Act Like a Gender Stereotype, Think Like a Different Gender Stereotype

We now take a break from posts about nursery rhymes and cartoon ducks to bring you something much more ridiculous. This is old news, really, but I think of it when I see advertisements for Steve Harvey’s show on buses and such. Because if there’s one thing we needed in this world, it was one more member of the media spouting sexist stupidity. His book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, provides such useful advice as, “A man shows he loves a woman in three ways. We profess, protect, and provide.” Does that mean that guys who don’t do these things don’t deserve relationships, or what? Oh, and here’s an actual page that I found floating around on Tumblr:

So, if you don’t want to take your husband’s name, you’re…incestuous, I guess? Not entirely sure where that comes from. Besides, by that logic, shouldn’t a man have to change HIS name or else marry HIS parent? I don’t know whether Harvey is correct about men caring about such things. I know I wouldn’t want a woman to take my name unless she really liked it. But that’s kind of the point. If you try to appeal to men (or women) as a same-thinking group rather than individuals, is your relationship likely to be a success? I’m sure I know even less about relationships than Harvey does, but I DO know that stereotyping harms both sexes. Here’s another fun bit from Mr. Harvey:

Yes, he actually used the, “If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” argument, as well as the one about atheists having no moral compass. And since he refuses to talk to atheists, he presumably has no interest in learning the answers to his inane questions. One thing I have to wonder is, if he advises women not to get involved with men who don’t believe in God, what if the women don’t believe in God either? Oh, wait, he’s not talking to them. I forgot.

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