North Carolina Billboard Sparks Controversy Over Sexist Message (VIDEO)

Damn, North Carolina. Back at it with the oppression again.

In today’s heart-warming news, a billboard just outside of Winston-Salem on Interstate 40 West simply reads:

“Real men provide. Real women appreciate it.”

There has been a lot of this going around lately. A rampant uptick of blatant sexism and racism has swept our country over the past few months, and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

Oh, sure, it’s always existed. The oppression, just in North Carolina alone, has been seen from the flagrant bathroom bill scandal all the way back to, well, slavery.

Many people believe that others are protesting the existence of the sign, or even back-lashing at the company that agreed to put it up, however, that is not the case.

The Facebook page that has been established for their protest that took place yesterday says:

“We are NOT protesting that the sign is capable of existing, or the people who put it up, or the ad agency, or the right to put it up. We are protesting patriarchy and sexism, and that this antiquated way of thinking about women exists at all.”

And they are wholly and completely right. This old world outlook on women, and their role within men’s lives, has been plastered up onto a billboard for hundreds, and even thousands, of people to see on a daily basis. Do you know what advertising is for? It’s for implanting a subconscious want or need into someone’s head by a series of repetitive exposure, thereby associating a particular product with words.

It works the same way for churches: their billboard that you pass everyday to and from work will slowly become associated with the massive Sunday morning time plastered alongside the name of the church. Do you pass a fast food restaurant billboard that might have a very enticing cheeseburger and fries splattered onto it? After a while, your mind begins to associate the want of a cheeseburger with the restaurant advertised on that billboard because of a concept called subliminal advertising.

The bold advertising is the restaurant’s name, and the subliminal advertising is the food they choose to advertise.

So, what do you think happens when, day after day, people pass this board going to and from work? Or home? Or grocery shopping? Or to see their friends?

The massive words are the bold advertising, and the underlying message that their brain ends up interpreting is the subliminal messaging.

It isn’t the billboard, and it isn’t the company that is being protested.

It is the message that “real men” have to be providers for their family and that “real women” have to do nothing but appreciate what they do.

And this isn’t just a mangled backlash against women’s rights, it’s also a backlash on households where the women provide the main source of income and the man stays at home with the children.

Yes, stay at home fathers exist. Are they any less “manly” for not providing an income?

Are women any less “womanly” by having more emotions than just appreciation for the what their men provide?

Are they any less “womanly” by being the provider?

The answer is: no. Because this isn’t the 19th century, and you no longer reserve the right to place people where you feel is appropriate and convenient to your ideologies.

Take a look at the video below for more information on the topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFkRIUGWigI

 

Featured image courtesy of The Charlotte Observer.