Who taught you to shave? Gillette ad shows transman being encouraged by his dad.

[Toomanytears]

Firstly no one 'taught' me to shave under my arms or my legs and I didn't have you tube either so is it a rite of passage? I don't know.

Secondly, I wonder how men will feel about this? Will they start to understand why women are worried about being clumped together in a homogeneous mess?

New Gillette ad shows father helping transgender son to shave

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/28/gillette-ad-shaving-transgender-son-samson-bonkeabanut-brown?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Who is making Gillette's adverts I wonder? And who are they aimed at?

I "got" the previous sensitive Dad one - mainly because I actually think it would encourage women to buy Gillette on behalf of their menfolk.

But this one? We know most of the population doesn't believe it's possible to change sex - so who is it aimed at?

Many men will be alienated and I can't see it speaking to women.

Just Bizzarre.

I think it will speak to plenty of women. Lots of women are fully on board the trans train and are just as woke as the wokest bro.

I expect men will find it less upsetting than the last one, to be honest. They might think it's silly but they won't take it as a personal attack and start frothing about NAMALT.

Could be an eyeopener.

My mum taught me

Oh fgs it's just advertising, using a sentimental storyline, oh how lovely everyone bis just lovely and accepting, now buy our razors.

All adverts use a storyline.

I really don't get the problem here. A transmen might well indeed benefit from some shaving advice seeing as a lot of them will actually grow beards.

I think the concept of 'dad teaching son how to shave' is fairly common. I also don't understand what there is to be mad at here. Transmen will grow facial hair, therefore they will need razors. The ad is attacking noone, just including another section of their target audience. What is the panic?

I used to watch my dad and ask him lots of questions. He used to have a shaving brush and soap stick and swish it round and round. Absolutely fascinating.
I used to watch my grandad too. He took absolutely ages with the soaping, each stroke had to be perfect yet he still came out of the bathroom covered in bits of bog roll
I watched my other grandad a couple of times when I was little, but he wasn't too keen - think I put him off.
DH just wizzes round with an electric razor.

I think DH just told DS to follow the instructions on the electric razor

I learned how to wet shave by watching my dad. I’d just copy what he did (often with his brand new razors) but on my arms / legs / underarms. Mum didn’t have a lot of body hair and often just had a 5 min go at her underarms with an electric shaver whenever she could be bothered

I think there is a sort of cultural trope of men teaching sons to shave, so the ad is playing on that. I'm sure I've seen a few razor ads over the years that feature that theme.

I am not crazy about the ad on two counts. One is that I don't like woke advertising in general. I don't like call out culture, I don't like the cynicism, I don't like people feeling like they are in the "right" social group because they like the right ads or like they are ding something worthwhile by buying a product. I think often these ads are designed to obscure problems with the capitalist model.

But as far as this, it's really about normalising what are often unsubstantiated medical treatments that are very damaging, and often, maybe even always, totally unnecessary.

How old is the female supposed to be? Under 18 and taking testosterone? That is child abuse. Over 18? It's a tragedy but they are an adult. Since it isn't clear and I don't want to condone child abuse, I'll now steer clear of Gillette products until they are willing to clarify this. And as a bloke I'll make sure my 2 boys won't use their products either when they are old enough to shave (non white, left of centre, non religious male just so you know that it isn't just the demographic that you think you are pissing off - I know you love your labels).

Advertisers leverage sentiment and controversy to garner maximum exposure, surely not?

If you don’t want a beard stop taking male hormones.

Secondary sex characteristics aren’t an accidental byproduct of taking hormones; they are the whole point.

This makes as much sense as teaching transwomen how to hide their breasts.

Secondly, I wonder how men will feel about this?

I think they’ll be baffled when the chemist compliments them on how well they ‘pass’.

I don't know about hiding breasts being similar. Lots of natal men shave, and not because they don't want to be men.

The transmen I know need that facial hair to have any hope of passing.

If you don’t want a beard stop taking male hormones
They might want their voice to break and to have stubble, but not a full beard.

Cummon, you can choose anything nowadays.

Removal of body hair for males is fairly minimal and yes often considered a right of passage. Removal of body hair for females can be pretty extensive, with even arm hair apparently unacceptable for some women. Hair or stubble on the face, legs, armpits, vulva etc is not considered attractive and women are to go to great lengths to pretend they don't actually have this hair. And there's no right of passage. Instead we're told it's pampering to pay someone to rip the hairs out periodically.

Now imagine how this all looks if you're a girl and you've been told by school it's possible to change sex.

Don’t see anything to take issue with in this ad. Wet shaving is still popular and as said it can be a rite of passage for a dad to teach his son how to shave. Actually brings back memories of my dad and his Old Spice mug, shaving brush and Gillette razor- might have tested it on myself when very young

It’s a great ad showing a dad’s unconditional support and affection for his trans son.

'This makes as much sense as teaching transwomen how to hide their breasts.' I'm not sure if it's still on YouTube but there was a butch Trans voices panel that included the line ' I wish I had breasts so I could bind them' in about 2012

m.youtube.com/watch?v=_xfTN-dKqO4 this series