Consumerism

In advertising man does not idealize woman from any masochist tendency. It is purely a question of survival. Only his exploiters, women, have sufficient time and money to buy and consume all his products. To supply the woman inhabiting his ranch house with purchasing power, he has no choice but to cultivate legions of other women who have as much satisfaction as his own wife in spending. They will then buy his goods and keel) his wife in pocket money. This is the beginning of a vicious circle - a vicious circle which turns faster and faster until he cannot keep up with it anymore and someone else has to take over.

[...]It has always been one of man's greatest aims in life to fulfill woman's innermost desires, in fact to anticipate her every wish, as contemporary women's fiction still puts it. They have achieved their goal: there is practically no female desire left undiscovered and probably very few which could not, if necessary, be fulfilled.

The result is that women are getting increasingly more stupid, while men grow more and more intelligent. The gap between the sexes is widening constantly, making mutual understanding virtually impossible. But no one seems to notice.

One of the basic principles of biology is that intelligence develops only in the face of competitive stimulation. Women however, stand outside every competitive field. The glut of modern conveniences dulls their brains, reducing what little is left of their capacity for thought. Man, on the other hand, prodded by the need to create this comfort, to open up new sources of income, has to exert himself more and more. Surrounded by this ever-increasing comfort, the female sex is changing for the worse. The concept of femininity, used to be applied to a woman who had the ability to hear children. It was also applied to venality. The definition must be enlarged to include imbecility.

Advertising says that woman is witty, intelligent, creative, imaginative, warmhearted, practical, and capable. Smiling sweetly, with all the airs of a goddess, she dispenses the latest discovery in instant drinks to her grateful brood. Her husband's eyes follow her adoringly as she serves up a new precooked meal, which is so much more to his taste. Or maybe she hands him a Turkish towel which is even softer than usual - the result of a new rinse. This image of woman, created by man in order to sell his goods, is repeated incessantly with the help of mass media throughout the Western hemisphere; and each day it is being reinforced. How could anyone dare to admit, even to himself, that in reality women are unimaginative, stupid, and insensitive? It would obviously be too much to expect of women - and it is an admission men cannot afford.

Woman buys, man sells. But one does not convince a customer by saying, `It's good. You've got to buy it.' Instead we say, `You're marvellous! You deserve the best. Why should you make do with anything less? You've earned your comfort - you are entitled to it!' So, on top of everything else, man has to flatter woman because he needs her as a customer.

It is striking that the trick men are using here appears similar to the one used by women to train men. But, sadly, it is not, since man turns it against himself. She praises him to get him to work for her, but he praises her to make her spend his money. If a man flatters and talks his neighbor's wife into buying new wall-to-wall carpeting for her living room, he must realize that this same neighbor will sell his own wife a bathtub, the next day. How else could he pay for the carpeting?

[...]It is interesting that nearly the only products sold are those of benefit to women: sports cars (with which to entice her), luxury goods (for women), or household appliances (also for women, since the house actually belongs to her - man is, in fact, a homeless creature, moving constantly between office and house). Women would be delighted to buy things for their husbands for whatever occasion, using the latter's money of course (they give ties, sport shirts, ashtrays, wallets, as often as possible).

[...] Apart from eating, drinking, and smoking, sex is the only activity where man is an independent consumer: he must he able to satisfy his sexual urge. No wonder whole branches of industry are given over to this trade, taking advantage of this need to make him even more lustful and to persuade him to buy goods which merely serve to increase his desire. Satisfaction, of course, is another matter. That has to be had from a woman at the customary price.

[Source: Esther Vilar - The Manipulated Man]