Feministing’s Jessica Valenti Pushes the Myth That Women Have Always Worked Harder Than Men

2007-08-29
By

In feminist author Jessica Valenti’s recent Feministing.com post Clorox’s history of women’s unwaged labor, she criticizes a Clorox ad which shows generations of women doing the laundry. Jessica (pictured) writes:

“Clorox does end up unintentionally showing how women have been doing household grunt work for generations. The worst line in the commercial says that ‘even a man or two’ has done the laundry. As if all the women watching are supposed to have some little laugh to ourselves about the inequitable division of labor. ‘I do shit work for free, tee hee!’”

When I read feminists say this like this, I wonder where they think the men were. What about the tens of millions of male blue collar workers who put their bodies on the line in the coal mines and steel mills so their wives and children could live in safety and comfort?

What about the tragedies of millions of American men who were killed or maimed on what German socialist Rosa Luxemburg called the “battlefield of labor?” The miners who died in cave-ins, explosions, or of black lung disease. The sailors and fisherman who died at sea. The oil refinery workers killed in explosions. The factory workers killed in industrial accidents. The construction workers who died carving train tracks and then highways through majestic mountain cliffs or the scorching desert. The construction workers who died building our bridges, dams, high rises, stadiums, and apartments.

Feminists (and our popular culture) have forgotten (or buried) all of them. Instead, we pretend that in the old days men had everything and women had nothing.

In the pre-feminist era, women certainly had many legitimate grievances, and some of those grievances remain today. However, men have always sacrificed and suffered for their families and their wives, and there were plenty of wives who had better, easier lives than their husbands did.

Valenti’s post can be seen here. The Clorox ad she’s unhappy about can be seen below.

SAMSONLAW–Divorce Lawyers for Michigan Men & Fathers
If you’re a Michigan man faced with divorce, you need SAMSONLAW on your side–SAMSONLAW defends men.
Smart Advocacy Means Stopping Oppression Now. INeedSamson.com
  • PolishKnight

    “I think Glenn’s detractors are missing a huge point with Glenn’s commentary. Glenn is the most invited back MRA I’ve ever seen.”

    I didn’t miss it. I even pointed this out when I wrote:

    “I get the feeling that Glenn is trying to soft-pedal his message so he doesn’t appear misogynistic but it also makes his message come across as weak. ”

    I don’t think he has to extend a fig leaf to the point of appeasement. I don’t think this is just to try to put on a show like Hillary would in a church. I think he genuinely buys into feminism’s idealistic notions of “gender equality.” As a result, he has one hand tied between his back.

    And you’re wrong: There is at least one person who gets more air time than Glenn: Ann Coulter. She’s far more abrasive (even moreso than most here and that’s saying something!) BUT she’s also well educated, persuasive, and hot to look at. We need an MRA whose got “stud appeal”.

  • http://awomanagainstfeminism.blogspot.com KellyMac

    I love what they’re saying on the Hoyden About Town blog. What a bunch of whiners. “Women had to work outside the home all day, then come home and wait on him and do the housework, UNPAID housework, and then everybody was in an abusive marriage and got beat up daily”.

    Ok, they didn’t say quite that. They did say, however:

    ““so their wives could live in safety and comfort”

    Wow. So, unpaid domestic labor, vulnerability to domestic violence and sexual assault, and a lack of reproductive rights sure sounds like safety and comfort to me. He’s right. Women have always had it so easy while the menfolk were busting their humps to provide.”

    As I said before, marriage was a partnership. That means both partners contributing.

  • jackal1994

    I think Glenn’s detractors are missing a huge point with Glenn’s commentary. Glenn is the most invited back MRA I’ve ever seen.

    His minor niceties/fig leaf he extends to feminists are well worth the price to have the MRM’s greivances of men being crushed literally to death and despair under the full weight of the courts aired on the public airwaves.

    The incredible difference between the treatment of men and women is possible primarily because men’s suffering is conducted under total blackout by the drive-by-media.
    EVEN AS DISPOSABLE AS MEN IN SOCIETY ARE, many of these instances of abuse (like the Duke 3) would not survive exposure to the sunlight.

    To push MRA’s very real very crushing burden’s into the limelight IS WELL WORTH THIS SMALL PRICE OF SAYING:”and some of those grievances remain today.”

  • http://awomanagainstfeminism.blogspot.com KellyMac

    What a moron. Who does she think was handling the plow, chopping down the trees, hunting for food? Oh, no. The woman was at home making soap and quilts and canning food. Oh, and washing the clothes. Hmm…sounds like in the past, men and women worked as a team. I wonder…that’s an idea that just might work!

  • Ed

    Thanx Glenn, I had watched the commercial a few times and had the feeling the message was biased. Thru the haze of the TV I didn’t think about it until you expounded on the real message. Which, by the by is the same one used by ole O’prey Windbag and Dr. Silly. That of course is the “core audience” ala women, kiss their collective fat rear ends and viola’, instant millionaire.

    Praise them pander to them and they’ll buy your schtick.

    And they probably do most of the laundry (not in my House of course) as apparently attested to in many other men’s home’s. What’s the big deal? The point being that the 20 minutes a day in those homes they actually do laundry amounts to what?

    Women’s sufferage?

    Seem’s WE (=men) “have a long way to go baby” as a gender if that’s their claim to fame and we’re outraged over the claim.

    We get our dander up because they do, probably on average, more laundry then we do when in the greater scheme of things thats one of the easiest jobs in the houshold.

    I mean, “wow, I put the trash out every Wednesday, hear me roar baby”.

    And this broad thinks it proves her point, that women have it tough?

    They feel smug because they can load an electric device and remove it put it in another electric device.

    I think I’m begining to reach another level here regarding their claims of suffergetteism due to male advantage. Namly, so what?

  • Pingback: Oh yeah, hit that strawfeminist harder, she’s still standing up at Hoyden About Town

  • PolishKnight

    Denis,

    I think Glenn is trying to avoid being labeled a misogynist at all costs because chivalrous men and liberals will toss him off the air in a second and I can appreciate those concerns. But that said, he needn’t undermine himself. His statement in no way softened the hearts of the man-hating feminists and self-hating apologetic men. All he did was chum the waters and then try to buddy up with them. There’s a word for that: appeasement.

    That said, women were discriminated against but men were discriminated against as well and this was in context to the role that men CONTINUE to have today. In other words, NOTHING has really changed. 50 years ago, women demanded and required men to support them and today, they continue to do so meaning that women have to demonize men in order to keep the one-sided goodie-gravy-train going.

    Glenn, I think, sincerely thinks that it’s possible to tame the shrew much like trying to make one of Michael Vick’s dogs into a nice housepet (sorry about that, but the visual fits.) Women CRAVE inequality not only between men and women, but even in the context of their relationships with women. A woman with a 6 figure salary will blow it on diamonds to impress other women. Giving women a career is like washing a rental car.

  • college activist

    History will look at the last 40 years of american history as the dark ages of the legal system…

    The last 40 years has not been ruled by law…It’s been ruled by the feminist Klan through createing hysteria!!

    As you can see the neo feminist Klan rule through lies, violence, and by mis-educateing males to do their brutalities for them!!

  • sstratford

    By the way, I am EXTREMELY appreciative of the many sacrifices men have made, whether it’s firefighters, miners, soldiers, or any other difficult and stressful line of work. I know I am not physically or mentally able to do those things, so I am very thankful that there are men in the world who do those things every day. The way men get treated nowadays is…tragic beyond words. Makes me ashamed to be a woman, sometimes.

  • sstratford

    I’ve seen that commercial many times, and it bugs me because it seems to make the point that not too many men actually do laundry. I know for a fact that a lot of men do, so what’s with the “a man or two”? You men should feel insulted over that, too.

    Yes, doing laundry is brainless work. A lot of people try to make it more difficult than it should be, but that’s partly the fault of all those commercials for laundry products you don’t really need. We live in a little one bedroom apartment without laundry facilities in our apartment or even in the building. I have to lug three to four loads of dirty stuff once a week to the nearest laundry room in the complex, which isn’t a problem if the weather is nice. But I’ve done it without complaint in the middle of a snowstorm before, too. My husband used to help me carry it over there because I have a bad back, but since he hurt his knee, he can no longer help me. Which is okay, because I don’t mind. He works and makes the money, and I do the housework. No problems there, but I guess I’m not a “typical” woman.

    Now, shall we talk about cleaning the bathroom? (GRIN!)

  • conservativation

    Ever watch women do laundry? (ok ok all you exceptions to the rule folks, not all women). At my house it builds to the point of viewing it is stressful, meaning it looks worse then it is. Then the process begins. One day the laundry room is covered with cloths for “the sort”…maybe a load or two go in if there are enough of those particulars. But the other things, colors, delicates, whatever, stay there in heaps and sometimes the loads in the wash and dry stay in the machines.
    Next day, the wet ones have to be run again, the dry ones are stacked in a basket an set in another room. Days later, at the “end” of the process there will be baskets of full laundry all around.
    When my family travels and leaves me alone, one of the first things I do is the laundry. In about 3 hours its ALL done and put away. Then I start going under sinks and such and throwing away bottles of lotion, dish soap, shampoo etc that have nothing in them but residue. Usually fill a bag.
    Then I relax.
    Don’t get me wrong, the place always looks nice, its just frustrating watching these minor tasks become major log jams.

  • bolwriter

    It’s as simple as this: When paid and unpaid work are taken together, men and women work equal hours. That’s from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Time Use Survey. Women do more domestic work; men do more paid work. If women don’t want to do as much domestic work, they should do more paid work.

    But Valenti has no intention of dealing with known facts. She’s once again trying to make women look like victims and men look like layabouts. As usual, the facts contradict her.

  • Denis

    “WHAT!?!?! What grievances remain that are not being addressed (even in a hysterical manner) by society? If anything, women are being given special privileges. No, I don’t think they are legitimate anymore than Paris Hilton whining about her problems.”

    “I get the feeling that Glenn is trying to soft-pedal his message so he doesn’t appear misogynistic but it also makes his message come across as weak. ”

    Thanks for pointing that out. This seems to be one of the greatest challenges for men and MRAs in this country. It is what women exploit and it is what contributes to a weakened position for men. American women NEVER had worthy grievances based on being women. Life in the past was harder for everyone but always more so for men. Women had far less responsibilities and expectations. Because men had more responsibilities and expectations it should come as no surprise that men had the largesse of jobs whether as laborer, miner, executive, ranch hand, whatever….having a job is part of having responsibilities and expectations as a man. But women tried to re-sell that fact as discrimination, e.g., as a grievance…..but they only wanted what they perceived as glamorous, high-status careers…..or jobs where they can tell men what to do…..while retaining the special privileges of the past. It’s a hard sell to try and convince men that this is “equality”. So why must we men soft-pedal our message?

  • PolishKnight

    I get the impression from these women that they think that their family is the man’s sole responsibility and her’s ends the moment the child plops out of her womb (unless she happens to get an abortion which is the most holy constitutional right we have.)

    Maybe this all goes back to the Catholic church’s obsession with the Virgin mary and childbirth as some kind of magical thing. LIFE is magical. Birth is just one portion of it.

    After that, there’s financially supporting the children which is the biggest task of them all and this is still done by mostly men. These women often get out of that duty by basically looking after her own children and then gripe that, gasp, he isn’t doing half of that too!

    Amazing.

    And it’s amazing that men in this country still buy into it. What is wrong with these saps?

  • PolishKnight

    Bitchin’ about laundry seems especially, laughably petty from white women whom I often hear comparing themselves to former black slaves: “Us white women have suffered just like blacks!”

    These women are spoiled, plain and simple.

    Laundry is the easiest household task: Seperate your colors into piles, toss them into the washer, one by one with the right chemicals and go relax and watch Oprah (or in my case, Future Weapons) for an hour. Come back, and throw the clothes in the dryer. Then go watch Texas No Hold ‘em poker. Then pull out the clothes and sort and fold and put away.

    Oh my, it’s like a death camp! How did these women ever survive!

  • PolishKnight

    When you start out apologizing, they don’t have to work hard to prove you’re guilty…

    I’m amazed nobody here called Glenn on this apologetic statement:
    “In the pre-feminist era, women certainly had many legitimate grievances, and some of those grievances remain today.”

    WHAT!?!?! What grievances remain that are not being addressed (even in a hysterical manner) by society? If anything, women are being given special privileges. No, I don’t think they are legitimate anymore than Paris Hilton whining about her problems.

    I get the feeling that Glenn is trying to soft-pedal his message so he doesn’t appear misogynistic but it also makes his message come across as weak.

    Did women have “legitimate grievances” in the past? Yes. Did men? HELL YES!!! These grievances of both genders were often related to each other and today, most grievances men have are exacerbated by feminism which is supposedly about “equality” but really just one big goodie grab.

    Of course, maybe Glenn still thinks that it’s possible to salvage feminism like those who want to believe that communism can be reformed to make the world one happy Sweden. Why, just get rid of all the man-hating and women could work equal and next to men.

    The problem is that most women would rather die childless than marry a SAH husband or a man who earns much less than her ultimately meaning that feminism institutionalizes two parent working households AND single motherhood. Even if all the man-hating laws were eliminated, women and men would compete in a hostile manner in the workplace and would have tensions in personal lives as women try to double dip.

    We hear about 150,000 men who are SAH dads but that’s like saying that there are 150,000 people living on communes and doing without cars and electricity. This means absolutely nothing in the context of how society works. Should our entire society FORCE DOWN OUR THROATS a notion of women’s equality that causes stress for more than 99% of the people just so 1% can feel like they are equal? (and not a real equality either since these women probably got a special handout) Hell, this isn’t even a human rights issue since the women who so desperate desire “equality” could still embrace it in an honest, sexist world. They’d just have to work a little harder to get it.

  • conservativation

    Tired worn out women have an easier time begging off sex.
    I once debated my sis in law about work inside the home and outside. Her day included a period of “having coffee and gathering thoughts”. First of all I’ve no idea what that soft meaningless tripe means, but to her it was a task. Secondly, is it any wonder it takes more than all day to do what men can do in 2 hours?
    My bro-in-law (diff. family) became Mr. Mom and wife got a huge job. they home schooled 7 kids!.
    Their home was always a wreck, crap everywhere, dishes, laundry, etc.
    Within 2 weeks he had it looking like a marine barracks, and was done teaching just after lunch and spent the afternoons relaxing and wondering just what the ehll she did all day.

  • CaptDMO

    Well, you see little missy,
    Sometimes it TAKES bleach-
    that was produced in the scary chlorine plant
    and trucked to the store
    and lifted off the pallet
    and tracked by accountants-

    In that washing machine
    in the house
    that runs on electricity
    with water on demand
    most of it hot, on demand
    that drains into into the water treatment system-

    to remove the grease
    and soot
    and blood
    and puke
    and smelly sweat
    and coal dust
    and tar
    and newsprint
    and effluent
    and fetid carrion
    and pesticide
    and landscape dirt
    and paint
    and asphalt
    and adhesives
    and fish oil
    and welding particulate
    and lumber resin
    and I suppose men could just go out and buy a new outfit, or wardrobe every time
    they need one, but that would mean less money for affirmative action
    based “extra” incentives.

    NOW, STF up and iron my uniform shirts.

  • tonysprout

    It was a man’s blood that paid for this bitch’s freedom.

  • mruffolo

    Valenti is a feminist propaganda worker

    Men invented machines that do housework. For example, Hubert Booth the vacuum (1901), Joel Houghton the dishwasher (1850), William Blackstone the drier, Percy L. Spencer the microwave oven (1945), Alexander Bell the telephone to call for maid service (1876), and, Karl Benz the automobile to drive to restaurants and day care (1885).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors

    While women were at home for 10,000 years, men were out working under extreme working conditions – slavery, 60 hour work weeks with little or no worker rights, and all the while men were dieing and getting injured.

    Further for the last 10,000 years, mostly men designed, built, and maintain the world’s infrastructures, such as, roads; water supply (in bound water), sewers (outbound water); electricity; communications systems of telephones and Internet; even, distributions systems for oil, mail, and products, among others are innovated and improved by men. This is some of the stuff that makes a country great and productive, though clean cloths and a clean home is part of it.

    That men repair homes: roofing, tuck point, plumbing, and electrical. We also install and fix equipment that goes into the home.

    Although work and home conditions improve, men still die and are injured in largest numbers compared to women. Last year about 5,275 men died at work while only 428 women died at work.

    http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

    I observe that mostly men are doers, feminists are mostly complainers.

  • Denis

    Men can train Rhesus Monkey’s to do “women’s work”. That creates time to hang out with buddies, watch sports, fish, hunt……

    Increasingly women in America are useful for one thing only-but they are’nt very good at that now either. Foreign women are better by far.

    My thoughts and prayers go out to the men 1500 feet below the earth’s surface in the Idaho mine and the two men firefighter’s who died last night in Boston.

    Valenti can simply STFU.

  • jackal1994

    Also, you can add in to that little diddy that men make up 95% of workplace fatalities, and 80% of homicides. Many more male homicides go unsolved compared to female, too.

    So… who does society not really give a sh*t about?
    Hmmmm? Bueller? Bueller?

    Nuff said!

  • jackal1994

    If spending a total of 2 minutes per load of laundry is the best this idiot can come up with as an example of WOMEN’S HEART-ACHING PAINFUL SUFFERING(boo hoo sniffle), then it is no wonder why the feminist movement is on it’s way out.

    Women are dropping out of feminist movements like flies. The unfortunate thing is organizations like NOW and AAUW (American Association of University Women –responsible for changing schools into ball-grinders for boys) STILL claim to represent the voice of American women despite the fact that their due-paying members represent far far less than even 1/10 of 1% of adult American women. And power-hungry buearucrats continue to give blind faith to these claims.

    As the MRM continues squeezing their way into the limelight, more and more women will continue to leave these organizations. As men’s rights activists get more air time, we will successfully paint feminists for the bigoted supremacy hate-group they really are.

    BY ANY METRIC A PERSON/ORGANIZATION CAN DREAM UP MEN POPULATE THE BOTTOM RUNGS OF SOCIETY!

    Suicide? 80% men. Homelessness? 90% men (mostly combat vets–wow, we treat our war heroes GREAT!), shortened life-span? -10 years against men. Depression? It’s claimed women are more often depressed, but considering the suicide rate, IT SOUNDS LIKE THE MEDICAL/PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSION DOESN’T CARE ABOUT MEN! Less likely to state an overall sense of wellbeing on surveys? men. Less educated? Men. Less health care dollars? men, fewer family rights? men.

    IF ANY ONE OF THESE SINGLE ISSUES WAS TRUE OF WOMEN (INSTEAD OF MEN), THE PRESS WOULD GO NUTS LIKE A WASPS NEST YOU DROP-KICKED!

  • roger

    by the way – “doing the laundry” is an extremely simple task for men.
    it is the women that insist on sorting it in a particular way (based on their fluffy clothing and sensitive pieces) and using “special chemicals” this way and that.

    laundry is an exceedingly simple task these days (thanks to the inventions of men!) and takes very, very little dedicated time. just like mowing the lawn once a week. give us all a break.

  • roger

    yes, doing the laundry is tedious.
    as is mowing the lawn, tuning up the car, painting the house, calking the shower, adjusting the sprinklers, tending the fighting children, wrestling with the kids, challenging the son in a video game, coaching basketball and baseball, etc.

    but this is the price we pay for living in a family. there is plenty of grunt work to go around. and if you are the primary wage earner outside of the home, you eat plenty of shiite that you’d rather not deal with, just to bring home the paycheck and keep the scene rolling.

    everybody has to sacrifice. but women get to set their own schedule and when they start complaining, from what I’ve seen, it’s because they don’t have the discipline to manage the menial tasks that are their own responsibility….and they can screw off any time they please. there is nobody standing over them telling them what to do and when to do it.

  • Big shooter

    97% of workplace fatalities are men tee hee. I don’t hear any of these bitches complaining about this inequality…

  • donnieboy57

    even a vapid woman can figure out who does the heavy lifting. women don’t gravitate to poor men or low income men and why is that? wise up everyone.

    i have been divorced for 8 years after 3 marriges totaling 24 years. this house work bildge is mostly a scam. inside housework ( no matter how many kids), is actually easier than most outside work.

    count the number of big suv’s with chicks driving on a cell phone in the middle of any work day and ask yourself who has it the toughest. is the sex worth it? it wasn’t to me.


Buy the book now on Amazon.com. Or listen to Ronnie tell a story at escaping-from-reality.com.

Archives