Now before you roll your eyes at this as another oversharing moment on Twitter, hear me out.  I really see this a great example of our Wave Yin Yang Blend™.

It’s a belt that monitors a babies kicking in the womb and sends a tweet every time the little tyke gets all “Karate Kid”.  Ok, I agree that if you let these tweets go out to your entire online community of friends, family, and tweeps you can totally expect to be blocked and defriended.

However, to me the point is sharing the experience of pregnancy with the Daddy (or the other Mommy: coz we roll inclusive here at CultureWaves).

In fact, that is why Kickbee™ founder Corey Menscher was inspired to create it for his then pregnant wife.  He say’s he wanted to “help dads get in on some of the action that moms feel 24/7 during pregnancy. In a perfect world, when your baby kicks, you might grab your husband’s hand to place it on your belly so he can experience one of your baby’s first movements, too. Well, at least some of the time. But what if he’s at work, or if you’re at work, or if he’s serving in Iraq, or if you’re traveling cross country? Dad misses out on the one-of-a-kind experience. So Mensher wanted to come up with a way to connect parents during pregnancy even when they can’t be in kicking distance of each other.”

I think this is a great way of utilizing existing communication tools to not only “Blur the line between the sexes” but share experiences that create deeper connections.  Now perhaps some sadist out there will come up with a device that emulates the pain of child birth!  Coz I’m sure you’d be into sharing that feeling…. right guys??

Nevermind the fact that this is a game and not something that actually has any kind of basis in reality. Nevermind the fact that these are digital avatars meant to represent who we want to project into a digital world, not who we really are. Most importantly, forget the very idea that you have the freedom to choose. They do not want boys playing as girls, and have taken a very hard line against it. Are you a boy and wish to play as a girl? The Banhammer awaits. This amazing and overzealous act of sexism displays not only ignorance but also a blatant disregard for your player base and their wishes. I’m not sure this has anything to do with respecting the fairer sex so much as maybe a CEO in the company found out the hard way that some dainty little sprite within the game named “Luvlee” was actually a 400 pound man from Brooklyn named Bob.

Respecting you customer base within their worlds, meeting them exactly where they want to be, if possible, and actually find out what respect means to them, not what you assume; those are the things that will foster customer loyalty. Not this.

/facepalm

I don’t know about you but I don’t remember anything of that sort from my sixth grade experience. Is this their idea of a social science project? What other projects are they embarking on? Developing a nuclear fusion reactor? Creating a probe to analyze the martian surface? Were falling way behind!

Anyhoo…

According to the youngsters, the Toys”R”Us Christmas catalogue featured “outdated gender roles because boys and girls were shown playing with different types of toys, whereby the boys were portrayed as active and the girls as passive”, according to a statement from Ro.

The group’s teacher explained to the local Smålandsposten newspaper that filing the complaint was the culmination of more than two years of “long-term work” by the students on gender roles.

One boy from the class commented:
“Small girls in princess stuff…and here are boys dressed as super heroes. It’s obvious that you get affected by this.”

Since we’ve got the guyliner for eyes, the manscara, the manties, the guy girdles, we just can’t forget the finger nails. So, the rise of the male polish begins. And I’m not just talking about Cuccio’s spa line. You’ve got your share of retail products as well, from Europop lines to “Man Glaze”.

As the line continues, even as slow as it does, to blur between masculinity and femininity in Yin-Yang Blend, you have to wonder where it’s going to end up. Two years ago we were arguing about men wearing eyeliner, and we’re seeing it appear outside of its respected music scenes more and more. Women are frequently saying they’re very attracted towards men with feminine facial definitions, and transexual bathrooms are popping up around the world.  So in the long run can we expect a more unisex view on everything?

Anyone who knows me, definitely knows that the Human Truth of Yin Yang Blend^TM rings especially true for me: “I see the line between the sexes as dotted.“^TM I’m a mish mash of traits that come from both male and female stereotypes. I’m a tomboy that uses my “feminine wiles” confidently. I’m a wild risk taker and also a loving nurturer. A total slob who loves “cleaning day”. I could wear baggy stained crap then dress like a movie star when the mood takes me. I’m a dichotomy in many, many ways.

My Point?

WHEN DO I GET TO RELATE TO A FEMALE ON A COMMERCIAL??

This thought occurred to me while watching yet another idiotic “slob-on-couch-doofus-husband” ad. I was, at that moment, sitting on the couch in a stinky sweatshirt spilling food down my front like a 3 year old totally NOT relating to the “long suffering wife”. Ugh.

You know the female stereotype that’s on almost every ad: that self righteous, eyeball-rolling, capable, competent, organized, uber parent, modestly stylish and “relatable”.

Well you know what? SCREW HER.

I don’t know her and I don’t know anyone like her and I’m sick of seeing her everywhere!!

Ok, Ok maybe you do know her or ARE her and would argue that I move in “creative type” circles where all sorts of lines are burred – sexual attraction, self expression and generational stereotypes are completely fluid in my reality – agreed! BUT I also don’t feel like I’m THAT much of a minority.

I’m not even the only one that has blogged about it. This gal also feels these male/ female commercial stereotypes have totally “JUMPED THE SHARK“.

I feel there will always be a place for the Guys and Dolls^TM style distinct difference between the sexes, I’m just asking that our advertisers broaden their brush stroke when using these one-dimensional archetypes.

Take a cue from the Yin Yang Blend^TM Wave once and a while.

The mainstream adopted the whole “Metrosexual” thing with ease- why shouldn’t the female opposite version exist… like… Fem-manly? (hmmm, maybe not). The British have the term Laddette but it’s has quite negative connotations and means extremely macho A-holish behaviour.

Well anywho, we don’t have to coin a term to acknowledge there’s a need for more interesting and complex women in our commercials.

(PS. yes, that’s me in the pic on a Skype conference with my workmates having some fun with my image heheh Love it!)

This season Hugo Boss has women that look like they are at are dressed as male extras on Mad Men. Jean Paul Gaultier delivered beefy sailors who’d embraced their feminine side in a sexy, gender-bending menswear collection. YSL has decidedly feminine heeled men’s boots, the “manscara” trend is still an emo mainstay and I’m living in a country where some of the macho-est men in the world dress in fluorescent pink and take more time doing their hair than I do.

It’s hard to a apply wider social meaning to fashion because it’s trends move so fast and seem to be quite reactionary.   But what if the line between sexes is truly becoming blurred?  Heck if someone from the past “time traveled” to present day they would think that’s already the case I’m sure.

The French have always been known to be more liberal when it comes to the topic of sex, at least more liberal than we Americans. But recently there seems to be a movement of celebrating the tabooed topic more forcefully in France, a balancing of the sexes against their traditional roles in a society that, while liberal, has always held on to a certain degree of conservatism. Not anymore. The frank, matter-of-fact openness challenging traditional thought into even more tolerant and less judgmental views is what the New York Times is calling, “a quiet revolution, one that is more subversive and silent than the Sixties”.

We have the president of France and his first lady who’ve opened their bedchamber doors to the public (literally); a female Justice Minister who at age 42, is single, pregnant and unwilling to identify the father (tabloids suggest the President); and now metro posters all over France of the recently released popular film, “Cliente” –a movie about a powerful, middle aged woman using the services of male prostitutes.

According to the movie’s director, author and actress Josiane Balasko the goal of the movie is to “shatter a long-held taboo in France and to send a positive message to middle-aged women who find themselves alone and wanting sexual fulfillment”.

This public display of activity speaks loudly in our Barely Legal™ wave as well, but we’ll venture to say this isn’t just a short burst of activity. It’s a quietly loud revolution, and the French are ever more willing to walk the fine line between gender equality as a whole culture in general.

Gender equability is the essence of our Yin/Yang Blend wave. It sees the line between the sexes as dotted if it chooses to recognize the line at all. In American culture, we have become incredibly tolerant of male and female roles fusing into each other’s realms. The rise of feminism, the decline of the traditional family and men’s willingness to express their softer side through fashion and cosmetics could all be factors as to why this human truth has taken foot into our mainstream society.

However, in some cultures yin yang is still but a ripple that occasionally surfaces. While still very much a patriarchal and religiously conservative country, a small group of citizens called the Zapotec people celebrate what they call the “Muxes” (pronounced Moo-shays). Muxe, is a word derived from the Spanish word for women, “mujer”, and refers exclusively to men who consider themselves women. They dress, talk, and act like women to various degrees, and could be compared to what we know as a “transvestite”.

These muxes are celebrated in the indigenous communities of the southern state of Oaxaca, looked upon by others as a third gender that may even possess special intellectual and artistic gifts. According to anthropologists, this stems from the acceptance of these mixed gender people in pre-Colombian times when priests and Gods were depicted in both male and female dress and roles.

The New York Times interviewed some of the locals in regards toward having a son or grandson muxe, and here’s what they had to say: “It is how God sent [them]”. Another who took up a boyfriend muxe said “I accept things as they are…I don’t see any problem. What is so bad about it? No one is going to die from this.”

An indigenous society so far behind our times yet so far ahead, this evidence piece falls inspirationally into our Yin/Yang Wave.

Add men’s bras next to men’s pantyhose’s on our list of things that blur the line between the sexes in our yin/yang blend wave. Just two weeks after launching the bras, a Japanese online lingerie retailer says it’s their hottest selling item. Targeted to cross dressing men, the Rakuten.co.jp also sells men’s panties. Executive Director Akiko Okunomiya said she was “surprised at the number of men who were looking for their inner woman”. Funny, a big word many people might think when first looking at this product is: “GAY”. But honestly, there seems to be more and more of this creeping up, where upon many a straight men out there are searching for ways to get in touch with their more feminine self. Check out celebrity Eddie Izzard, talk about a straight cross dresser.

So just how specific are these bras designed for men? They’re made to fit snug and discreetly under men’s clothing just like for women. “I like this tight feeling. It feels good,” Wishroom representative Masayuki Tsuchiya told Reuters as he modeled the bra.

Damn, wish I felt that way when putting on a bra. Grass is always greener on the other side huh boys…

Some just have the burden of having to explain to others why they see the line between the sexes dotted, and they’ll do so.  Fourteen year old girl Logan Young wants to play baseball as a freshman, not softball. This means she would have to play with the boys of course, and her Indiana High School has simply said no way. A state school rule (IHSAA) prohibits girls from trying out for baseball if their school has a softball equivalent. Logan and her family think softball and baseball, however, are not equal, and have sued. “In this day and age, a girl should have the opportunity to participate on an equal footing with the boys in high school sports,” said Young’s family attorney. According to the Associated Press:

“The suit seeks to have the IHSAA rule thrown out based on the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and Title IX, the federal law that mandates equal educational opportunities for boys and girls” -source

Interestingly enough, the Young’s High School has a female kicker on their football team. Whether or not you agree with girls playing baseball, fact is, softball and baseball are actually different. Once she proves that, she’ll move on to the harder task of proving her equality on the field.