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Okay, so maybe this is old news to some, but I just saw a commercial for a One A Day vitamin that made me jump off my couch and do that funny yelling at the TV thing as if anyone on it could hear me! The commercial markets two separate vitamins to young men and young women. The formula for young men helps grow strong muscles and the formula for women helps keep skin healthy.

I mean, what marketing genius. I’m so glad that finally someone figured out a way to simplify things and then sell us what we all really need – a product for the essence of who we are as men and women. They had the courage to market a product for young women’s appearance and young men’s physical strength. It just makes sense on so many levels: a)why encourage strong muscles in women when they don’t need strong muscles, they just need a man with strong muscles; b) why promote overall health when outward appearance is paramount for women; and c) why fill a young woman’s head with ideas that she would need to be strong or smart, or anything other than attractive. And as for you men, we all know that “real” men are strong and… and… well, that’s pretty much the entire definition of masculinity. Why worry about anything else, anything at all?

I recognize that this is just another in a long line of troubling over-generalizations and stereotypes based on gender that we see portrayed in the media, but this one floored me and broke my heart. Just hours before watching this commercial, my four-year-old daughter struck the most amazing pose to show off her muscles to me. Am I supposed to go tell her that she’s got it all wrong, that she should just strive to look good and that strength is for boys?