An Artist Reversed The Gender Roles In Sexist Vintage Ads

It is known that, starting with the 50's, the place of women in society was destined at home, more precisely in the kitchen, taking care of children and husband. If you followed the stereotype, you were considered the ideal woman or the perfect wife. The role of the woman had to be followed as such, always benevolent with a smile on the face, curious about the man's work, but at the same time keeping a distance, in order to offer intimacy to the man. Basically, the woman was seen as a trophy, totally dedicated to the family, forgetting her needs and desires, or rather the slave woman. If the man was happy, well dressed and well fed, then she was happy too. I would not want to be misunderstood, I strongly believe that cooking and cleaning is a basic life skill and not a gender role. Starting from this premise and having as main topic feminism and its various topics in the university’s work, I’ve decided to do more research on this subject, thus finding an interesting article about an artist who reversed the gender roles in sexist vintage ads.

Eli Rezkallah is a 31-year-old visual artist/photographer who recently created a photo series entitled, "In a Parallel Universe" that reimagines sexist ads from the mid-20th century with the gender roles reversed.

The ads feature situations like burning dinner...

In an ad for beer.

...serving...

In an ad for ties.

...to literally, spanking.

In an ad for coffee.

The artist explained the origin story of his project:

Last Thanksgiving, I was visiting my family in New Jersey and I overheard my uncles talk about how women are better off cooking, taking care of the kitchen, and fulfilling “their womanly duties.” Although I know that not all men like my uncles think that way I was surprised to learn that some still do.

He continued,

"These ads were made in the '50s and it felt at that moment that their essence is still present in the folds of today's modern social fabric."

"So, I went on to imagine a parallel universe, where roles are inverted and men are given a taste of their own sexist poison."

And what does the talented Lebanon-based artist hope audiences will take away from this?

I hope that people who are stuck in stereotypical gender roles imposed by patriarchal societies will be able to visually see the cracks in the limitation that those roles carry through this project.

I love the fact that in the past people had a pleasant sense of style, taste and class, which we don't find too much today.

Maybe the elegance of the mind was also worn, and it was reflected in clothes and attitude. But nevertheless, I still do not agree with this inequality between sexes.