In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. On Tuesdays our IRL Reporter Tricia Crimmins breaks down the trends on the popular app that will make you cringe in her “Problematic on TikTok” column. If you want to read columns like this before everyone else, subscribe to web_crawlr to get your daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
“Lazy girl jobs” are a hot topic on TikTok. It’s another take on work-life balance, or the subversive idea that a worker should be able to punch in, punch out, and make a living wage—plus enjoy their leisure time without afterhours stress.
But one man’sviral video attracted 3.4 million viewers with his unabashed belief that “women aren’t meant to work corporate jobs” whatsoever.
TikToker Christian (@cbwritescopy) is an email marketer who posts hot takes ranging from adult Halloween costumes to living in Florida vs. New York.
Christian describes seeing “a really pretty girl” in a corporate T-shirt, which he presumes means she’s headed to her “depressing” desk job. But he has other ideas of what this total stranger should do with her day.
“She should be in a sundress, going to the farmers’ market, tanning by the pool, doing yoga, doing pilates, stuff like that,” Christian says, adding that he “doesn’t care” if he gets canceled for the idea.
Christian says women only started going to corporate jobs “40 or 50 years ago,” seemingly forgetting that women themselves fought for gender equality in the workplace during the Second Wave of feminism. Even men have only been working “9 to 5” jobs since the 1930s.
“Before, women would stay home, raise the family, take care of the house, cook, clean,” he asserts, echoing conservative and harmful rhetoric touted by incels, tradwives, and even Facebookers in favor of modern farmhouses.
Commenters on Christian’s video pushed back on his antiquated beliefs about women’s roles in society, citing financial independence and the power of choice as essential to gender equality.
“A woman can be a stay at home mom or a CEO,” one commenter wrote. “No one is forcing us to do anything.”
Many others said they “love” their corporate jobs. “How is it worse than washing dishes?” one woman asked.
Why it matters
While a majority of commenters disagreed with Christian’s belief that women shouldn’t hold corporate jobs, some seemed on board.
Maddi Todd, who has more than 182,000 TikTok followers, stitched Christian’s video and mocked corporate jargon.
“I’d like to pigyback off of that and say that in today’s society, men are extremely misunderstood and they get a lot of hate,” she says. “And I think we should listen to them more.”
Todd’s video has a tinge of irony, but hundreds of commenters said they would love to not work—implying that financial dependence, not labor rights, is the superior choice.
But women’s financial dependence on men has serious and devastating consequences. The National Network to End Domestic Violence says financial abuse—or using money to manipulate or threaten a person to stay in a relationship—occurs in 99% of all domestic violence cases.
Christian’s ideas about working women are far from empowering; he and his supporters seem more interested in turning back the clock on feminism completely, stripping women of autonomy and power in workplaces, the economy, and society as a whole.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/women-shouldnt-work-corporate-jobs-criticism/