Your fave unfeminist things

[Guiltyfeminist91]

Hi all! So I found myself watching the movie Overboard yesterday (original with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell) and as much as I adored it as much as when I was a teenager I can't help but feel a tad guilty for enjoying such an 'unfeminist' film.

You can google for full context and plot but if you haven't seen it, it's essentially a movie about a man who takes advantage of the fact that a 'rich bitch' woman who previously treated him like dirt develops amnesia. So he convinces her that she's his wife, and mother to his 4 ill-behaved boys, and has her do all his housework, cooking, parenting etc They end up falling in love.

It just got me thinking that a chat about all our favourite unfeminist things could be a laugh. Doesnt necessarily have to be a movie. Just anything you enjoy that makes the feminist in you cringe!

Thoughts?

I'd happily alternate weeks with him and Don Draper that's for sure

Same

Grease.
It sits so uncomfortably with me that Sandy changes literally everything about herself to be Danny’s girlfriend, because he’s too embarrassed to be seen with her. But I still bloody love it and will belt out every single song! 😂

I do like it when a man holds a door open for me or insists on helping me with a heavy bag. I do weight training three times a week, carry 25kg containers every day at work so can probably lift more than these men but I always graciously accept their help. It makes me happy that there are men around who have been brought up well.

(Just going to be the one who points out Danny does turn up in a preppy cardigan at the end of Grease - but yeah it’s not like he’s had his hair done and everything. Good job too. Imagine Sandy turns up and gets the ick)

I'm a Realist rather than a Feminist, so whereas I can actually competently change a flat tire, do very basic DIY and gardening - why on Earth would I, when I get some hapless bloke to do it for me?

I'm decidedly middle aged now and my looks are fading, but back in the day, I was very grateful that blokes were so easily manipulated just by a nice smile. I used to feel sorry for blokes - so totally not in any real control of themselves and no match for a determined woman.

DH is your archetypal ex rugby player. Big shoulders, hairy chest and always 3 days of stubble. Shit, shower, shave is as far as his personal grooming goes - and I wouldn't have him any other way, thanks.

Have friends with very mindful, prissy, feminist husbands and they just make me shudder. Same with blokes with very neat finger nails, delicately moisturised skin and carefully ironed shirt [runs screaming for the hills].

Capable men... when I was a child, all men were capable. They fixed the car, they built their own garages, they cleaned gutters and removed chimney breasts (and they had the kit to do all these things). If there was anything they couldn't do alone, there was always a neighbour, who was also capable man and they did it together. Don Draper is an (elegant) example. They just get on with things that require brute strength and a mechanical mindset. Sadly, they've died out, but oh I loved them.

Nowadays, it's any man who asks me on a date, having chosen a decent restaurant without asking me whether it's ok (because he knows it's a decent place, not a burger van), who doesn't then drone on about how he's vegan/vegetarian and/or has an allergy to something or other, or is on an 'eating plan' ie a bloody diet (yawn) and then afterwards instead of mithering about splitting the bill and who ate what, just picks up the bill whilst telling me what a lovely evening he's had.

Thankfully it's rare enough that I don't have to question my feminist credentials too often...

Goodness - I'm not sure I'm a feminist at all as I agree & like everything that everyone has posted here

Pretty much any film from the 80’s that I love, but especially The Breakfast Club. Not only is there Judd Nelson under the table but Ally Sheedy gets the worst make over ever just to make Emilio Esteves fall for her.

Spiders. I can deal with the tiny ones but anything bigger than a penny I will run screaming. To the point where I have knocked on a neighbour’s door to get him to deal with it for me when husband isn’t home.

Removing body hair, not just because I alone like it

My own father is the cerebral type - very organised, sensitive and gentle. Useless with DIY though never owned a drill my mother advised me years ago to marry a plumber or electrician 😅

Other unfeminist thing - I like a man who enjoys his food. I've been out with two fussy eaters and they were both crap in bed 🤔

I do like cooking for men, feeding them and furnishing them with hot drinks and biscuits and every man worth his salt loves a homemade pie. I’m also very good at playing the helpless female when it suits me by doing that wide-eyed Marilyn Monroe thing. I’m the wrong kind of feminist obvs.

I do most of the cooking and there are certain jobs I get my partner to do as I tell him it’s a man’s job. In reality it’s normally gross things I don’t like to do lol.

things like taking out the bins, cleaning hair out the shower drain, cleaning the oven, mowing the lawn and removing any scary bugs like spiders from the house.

They just get on with things that require brute strength and a mechanical mindset. Sadly, they've died out, but oh I loved them.

They haven't died out. They're in Australia, Canada, Uganda, other places.

Jilly Cooper books
Pretty Woman
Dirty Dancing
Indiana Jones
The awful song ‘baby it’s cold outside’ - but it’s so nostalgic!

I know I shouldn't love Pretty Woman, but I always watch it when it's on! Same with Bridget Jones Diary. Bad feminist! 😂

Going to our mechanic, knowing what is wrong with my car, letting them assume I don’t, and then gratefully accepting ‘favours’ like free fixes and being boosted up the q because ‘my husband is away for work and I just feel so trapped without a car’.
I will never tell anyone in rl about this, not even said husband who could easily join me in fixing said car.
I have no idea even if I actually get something out of this- they could easily just be lying about the q! I know how to fix the majority of stuff on our car and it would be cheaper. I don’t even particularly mind doing it.
but every single time..

Dirty dancing, Grease (although to be fair, I'm one of the only people on the planet who also love Grease 2) Hip-Hop. As I've gotten older if started to appreciate the joy of being alone in the house for the day and being able to give it a really good clean.

Getting thinking space from salespeople or trades by saying "I'll have to check with my husband".

Slightly tradwife dress sense and a love of embroidery.

Blurred Lines. Tune.
Botox and fillers.
Shave legs and armpits.
Let DH take the bins out and do car maintenance.

I like it when a man holds a door for me, or in a naice restaurant when the serve the women first.

I once went to Aspinal's and the waiter handed me the 'ladies menu', which doesn't list any of the prices.

The whole place did my head in...

Blaming my mum for all the inadequacies of my upbringing and my dad for none of them.

We really have gone backwards.

I've found this thread quite upsetting.