It's just a silly facebook page what's the harm?

I just found a group on facebook entitled "I'm the boy. You're the girl. Make me a sandwich or we won't talk today."



At this point there are 117,554 members.

I looked to the discussion section of the page to see what kind of conversations the members chose to engage in.

One topic stated "Social Constructs Supporting Gender Roles In America". Here are some of the comments under this topic.

Post #1

Dylan Gillies (West Seattle High School) wroteon December 15, 2009 at 11:26pm

this group is a product of mindless acceptance of social norms.

Post #2

Zach Smith (Bellevue Senior High School) wrote on December 16, 2009 at 12:52am
Thats because everyone who agrees whith u is a retard. dont be a fag. this group is not serious at all. were just having fun. and emphasizing on how much we love to have women make us sandwiches. now stop being a bitch and giving people from seattle a bad rep. ur pissing me off

Post #3

Charley Newman (Bishop Blanchet) wrote on December 16, 2009 at 1:03am

amen to that, its obviously a joke dude

Post #4

Zach Smith (Bellevue Senior High School) wroteon December 16, 2009 at 1:09am

for real this fairy boy needs to stop being a bitch

Post #5

Leonard G. Cadet wroteon December 16, 2009 at 1:17am

Sandwich.

Post #7

Taylor Smith (U. Memphis) wroteon December 16, 2009 at 2:50am

this dylan kid is conforming to nonconforming. this little fuckhead should probably do the world a favor and kill himself

First I should note that these comments do not reflect the sentiments of everyone, however they do seem to reflect a large number of the individuals on this facebook page.

Does it matter that this page is considered to be a joke? And just where does the humor lie? I suppose it's meant to be ironic however in every "pretend" or insincere comment about how inferior women are, a disservice is executed.

In the above comments one young man argues against person who comments that this group is sexist by stating, "for real this fairy boy needs to stop being a bitch." I hope my readers notice the contractions here. While indeed this page may be a joke, any person who calls another a "fairy boy" and a "bitch" is displaying clear homophobia and misogyny. Quite blatant and obvious.

I'm not sure what the intentions are of the person who created the page but they put enough energy into it to create a forum where sexist individuals male and female can gather. The point is that there should be no joke. I can't turn racism into something funny nor do I think the process of making racism or sexism or homophobia funny is necessary or helpful to the struggle against oppression.

I was not overly angered by this facebook group as it was utterly ridiculous to me. Although, I personally do not feel that I am inferior simply because the page states that I am, I do feel frustrated for the men and women who contribute to the maintanance.



Does this image make you laugh? In the photo section of the group page there are several photos of men with strongly built bodies (a sure sign of machismo and worth right?) and women with their breasts hanging out (a sure sign of submissiveness).

So, what is the harm of this measly little facebook page? Ignorance. It's just another drop in the bucket. It is my opinion that energies can be spent elsewhere. No doubt there are many more pages like this one and making a joke about patriarchy by indulging it is not the way to successfully fight it.