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The recent ad by MANforce condoms, on the occasion of friendship day, gave a whole new meaning to friendship between the opposite genders. Here is what our author feels about the same.
Is sex the only reason why a man befriends a woman?
Are women seen solely as sex objects by their male friends?
Well, if you, like me, think that’s a ridiculous stereotype, then you might also want to ask the condom manufacturer Manforce, what they were thinking when they posted an ad with such a degrading message on their Facebook page on the occasion of Friendship Day.
https://www.facebook.com/ManforceIndia/photos/a.285206801527753.63379.183424501705984/1951850084863408/?type=3
The ad says, ‘Hello Friends, Condom Rakhlo‘. Here, F is shown as an explicit sexual position. That too might not have been a big deal as the company seems to be promoting safe sex.
However, it is their caption that got my goat. It says, ‘Just in case you make it out of the friend zone, keep Manforce with you. #HappyFriendshipDay’
I mean, really?
Do men become friends with women with the only hope of getting out of the friend zone and getting sex someday? Don’t you think the company is insulting the concept of friendship by implying that pure, undiluted friendship between the opposite genders is just not possible?
I also have a problem with this term ‘friend zone‘ because it sounds like some sort of a failure zone where guys with the aim of having sexual or romantic relationships with girls have been dumped into, against their wish. How sad is the implication that guys and girls cannot just be friends for friendship’s sake–just because they like each other’s company, just because they have common interests, just because they like talking to each other or spending (non-sexual) time with each other. Imagine, by that logic, no person in a monogamous relationship can have a friend of the opposite sex!
I think the ad insults both men and women by reducing their equation to just a sexual one. Safe sex is definitely commendable between two consenting adults but to indicate that a man should keep condoms handy when meeting his female friend just with the ‘hope’ of getting laid is simply offensive and degrading, in my opinion.
Yes, friends WITHOUT benefits is a huge thing among us humans. Please get it into your head, Manforce!
Kasturi’s debut novel, forthcoming in early 2021, had won the novel pitch competition by Half Baked Beans Publishers. She won the Runner Up Position in the Orange Flower Awards 2021 for Short Fiction. Her read more...
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