Make me a sammich

As defined by Urban Dictionary:

“Make me a sammich mentality – The state of mind that a wife-beater or otherwise angry male house inhabitant tends to dwell in. This state of mind often takes physical forms outside of a simple mentality. When one is in said state, a fury of b*** slaps and most often angry demanding remarks are hellishly unleashed onto one’s life partner. Phrases, such as “DON’T YOU SPEAK WOMAN!” “SHUT UP AND GET ME A BEER!” or more commonly, “MAKE ME A SAMMICH B***!” are shouted at said life partner…”

While this definition has purely humorous intentions, the fact that jokes like this are so widely accepted in today’s society is disappointing. I personally hear males in my life making jokes about this topic on a daily basis. While I know that most of them (I would hope all, but I can’t be sure) do not actually view women as mere tools to make them comfortable and aid them in mundane daily endeavors, it still bothers me that they find it acceptable to make such statements even in jest. And they aren’t shy about making these jokes in front of or at women, either.

Unfortunately, it is not surprising. Popular male-targeted media egg on this kind of behavior. Shows like Family Guy and comedians like Daniel Tosh perpetuate many stereotypes and use a large amount of derogatory humor, most of it targeted at minorities, including women. While I can take a joke and am not all about being politically correct (and I am admittedly not a feminist), the frequency with which males demonstrate this mentality has become annoying. (Note: I also realize that the above definition does not depict the men who exercise this mentality in a positive light, either.)

Hence, and mostly for the sake of argument, I am analyzing this genre of pop culture texts from a feminist rhetorical perspective. I have made the following deduction from the existence of this “make me a sammich mentality”: While women have fought for equality for centuries, we still have not achieved our end goal. While total equality may not be possible or necessary (depending on your views), women have reached a level of equality that has never before been seen. While some still argue that there is a glass ceiling and that women do not even earn the same wages for the same job done (some estimates say we make 75 cents to the dollar), we have made many significant gains. However, it is the mindset of some men that is really holding us back as a gender from total equality, as well as holding back society. While most men would claim, in a serious context with jokes aside, that they see women as equals or, at the very least, do not expect them to act as subordinates, the existence of this mentality shows otherwise. It appears that men tend to think, at least to themselves, that they are still superior to women in every way.

While this mentality may not have any physical effects on women (at least I don’t intend on actually staying in the kitchen), the psychological effects could be significant, especially if young girls are subjected to this type of “humor.”