Drill bits, screws, and hammers.. oh my!

So here I am on a Thursday night watching Hidalgo on AMC. God only knows why since there are commercials every 10 minutes and I own the movie. Anyway, so a commercial comes on for the Jawhorse.

It is the latest and greatest in workbench technology! It holds that wood like no other (heh heh). Anyway, aside from the fact that it's a waste of money because all you really need is two stands and some clamps, what I really want to talk about is the commercial itself.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the one that aired for your viewing pleasure but it was nothing all that special. It's some manly sounding man talking about how awesome the Jawhorse is while showing clips of your average dad at home doing construction projects around the house. Maybe a few on actual construction sites too.

There was ONE woman who showed up in the commercial. It was specifically during the part when they talked about how EASY it is to set up (the Jawhorse breaks down for convenient traveling!). She is pulling all the legs out on a driveway. That's it. That's the only woman.

I'm realistic, most women do not do construction projects. Personally, I don't know tools. I know the basics: drills and screw drivers. Easy stuff but that's about it. However, that does not mean that I can't operate other tools, I just need to be shown how.

So to get to the point, either fairly represent women in the commercial or don't do it at all! I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it if there hadn't been any women present. I also wouldn't have thought twice if there had been women in other scenes, such as completing a project with her husband. But to throw a female in for that one scene... please. I felt like "So easy, even a woman can do it!" needed to flash across the screen in red.

I can't say I am even pissed off about it but I definitely noticed it. It drew my attention because it is subtle stereotypes like this that really form and influence the way people think. Not just for women but for sexual preference, race, religion, what have you. People in general need to be more aware of how they are representing others. Welcome to the 21st century people, women can construct and men can sew.

And frankly, if you are the kind of narrow minded man who thinks that I can't handle tools because I am a woman... I have a hammer and I can be very creative.