2011 - Anything Goes?

This post is prompted by several things. For a while now I have hung onto an email about ads that don't work anymore, mainly because they are extremely sexist by todays standards and just plain lies (think Mad Men when they were thinking of a print ad with doctors recommending their favourite brand of cigarettes) but because of this they are now very amusing.

I thought I would combine this post as it seemed quite fitting. For awhile now I have questioned where this country and the world in general is going. We now can communicate with each other and someone on the other side of the world within seconds, yet our social skills are waning. Children no longer write cursive and are losing the ability to write something with meaning longer then 140 characters long.

Excepting an invite has changed: yes or no is no longer your only option, maybe is an answer too (while you wait for something better that may come along) poking someone is a form of hello and the only mail you receive in the mail nowadays is bills and jury duty notices.

We no longer can do the same things we did when we were younger because now we may offend people.  Christmas trees and nativity scenes are a thing of the past. The Easter Bunny will kill you. You can't run onto the MCG anymore after a game without the risk of a $7000 (and growing) fine. Casual dress days with restrictions. The amount of food you can't eat whilst pregnant. Text messaging instead of calling. Working mothers condemned. Stay at home mothers condemned. Speeding up when someone is trying to over take, because how dare someone overtake you? Australians now have a sense of entitlement and a "you can't do that to me attitude".

So, I ask you, are we in the age of anything goes?

Australia still has a backwards view of the world and is predominately still very sexist like these ads. I have encountered this through work and life in general and I'm sure many men have too. I'm a woman so what would I know about cars and football? I shouldn't swear and drink because it unlady like. We live in a country that in 2004 changed the law so the definition of marriage was specifically outlined as between a man and a woman, deliberately excluding the possibility of same-sex marriage. Still feel like you're in 2011?

I am of an age where those around me are getting married and the same question is always asked; are you changing or keeping your surname? This notion only a few decades ago would never have been conceived, but in 2011 is quite a common question. Then why when this subject came up again recently, was I  frowned upon when I said I would keep my name despite the fact my partner wanted me to change it? It was this lack of regard for my partners wishes that made me the devil incarnate! My head spun with the time travel back to the time of these ads. Sure, I care what my partner thinks, but at the end of the day, it is my decision.

Despite the fact that women have never had as much freedom as we do now, are we still bound to societies rules and regulations? Does anything go or are we moving backwards? Has our new found freedom gone to our heads and damned us? Do we have so many choices now we don't know what's right anymore and have lost all morals?

Soapbox open for inspection.