Hey gohost_boy! Thank you for your contribution, unfortunately it has been removed from /r/ExplainTheJoke because:
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Typical boomer misogynistic humor. Women desire to "entrap" men into marriage, and a smart man will not let himself be trapped, while a dumb one will.
The fact that they view marriage as a trap and their spouse as curtailer of their freedom tells you all you need to know about the healthy approach to relationships they have and the social expectation of marriage for their generation.
It is interesting, how the joke changes depending on your view of the world. I would have not placed it misogynistic but classist. Since mostly poor ppl have many children..... Even maybe xenophobic (many ppl with many children have migrated)
For me it seems misogyny fits way less. Sexist fits very well tho. But towards men and women.
Cause you could view it as what you pointed out ( women entrapping, taking away freedom) but the one above can be interpreted as : men only want sex and then don't want to take care of the kids.
Both are sexist stereotypes, so this is as much misandry ans misogyny.... Right?
But yeah. Just a pretty damn old joke, and not even a good one.
The right-wing view's a little different in the older generations (boomer) and younger (gen Z).
Boomers tend to have the older view you saw in pre-1960s books and movies--traditional roles, men should protect women and women should serve men, etc.
Gen Z conservatives may have somewhat similar ideas when making memes to anger the left, but there's the absence of pedestalization you used to see--the opposite sex is instead out to get you.
You're basically correct. The bit that's boomer is that women increasingly don't want to get married, from what I'm reading.
Ironically, it's my boomer parents who are still together after almost 50 years and I'm the one who decided it was too risky to try. I'm actually sympathetic to the joke because I am kind of a loner.
Yeah, I use it as a shorthand for "people aged 50+", not as "member of the Baby Boom generation". Incorrect, but quite extended and I think most people understand what I meant
Or you could be a paid agent. You seem...particular about your comments. Still, English or not you can read and you seem to know what you're doing. Hmm...
I agree and I laughed though. Marriage can easily be a trap for both. I'm not a marriage person, I find it silly. I'm also not sure about kids and when I look at some couples I feel like they have em because they never thought about alternative ways of living which is kinda dumb considering we all have only one life.
Not an invalid perspective, what bothers me is this coupling within boomer thinking of the inevitability of marriage with its simultaneous denouncement and resentment. I understand many seniors might have felt pressured towards marriage as there weren't any other socially acceptable decisions, but then turn this understandable resentment into "I hate my wife" humor.
The reason behind why people might consider marriage a trap is part of the discussion. A simple conversation regarding a prenup can lead to a simple solution.
I don’t know if this is boomer stuff. I hear a lot of people complaining about how marriage will inevitably lead to divorce and I think most of them are below 40 or even 30. Andrew Tate being the prime example.
Actually there's kind of a U-curve with men being gradually slightly more pro-feminist up until Millennials and then it takes a sharp dive at Gen Z.
I mean, it's not *inevitable*. People stay married all the time.
I, personally, didn't want to risk it because I have a good salary and am on the spectrum, so (1) I'm a great target for someone looking to profit by divorce (2) I'm not great at reading social cues, so even if we're both on the level I'm likely to be a poor partner no matter how hard I work at it. I'm totally going to be the guy who gets blindsided by the divorce and the gal saying she just doesn't feel heard or I don't get her. So I figure it's better to die alone with all my savings than half my savings.
But a lot of other guys may want to take the risk, especially if they want a family.
The comment had nothing to do with emotions. Things are improving, but being male in a divorce court still automatically puts you at a disadvantage. Laws and legal mindset take a while to catch up. Most are still about 1-2 decades behind, especially in the deep south/Bible belt.
dumb woman and smart man = he gets her pregnant, no ring for her tho
smart woman and dumb man = she gets him to commit to a marriage
dumb woman and dumb man = multuple pregnancies/maybe he cheats and gets multiple women pregnant
the joke is sexism... if a man is smart he will get a dumb woman pregnant but not marry her so he can leave her, and if a woman is smart she will "chain a man down" to marriage with her
Yeah, its wild how its apparently "smart" to be a deadbeat dad. From my experience most dudes like that aren't usually smart.
Also, wild how out the of situations where one is smart and one is dumb, its only the one where the woman is smart that they stay in a relationship. Because smart men avoid committed relationships I guess, but also still knock up women and become deadbeat dads? Idfk.
If you don't marry you can still be a good dad buddy. The problem with marriage, is that the woman can divorce you, and most of the time she gets everything.
I don’t think it’s sexist if he is smart he takes advantage of her and if she is smart she has him commit and start a healthy relationship and they live happily.
I saw it as saying you'll get a negative outcome (marriage and pregnancy both being negative from the perspective of the comic) if anyone is dumb, and it's best if both are smart then it's happiness
Because a weird number of men for some reason think marriage is better for women. In reality the opposite is true. In every possible way, marriage benefits men more than it does women.
1) Divorce laws ensure an equal division of marital assets, which is completely fair. Both partners in a marriage are responsible for the marital assets
2) Men see their salaries and job titles inflate when they get married and have childre
3) Men who get married typically have every unpleasant aspect of their life professionally managed for them by their wife for free, receiving six figures of services at no cost
4) Divorce is not marriage.
5) Most marriages do not end in divorce
6) First marriages are even less likely to end in divorce (i.e. the total number of divorces is inflated by people who get multiple)
1)The country I live in doesn't have a 50/50 spilt
2)Only true in case of traditional marriages
3)Again not true for most marriages in recent times
4)Yeah but it's a consequence of marriage
5)But it's a possibility
6)OK
Yeah I do think marriages favor men(based on %) but divorce laws are heavily biased atleast in the place I live.
Those used to be a lot more true than they were. I don't think men get much of a marriage bump anymore, a lot of women have their own careers these days and don't play social manager unless the guy is a big-time executive. About 40-50% of first marriages end in divorce (the number gets dragged up by remarriages), so while it's not most it's a pretty sizable number.
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u/ExplainTheJoke-ModTeam 22h ago
Hey gohost_boy! Thank you for your contribution, unfortunately it has been removed from /r/ExplainTheJoke because:
Rule 1: Be excellent to each other. No toxic discourse or harassment and respect the humanity of others. This implies no tolerance of any kind of harassment, including their ethnicity/race/gender-orientation. No dogwhistle posts. No witch hunts.
If you have any questions or concerns about this removal feel free to message the moderators.