Originally posted in 2011. Re-posted in honor of the holiday.
I recently posted a vintage cartoon featuring men showering. Today, in the context of “don’t drop the soap” jokes, it seems obviously homo-erotic (or -threatening). At the time, however, it likely didn’t because homosexuality didn’t hold such a central place in our collective imagination.
Dmitriy T.M. sent along a series of vintage Valentine’s Day cards that, similarly, have a different effect given our contemporary cultural sensibilities. After decades of efforts to draw attention to and problematize men’s violence against women, these cards seem misguided at best:
Cards borrowed from Funny or Die.
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
