Recently, a Facebook friend of mine posted the meme you see above.

In preparation for this article, I did some Googling. Apparently, there are a bunch of these memes out there:

And they aren't all about welding. Sometimes they'll change the wording a bit, but you can find the same basic message in relation to a pretty wide variety of topics.

Seriously, they're everywhere. Try it.

Any topic.

Okay, maybe not literally any topic. But basically any subject that has to do with stereotypically 'manly' activities. 

My Initial Reaction...

Whatever, it's a stupid meme posted by someone who's apparently so insecure that he feels the need to prove that he's better than other guys because of the one thing he's good at.

Great joke... moving on.

After Letting it Stew for a While...

I know I shouldn't obsess over a stupid joke, but something about this meme really got under my skin. There are two negative implications. I'll begin with the first.

1. "Unless you do the thing that I do, you're less than a man."

The joke was obviously meant to be insult. The insult is that by failing to meet the standard set by the meme, you are failing to meet the standard by which "manhood" is measured. There's a weird, delusional pride in these memes. It's like the poster is setting himself up as the metric by which all men must assess themselves. It's like saying, "the things that I like are the mark of a real man. The things that you like make you worse than me."

The insult doesn't bother me because I don't know how to weld. 

It bothers me because it ridicules diversity. It suggests that only a select few traits or skills are worthwhile, and that others should be shamed. 

2. "Women are less than men."

If the first negative implication was the message of the meme, the second is more of an underlying assumption. I think this is an even bigger issue than the first.

Do you think I'm reaching? I'm not. The implication is clear. This is the logic of the meme:

1. The thing that I do is the measure of a man.
2. If you don't do that thing, you're less than a man.
3. Less than a man = a woman.

I don't think the meme would have bothered me quite as much if "women are less than men" was it's message. An outright statement like that is quickly caught and can be easily argued against. But an underlying assumption is much more dangerous because it slips under the radar. It also demonstrates that the meme-maker doesn't believe it even needs to be stated directly. They know this assumed truth will also be assumed and understood by their audience. 

That's a big problem. 

Look, I'm not an SJW. I'm not a rabid feminist. But I do believe in equality and I think it's dangerous that many men still think of women as "less-than." 

Hey look, I can do it too...

Oh I got you so good, Mr. Facebook-Friend-Who-Doesn't-Know-About-Cryptocurrency! I bet you feel emasculated now! I win and you're stupid. 

Does anybody else have an issue with this? Am I making a big deal about nothing? Am I crazy?

I know it's just a dumb joke... but the joke is full of mean-spirited pride and demonstrates some deeply problematic views about gender. I don't think that's nothing. 

Rant over.

~Seth

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