be said about a stance that's so ridiculously irrational and blind. Feel free to add to this list, but here is what I have so far:

• Pam Tebow needs to advertise second opinions, not discriminatory legislation.
• Pam Tebow needs to recognize doctors as medical advisers, not as the absolute authorities over her body (refer to the next bulletpoint).
• Pam Tebow needs to acknowledge that it was her ability to choose, to think consciously about a serious procedure, that should be rewarded. Neither doctors nor anti-abortion legislation be in full control.
• Pam Tebow needs to stop talking about abortion like an expensive dental plan. For many women, there are no alternatives.
• Pam Tebow needs to give women (including herself) a better foothold in the world. Women are women, long before they may have the desire or the option to become mothers. Having offspring may feel selfless and life-changing, but validation needs to come from the self, not from a son's athletic achievements. This is not selfishness. It's basic human dignity.
• Pam Tebow needs to reclaim reproductive autonomy, rather than outlawing it. She could begin by taking a three million dollar stance against the forced sterilization of women of color (crash course here).
• Pam Tebow needs to specify. She is sponsored by the organization "Focus on the Family," but let's be explicit that the focus is on the upper-middle class, heterosexual, white family.
• Pam Tebow needs to trust the women across the nation, just as she trusted herself with reproductive choice. The decision was a difficult one for her, just as it will be a difficult one for many of us. Abortion is by no means an easy choice. Trust the rest of us with consciousness.
• Pam Tebow needs to realize that being pro-choice does not outlaw childbirth.
• Pam Tebow needs to meet more women.

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EDIT
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I felt compelled to add this little disclaimer after watching the Tebow ad last night. After the commercial got nods of approval from rational thinkers (the ones you would usually expect to read past anti-abortion BS), I think that somewhere along the line, most of us forgot the word work (re: post below) that's at play. What this commercial was going for (and achieved, apparently) was to pit legalized abortion against pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. Do you like families? Yes. Do you like children? Yes. Do you like mothers that like their children? Yes. Okay, then go to the Focus on the Family website, and here is some anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-abortion, and pro-religion crap while you're at it. Age-old strategy, of course, but why is it that once subtlety was built into the message ("tastefulness," is the word that's misused in most articles), we all seemed to forget what's at stake? The ad is by no means non-controversial; it's just going into the just-plain-false zone and connecting dots that simply don't belong together. Subtlety does not make misogyny any more mainstream. What's buried underneath the Tebows' creepy Cheshire smiles is this typical argument: abortion = no babies allowed, ever. How is that for apocalyptic feminism?

Try Jesse Taylor's take on the deceptive subtlety.