âCanât you take a joke?â The immortal retort heard time and time again by women who have the audacity to call men out for their bad behaviour or their harmful words.
Go ahead, ask the nearest female. Theyâll roll their eyes, and tell you yes; a man, somewhere, at some time, has reduced a conversation to ground zero with that semantic roadblock that leaves women unable to move forward because they (the fools) have failed to grasp the higher echelons of comedy that their male peers are operating at.
Now, once again, those exhausted women will feel the sting of âthe jokeâ as they gaze upon the work of two men, Connor Stephen and Charlie Ditchfield, who have created a range of âPost-Weinsteinâ Valentineâs Day cards.
These two entrepreneurial geniuses decided to take their slice of the #MeToo pie and make it their own. Something, it seems, theyâve decided to do it without consulting any actual women.
On the âSave Valentineâsâ website, the creators pose the question: âIn a post-Weinstein world, can we still have Valentineâs Day?â (Side note, would anyone apart from Hallmark actually care if we didnât?) Their solution - a range of âthoughtful but funnyâ cards for âthe more sensitive among usâ.
The range of eye-roll-inducing cards have traditionally romantic statements on the front. And a âpolitically-correctâ disclaimer inside (because you canât give the punchline away up front ladies).
Example A: Forever yours - or until such a time as you no longer welcome my affections, which is completely within your rights as an individual.
Example B: Iâll always be right by your side - not right by, obviously at a respectful distance. And when I say âalwaysâ - only as long as youâre comfortable.
And (if your blood pressure isnât already reaching critical levels) - Example C: You mean the world to me - Itâs okay if you donât feel the same way. Zero pressure.
The creators insist that the cards are directed for men who are concerned about approaching women in âthe current climateâ.
But for any woman reading that the cards are for the âmore sensitiveâ among us, the message seems pretty clear. They are not laughing with us. They are laughing at us.
Even if this is just a PR stunt, this is the perfect example of male privilege.
Feeling that not only do women want you to speak on their behalf (no thank you) but that when men decide it is time to make a joke - or get publicity off the back of something women are cultivating - that we want to hear it.
For those women who had the bravery to speak out against their perpetrators, to call out the injustices women are afforded by men, they (and their activism) are being made a mockery of.
These cards minimise a situation that has ruined so many lives, and caused untold pain for women around the world.
And to add insult to injury, in a terrible pink font.
Quite frankly, if this is menâs idea of humour then we think women need to start posing the question: âCanât you tell a joke?â
UPDATED. Connor Stephen told HuffPost UK: âWe realise itâs a sensitive area â and not one we are looking to trivialise. I expect youâve read the âWhy?â section of the website and hopefully it makes our intention clearer, but essentially we are looking to encourage debate.
âSome dinosaurs are suggesting âthings have gone too farâ, that you canât even pay a woman a compliment now. We think this is nonsense. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, women are being very clear about what they will and will not tolerate, and it should be news to no one. We want to challenge those people who are worried for the state of romance â and do so with a dash of wit.â