Playing Dumb

There is a strange stereotype that has existed for the longest time, and it is ever-present in TV, movies, and advertising. A male is portrayed as dumb, stupid, or just plain oblivious. In superhero movies, they're the bumbling sidekick or evil henchman. In family comedy TV shows they're the "cool dad" that obviously has no idea what the young kids do, or perhaps the sports jock that sucks at anything that has to do with thinking. In romance comedies they're completely clueless moron the main woman is head-over-heels, and can't get a clue as to what's going on with his sex life. In all of these, the man's inferiority and significant lack of mental processes is used for comedic effect. These tropes might not be everywhere but they are still painfully obvious when you see them.

In a recent ad by United Healthcare, a group of 'dumb' husbands are cheering on their buddy as he attempts to vault into a pool with a pool net (with an appropriate "do not attempt" caption). Meanwhile, the wives are lounging off to the side commenting on how stupid the men are being and the nearest Urgent Care facility being only a mile away. Of course the stunt fails, and the men crowd around their fallen friend completely ignoring the fact he most likely broke more than a few bones and say things like, "aw, I thought you were gonna make it dude!" and "you just need more speed". And the smart wives tell each other "that's my husband" like it's an inside joke they're morons. If husbands and dads were this dull I'm surprised the human race as a whole has made it this far without collapsing on itself.

 

Despite what media is telling you, generally speaking, most men aren't this dumb. The basis of this misandry comes mainly from women pandering. In order to make women feel better, men are put down to be inferior. It's a negative way to approach equality, in which it's easier to say something mean about someone else than it is to say something nice about yourself. Though there is evidence women tend to be more rational thinkers and men tend to be more impulsive, it does not go to the extent of the idiocy portrayed in media, where men are unhealthily obsessed with sex or sports or video games. However, as Jayson Maclean says in his article, "Why are men always idiots in TV ads?" this is a double-edged sword, because while men may be useless at cooking and cleaning in these advertisements, only the women are capable at doing these household chores, indirectly pandering to the sexist notion that women really are the ones meant to do housework, otherwise the house would light on fire because the husband burnt the roast or something. Instead of sexism on one side, it's on both sides now, just portrayed in a slightly different angle.

The most common place to see this however is probably the worse place to show it - children's' TV shows. In shows with the main audience is young girls, the main character and main antagonist are usually women. The main character of said show will usually embody all things "girl power", while the main antagonist acts as the obviously evil foil of the protagonist. However, whenever a boy or a man is shown, they are either also evil (but not quite as evil as the female villain), a love interest (because BOYS), or dumb and stupid (insert generic bumbling henchman here). In two of three of these cases, the male gender is not shown in a very appealing light. Unless they're attractive, super nice, and very much into you, men either evil and gross or incompetent and empty-headed. No matter how you put it, the little boys watching these shows have to deal with their gender being ill represented. 

As much as advertisements and TV would like to exploit the dumb male stereotype, it doesn't have much psychological backing in research. A study by Hyde from the American Psychological Association (APA) has found at young ages, both boys and girls have equal capabilities at learning math. These math skills are then used later in life for problem-solving and critical thinking, meaning that at a base level, men and women have the potential to be similar in intelligence. The only factor that changes this is cultural and economical background. If we continue to teach girls that boys are stupid and dumb, and if we continue to teach boys that girls are smart and right all the time, there's going to be an imbalance of social roles and expectations. 

There should be no situation where either sex should feel inferior or stupider than the other. The whole idea of equality and respect means acknowledging each other's strengths and weaknesses and not using stereotypes to promote yourself or cast down others. There will always be those few people who fit those stereotypes but there will always be those few rotten apples, and that can't really be helped. Everyone knows not all men or all women are stupid and helpless, but as long as we're still advertising the way people behave like Mr. Pool-Vaulter, people are going to still believe men might actually be that dumb. 

Survey showing that yes, a surprising number of people do in fact think men are this stupid.