Political Correnctness and Housework Songs, Volumes I & II (for real this time)
As I said earlier, in some ways New Zealand is a bit behind the times, stuck in the 1970's. But in one important respect, it seems to be stuck in the early 1990's.
During afternoon television, I've seen ads for two CD's, 'Houseworks Songs, Volume I' and (now!) 'Housework Songs, Volume II.' The covers feature a woman singing into a vacuum cleaner nozzle and another playing air guitar with a broom.
Apparently, they are UK imports, and perhaps are intended more than a bit tongue-in-cheek. I have to admit, though, that I was a little taken aback by the underlying implications of the CD's.
(In all fairness, I hate the commercials on daytime TV in the US as well. They are designed to make women feel like they are horrible mothers who will kill their families with salmonella or their children will be ostracized at school unless they buy the right cleaning products.)
Kiwis will be the first to point out that NZ was a world leader in women's suffrage and NZ has a female Prime Minister. This is often used in the same way the Bush administration can point to Condi Rice as 'evidence' of its deep concern for women and African-Americans. However, looking at the statistics for economic outcomes for women in terms of both income and achievement, NZ is quite like the US. Both the gender income gap and the 'glass ceiling' exist here. In fact, some recent studies have shown that the income gap is actually widening.
It can be argued that such economic issues aren't a result of sexism or discrimination. On the other hand, it would be hard to argue that sexism and discrimination aren't part of the fabric of New Zealand society.
For instance, shortly after we arrived, I went shopping for a television. I looked at a couple of different models and had a nice chat with one of the salesmen and Noel Leeming. We talked about a lot of stuff, including the obvious fact that I wasn't from NZ and had just arrived from the US. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to spend, and definitely didn't want to buy right then anyway. So I said to the salesman, 'Well, I'm going to have to talk this over with my wife.'
'Mate, you're in New Zealand now,' he said. 'You don't have to ask your wife's permission to do anything.'
Now, I'm not so sensitive to this kind of thing to think, 'Oh my god, what a sexist jerk.' In fact, I'm not above joking with friends about having to ask our wives' permission to do things. So it's rather hard for me to say if this was a tongue-in-cheek remark, in which case it was an example of Kiwi humor (which can be quite insensitive and inappropriate) or genuine sexism and a dig at my masculinity.
But there's definitely an undercurrent here of the kind of common sexism and racism that one wouldn't expect to find in the 21st Century.
For example, we some Sundays we go the Riccarton Market, a cross between a flea market, farmers' market, and take-away foodcourt. It isn't unusual to find craft booths selling golliwogs. I've even seen them for sale in a couple of the gift shops in the tourist zone. The attitude toward them is at best 'they're just a doll' and at worst to decry as 'PC' any criticism of their use.
Sometimes being here in NZ is like living in an alternate universe where Fox News is actually a respected and trusted news source and a model for logical discourse. Honestly, I didn't think anyone but Fox News and its crybaby conservatives used the term 'PC' since about 1995, but NZ seems to be stuck on stupid, and by that I mean stuck on Fox News and calling 'PC' everything that smacks of common decency and recognizing that other human beings have feelings to.
This article here does a much better job than I could describing just how ridiculous the whole call-everything-PC thing is here.
Oh, NZ has even had its own version of the 'War on Christmas.' Perhaps some sort of exchange program would be worked out, whereby the US sends Bill O'Reilly to NZ and NZ sends the US ... well, I think sending Bill-O to NZ would be more than fair.
With Labour trailing National in the polls by some 15 points, and the Greens probably out of the government altogether, chance are things are gonna get a lot worse before they get better.
During afternoon television, I've seen ads for two CD's, 'Houseworks Songs, Volume I' and (now!) 'Housework Songs, Volume II.' The covers feature a woman singing into a vacuum cleaner nozzle and another playing air guitar with a broom.
Apparently, they are UK imports, and perhaps are intended more than a bit tongue-in-cheek. I have to admit, though, that I was a little taken aback by the underlying implications of the CD's.
(In all fairness, I hate the commercials on daytime TV in the US as well. They are designed to make women feel like they are horrible mothers who will kill their families with salmonella or their children will be ostracized at school unless they buy the right cleaning products.)
Kiwis will be the first to point out that NZ was a world leader in women's suffrage and NZ has a female Prime Minister. This is often used in the same way the Bush administration can point to Condi Rice as 'evidence' of its deep concern for women and African-Americans. However, looking at the statistics for economic outcomes for women in terms of both income and achievement, NZ is quite like the US. Both the gender income gap and the 'glass ceiling' exist here. In fact, some recent studies have shown that the income gap is actually widening.
It can be argued that such economic issues aren't a result of sexism or discrimination. On the other hand, it would be hard to argue that sexism and discrimination aren't part of the fabric of New Zealand society.
For instance, shortly after we arrived, I went shopping for a television. I looked at a couple of different models and had a nice chat with one of the salesmen and Noel Leeming. We talked about a lot of stuff, including the obvious fact that I wasn't from NZ and had just arrived from the US. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to spend, and definitely didn't want to buy right then anyway. So I said to the salesman, 'Well, I'm going to have to talk this over with my wife.'
'Mate, you're in New Zealand now,' he said. 'You don't have to ask your wife's permission to do anything.'
Now, I'm not so sensitive to this kind of thing to think, 'Oh my god, what a sexist jerk.' In fact, I'm not above joking with friends about having to ask our wives' permission to do things. So it's rather hard for me to say if this was a tongue-in-cheek remark, in which case it was an example of Kiwi humor (which can be quite insensitive and inappropriate) or genuine sexism and a dig at my masculinity.
But there's definitely an undercurrent here of the kind of common sexism and racism that one wouldn't expect to find in the 21st Century.
For example, we some Sundays we go the Riccarton Market, a cross between a flea market, farmers' market, and take-away foodcourt. It isn't unusual to find craft booths selling golliwogs. I've even seen them for sale in a couple of the gift shops in the tourist zone. The attitude toward them is at best 'they're just a doll' and at worst to decry as 'PC' any criticism of their use.
Sometimes being here in NZ is like living in an alternate universe where Fox News is actually a respected and trusted news source and a model for logical discourse. Honestly, I didn't think anyone but Fox News and its crybaby conservatives used the term 'PC' since about 1995, but NZ seems to be stuck on stupid, and by that I mean stuck on Fox News and calling 'PC' everything that smacks of common decency and recognizing that other human beings have feelings to.
This article here does a much better job than I could describing just how ridiculous the whole call-everything-PC thing is here.
Oh, NZ has even had its own version of the 'War on Christmas.' Perhaps some sort of exchange program would be worked out, whereby the US sends Bill O'Reilly to NZ and NZ sends the US ... well, I think sending Bill-O to NZ would be more than fair.
With Labour trailing National in the polls by some 15 points, and the Greens probably out of the government altogether, chance are things are gonna get a lot worse before they get better.
posted by Jon A at
8:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home