Every time I am driving in the car I hear a Group Health radio commercial. The first one I heard was offensive. Then the next one I heard was offensive. And then I heard a third one that was offensive.
The first one I heard was about a guy with amnesia. He didn't remember anything, but his Group Health nurse was able to access all of his files to tell him his name, what he is allergic to, etc. Then the man said, "I don't even remember by wife's name...oh man, she is going to kill me!" Then the nurse says that his files say he is single, and points out that he isn't wearing a wedding ring. Well, this is the greatest news of his life, as he screams with pure joy, "I'm free! I'm free!" Because of course a man is a prisoner in marriage. He is a slave once he says '"I do." Poor men. Women are such a drag to be with.
The second one I heard was about a girlfriend suspecting her boyfriend of cheating. Being the stereotypical snoop, she was searching through his phone for some kind of evidence. She questioned him about every female number that was in his phone. "Who is this...who is this...?" she kept nagging. And he had legitimate excuses for all of the numbers. One was a personal trainer for instance. And one of the late night phone calls was to Group Health, not another woman. The commercial ended with her asking about one last number, to which he nervously responded, "give me the phone." So either he was actually hiding something from her, or he was just annoyed with her questioning. However you want to look at it, the woman is the antagonist. She is paranoid, obsessive and annoying. She is the stereotypical girlfriend, and the stereotypical woman for that matter. All women are nags, and this nagging is sooooo obnoxious for men to put up with. Even if there is a legitimate reason for questioning, it's still sooooo obnoxious. Again, poor men. How do they put up with us? We are just so uptight and annoying.
The third one was about a man (of course, that's who they portray as their customers) who is talking to his doctor about some medical problems he is having. The symptoms are bleeped out so that we don't hear what he has because it's probably too gross. Then the doctor said something or other about where he got such a medical problem, and I don't remember the exact wording, but it was insinuated that he got a nasty STD from overseas. Those damn Asain prostitutes. Those damn sex slaves...being forced to service 40 men a day. It's no wonder this nice man contracted something. Poor men.
I am sure that these commercials don't offend a lot of people that listen to the radio, because we are conditioned to accept woman bashing as the status quo. It's normal. We don't know any different. I mean, the ball and chain wife, the nagging girlfriend, the Asain prostitute. These are all things our society laughs about. Hahaha. It's so funny to belittle women.
