Men's Groups Angry With IKEA
IKEA has been in trouble in the news lately for sex discrimination. It seems someone noticed that all of their instruction sheets only show pictures of men building their furniture. No women are shown participating except by holding pre-fab pieces for the men. This has caused outrage among many groups."We have spent a long time convincing our wives we're no good around the house," said Bob Farley, of Take Back Our Families, "Whenever our wives ask us to work on something, we either have swearing fits, or we break it, or pretend we can't figure out the instructions. Eventually, our wives have our children do it for us, or else they do it. My wife has not asked me to help around the house in nine years. We have spent a long time cultivating this stereotype that we are helpless around the house, and now IKEA is ruining it for us.
"If our wives find out we are actually capable of building IKEA furniture, and have been lying to them all this time, not only will we have to start doing chores on Sundays instead of watching football, but we will be in trouble. They will put us in the doghouse ...
"But first they'll make us build it."
IKEA has indicated it only shows men because it fears backlash by Muslim men who may be offended by stick drawings of women building furniture. Some Muslim groups are angry at the stereotype of Muslim men, and say they are not all misogynists.
Others, such as Saleem AbdAllah from Malmø, Sweden, say "I always make my wife build furniture, or work on the car. Do you think I would do that myself? I don't see what the big deal is."
posted by Pluto's Dad @ 3/16/2005 10:14:00 AM
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