Boys who like girls who like girls like their boys.

April 5, 2010 9:10 PM

Boys Will Be Girls, Girls Will Be Boys
posted by empath (73 comments total)

It's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:17 PM on April 5, 2010 [6 favorites]

it's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.


except for Lola
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:18 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Damn! Beat by one minute!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:18 PM on April 5, 2010

Which is surprising. It's not like I'm the world's most passionate guy.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:20 PM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

But when you squeezed me tight...

okay, sorry empath, we'll stop now
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:26 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wait, I was having trouble getting the joke, but now I think I get it.

This is how people who aren't hipsters or nerds act when they hang out. Except the boys are being like the girls and the girls are being like the boys?

Because my first reaction is just "wow, a bunch of really annoying people".
posted by idiopath at 9:31 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: wow, a bunch of really annoying people.
posted by oddman at 9:34 PM on April 5, 2010 [14 favorites]

Shit, I wish I had thought of the Lola reference.
posted by empath at 9:38 PM on April 5, 2010 [5 favorites]

well i thought these were awesome and incredibly well done.
thank you empath!
posted by june made him a gemini at 9:42 PM on April 5, 2010

it always should be with somebody you really love.
posted by The Whelk at 9:42 PM on April 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

A truly incredible amalgamation of unfunny stereotypes being acted out cross-gender. Yay.
posted by Caduceus at 9:42 PM on April 5, 2010 [14 favorites]

"I just want to see them die"

Lol. The rest was ^
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 9:51 PM on April 5, 2010

I came here to say three things:

(1) "Lola" has been on my mind a whole lot lately. It's hard to describe how much I love that song. How subversive is it, I ask you, to lovingly and grandly portray such a beautiful coming-of-age moment with someone who wouldn't get even a moment's thought in most of the rock and roll world?

(2) The nine people in these two videos are, without doubt, precisely the type of people whose lives would be dramatically improved by a good night with a ladyboy.

(3) Isn't the Raincoats cover of "Lola" fucking fantastic?
posted by koeselitz at 9:56 PM on April 5, 2010 [6 favorites]

You know, I'm not dumb, but I can't understand why she looked like Sarah Silverman and talked like her too. Oh my Lola?
posted by desuetude at 9:56 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

Oh, I forgot to mock the boys. Possibly I wanted to call them gay but no really not like "teh ghey" but are they pretending to be gay? Oh, no, they're not. So, a Kate Spade bag and pedicures were noticeably absent from the dialogue.
posted by desuetude at 10:03 PM on April 5, 2010

*
posted by koeselitz at 10:07 PM on April 5, 2010

The only accuracy here is the horrified reaction to "Wait, what's Pinkberry?"

I know because I too have been shamed for lack of yogurt knowledge.
posted by sallybrown at 10:13 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

a) None of my male friends act like that.

b) None of my female friends act like that.

However, some of my gay male friends do act like the boys-as-girls version. Not all of them. But a little subset.
posted by Netzapper at 10:17 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

i don't think this is really meant to be taken as 'this is literally how girls act' as much as it is meant to be taken as 'this is how boys think that girls act' and vice versa. I think it's funnier if you move the meta one layer out, but ymmv.
posted by empath at 10:21 PM on April 5, 2010 [6 favorites]

Hmm...

So I saw these linked on Andrew Sullivan's blog. And I'm like "Harvard Sailing team"? Seriously? Plus it's pretty played out trope anyway.

But since you all are talking about it I did watch the girls one. "I just want to see them die" girl looked like she was wearing makeup.

I just checked out a little of the guy's video and turned it off after like 30 seconds. Annoying. Interestingly, they are all very skinny. But they are not wearing makeup or stereotypical woman's clothing. So they kind of wussed out, IMO.

I'm not dumb, but I can't understand why she looked like Sarah Silverman and talked like her too.

Which one are you talking about? None of them looked that much like Sarah Silverman to me.
posted by delmoi at 10:29 PM on April 5, 2010

How come the guys mock by embodying the stereotypical female roles, then the women mock by complaining about stereotypical female roles?
posted by klangklangston at 10:32 PM on April 5, 2010 [11 favorites]

I actually liked this. It's wonderful to have friends who refuse to conform to gender stereotypes, and to disregard them ourselves, but that doesn't discount the fact that there really are people who act like this. The behavior in this video might seem trite and inauthentic, but that's merely a reflection of the forces of socialization in action.

Fore example, I used to live with a group of girls who actually routinely declared "group dieting time," which involved a only-sort-of-joking signed contract. In solidarity, they would monitor and scold each other for things like eating after 8 PM, and would share what their one indulgence of the day was. Meanwhile, I was sneaking chili cheese fries at 1 AM (but minus jalapenos), but I still felt like I had to put a front because these were the people who were supposed to be my social group and it seemed like some weird bonding experience. The characterization of girls by this short might seem over the top, but I think it's a accurate reflection of the unhealthy relationship with food that's encouraged full-force by peer pressure among young women today, who are intelligent and thoughtful, but are also under a great deal of duress to act a certain way.
posted by erstwhile ungulate at 10:35 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

reminded me of how boring normality is.

And Lola's a damned fine song, which I can never hear without instantly thinking of One Toke Over the Line (not the original) as they were both played-to-death faves of the same friend back in Grade Six. No, I don't think we realized what either was really about.
posted by philip-random at 10:45 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well, that's fine for the girls, but how about the boys...how about the boys...how about the boys...

yeah, yeah, I know, but I don't listen to mainstream music, I have to go with what I know
posted by davejay at 10:51 PM on April 5, 2010

erstwhile ungulate: “I actually liked this. It's wonderful to have friends who refuse to conform to gender stereotypes, and to disregard them ourselves, but that doesn't discount the fact that there really are people who act like this. The behavior in this video might seem trite and inauthentic, but that's merely a reflection of the forces of socialization in action.”

No, the behavior in this video seems trite and inauthentic because it is. Nobody is like this. You may think you've met people like this, but the funny and happy reality is that hardly anybody does conform to these (tired, oft-repeated) stereotypes.

The amazing and rather intriguing reality of the world is that most people are 'strange,' 'different,' not like those people routinely depicted in television, books, and films. People are infinitely complex, and there's always something odd and strange going on under the surface.

These videos are nothing but perpetuation of stereotypes. The people in them may not realize this, but they're tired, boring, bland stereotypes, limiting stereotypes that have been repeated over and over and over again. What's more, they're restrictive stereotypes, because they seem to indicate that boys and girls are a certain way. No amount of back-tracking or rationalization can mask the simple sexism of the situation: they're merely repeating old tropes about how the opposite sex is supposed to act in order to elicit this reaction: 'wow, that's so true.'

That's why skits like these are so awful and unfunny, and why skits like (for example) this one from Harry & Paul are so very funny. Where the Harvard bit was just trying to imitate the opposite sex so well that we all felt some kind of recognition, the Harry & Paul sketch is pointing out the rigidity and stricture of the role, and the odd discomfort when it (inevitably) doesn't fit someone.
posted by koeselitz at 10:56 PM on April 5, 2010 [15 favorites]

i don't think this is really meant to be taken as 'this is literally how girls act' as much as it is meant to be taken as 'this is how [some str8] boys think that [some str8] girls act' and vice versa. I think it's funnier if you move the meta one layer out, but ymmv.
posted by johnj at 11:05 PM on April 5, 2010

koeselitz, I completely agree there are many more facets to any person who seems to act like the girls in this video. My point is, they feel the need to keep the "something odd and strange going on under the surface" under the surface, because they feel like that's where it belongs. It's a completely ridiculous trope that a girl exhibiting her obsession with food is exhibiting the fact that she is concerned with her appearance and is therefore beautiful and "maintains" herself. But it's something that a lot of young women internalize. It's not that they are a certain way, but feel like they need to be because of what they've been taught. It's exaggerated and made unfamiliar by using males to point out just how artificial it is, and how ridiculous it is for girls to be subject to think that this is somehow conventional.
posted by erstwhile ungulate at 11:21 PM on April 5, 2010

Basically, I don't think we should say "This video is uninteresting and not of worth to me because no one I know or conceive of could act like this and be genuine." Maybe it is interesting for the very reason that the behavior is so unbelievable. It how crazy it is that real, complex girls are taught in a sexist society that acting like the men do in this video is normal and acceptable and leads to popularity. I'm not around many 17 year old girls anymore, so I don't see people trying to imitate these "boring, bland, stereotypes" as much I used to, but I'm sure it's still going on.
posted by erstwhile ungulate at 11:43 PM on April 5, 2010

empath: i don't think this is really meant to be taken as 'this is literally how girls act' as much as it is meant to be taken as 'this is how boys think that girls act' and vice versa. I think it's funnier if you move the meta one layer out, but ymmv.

No, this is how douches think women act. And how douches think men act. But it's mostly about how women act because half of the godawful 'hurh I'm a dude, check me out' skit was complaining about how women behave.
posted by geek anachronism at 11:48 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

What the fuck? Who acts like this? Are the people in the videos even humans, or shapeshifting aliens filming a reconstruction of human behavior based on what they've gleaned from transmissions of the TV show Friends that are just now reaching their distant world? I just... wow. I can't really articulate how viscerally anti-this I am. I don't understand how these people grew up in the same culture as me but might as well be from fucking Mars for how well I can relate to them.
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:49 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

erstwhile ungulate: “Basically, I don't think we should say "This video is uninteresting and not of worth to me because no one I know or conceive of could act like this and be genuine." Maybe it is interesting for the very reason that the behavior is so unbelievable. It how crazy it is that real, complex girls are taught in a sexist society that acting like the men do in this video is normal and acceptable and leads to popularity.”

I think I see where you're coming from. You're suggesting (please correct me if I'm wrong) that these videos are ironic, and that the participants are intentionally aping what they see as ridiculous and silly stereotypes within society and expectations about how girls and boys are supposed to act.

I'm just not convinced at all by this. I don't see a hint of irony here at all; and maybe I'm just not being very charitable with these folks, but there's no sign that this has some layer of complexity and subtlety where they're making a sociological statement. Every indication I can see here is that they're just saying "girls act like this, boys act like that" without any comment whatsoever - merely for the "oh my gosh, that's so true" laugh as I said earlier.

Is there something in these videos that leads you to believe that there was a conscious decision somewhere along the line to mock the sexism inherent in society? I might have missed it. Frankly, it just seemed a lot more reasonable to conclude that they were shooting to mock the differences between boys and girls, without any subtext or extraneous commentary about whether those differences are actually superficial representations imposed by cultural norms.

In other words, I don't see any reason to believe that the Harvard Sailing kids don't believe this is really how girls vs. boys are by nature.
posted by koeselitz at 11:55 PM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

empath: “i don't think this is really meant to be taken as 'this is literally how girls act' as much as it is meant to be taken as 'this is how boys think that girls act' and vice versa. I think it's funnier if you move the meta one layer out, but ymmv.”

What lead you to believe that this was intended to be 'one meta layer out,' as it were - that it was intended as a commentary on the perception of boys and girls rather than the nature of boys and girls? I'm just not seeing it. I don't see any indication that they're not the sexist schmucks they seem to be.

Maybe I've spent to much time hanging around Harvard.
posted by koeselitz at 11:58 PM on April 5, 2010

I think you've probably just spent too much time thinking about this video.
posted by empath at 11:58 PM on April 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

empath: “I think you've probably just spent too much time thinking about this video.”

You're the one arguing that we have to go 'one more meta out.' I think it's just a dumb sexist vid, end of. I don't think it's some grand, subtle satire of sexist paradigms. I just think it's just a bunch of dumb sexist Harvard jocks monkeying around about how they think girls and boys act.
posted by koeselitz at 12:04 AM on April 6, 2010

I just really don't care enough about it to make an actual argument. I enjoyed it, you didn't. *shrug*
posted by empath at 12:12 AM on April 6, 2010

Oh, I'm not criticizing the post. I just see it more as a chance to consider the subtext than as a piece of comic hilarity.

Either way, interesting post. Nothing personal meant above.
posted by koeselitz at 12:19 AM on April 6, 2010

This is like an all white version of R.Kelly's "Trapped In The Closet" videos.
posted by billyfleetwood at 12:40 AM on April 6, 2010

I've know men who behaved like these women. Not many of them, thankfully. None of them have been my friends, and few of them have been my intentional acquaintances. But they exist in large numbers.

Consider the Guido. Yes, the Guido is a Hollywood stereotype, but they do exist outside of motion pictures, or the stereotype wouldn't be funny.

This reminds me of a 1994 UK television series called "Honey for Tea." It starred one of my favorite actors, Felicity Kendal, as a pushy American mom. Her fake American accent was hideous. Except that it wasn't; she sounded like a lot of Americans really sound. But it grated because she wasn't feeding us the canonical television American accent.

These women behaving like men are guilty of being perhaps too accurate in their portrayals of that large subset of American male culture who waste so much of their time trying to be tough or cool.
posted by Chasuk at 1:26 AM on April 6, 2010

klangklangston: "How come the guys mock by embodying the stereotypical female roles, then the women mock by complaining about stereotypical female roles?"

Girls mock stereotypical female roles like this, guys mock stereotypical female roles like this!
posted by Rhaomi at 2:10 AM on April 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

I must figure out a way to slip the phrase "besties with testes" into conversation, preferably for maximum annoyance and discomfort.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:09 AM on April 6, 2010

I find it funny that "women pretending to be men" almost always ends up as "women pretending to be De Niro in Taxi Driver." Nice try. Needs less Brooklyn.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:30 AM on April 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

wait... they were pretending.....

oh...
posted by HuronBob at 3:52 AM on April 6, 2010

And Lola's a damned fine song, which I can never hear without instantly thinking of One Toke Over the Line (not the original)

There's a FPP somewhere there in the backstory to how that got produced.

"A modern spiritual" indeed!
posted by mikelieman at 4:24 AM on April 6, 2010

Apparently all American men speak with vaguely Northeastern accents.
posted by HeroZero at 4:38 AM on April 6, 2010

Came for the comedy, stayed for the beans.
posted by bashos_frog at 5:13 AM on April 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Those were terrible.
posted by askmehow at 5:31 AM on April 6, 2010

The nine people in these two videos are, without doubt, precisely the type of people whose lives would be dramatically improved by a good night with a ladyboy muppet.

But Obi Wan, he took me by the hand
He said, 'Go to Yoda and he'll make you a man.'
posted by octobersurprise at 5:31 AM on April 6, 2010

I enjoyed the comedy in the videos. Thank you.
posted by kalessin at 5:38 AM on April 6, 2010

Also, given how apt the comedy is, I saw a lot of evidence that the folks writing and participating might be aware of the potential harm in the stereotypes they were mocking. But maybe that's what I get for assuming good intent.
posted by kalessin at 5:50 AM on April 6, 2010

I'm really interested in why "some of my female friends act like this" is causing such negative reactions, but "some of my gay male friends act like this" seems to be completely OK. I'm not saying that one statement is worse than the other, or that either one is inherently untrue, but I'm surprised that the general consensus is that this behavior is completely unrealistic, except from some gay men who obviously eat nothing but ice cubes and talk about their feelings.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 6:02 AM on April 6, 2010

Basically, I don't think we should say "This video is uninteresting and not of worth to me because no one I know or conceive of could act like this and be genuine."

Fair enough.

How about "This video is uninteresting and not of worth to me because Sinbad, the Law-Giver, peace be upon him, already taught us in his ancient texts that WOMEN BE DIFFERENT THAN MEN."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:06 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I just think it's just a bunch of dumb sexist Harvard jocks monkeying around about how they think girls and boys act.

So your opinion of the video is informed at least in part by your own stereotypes about "Harvard jocks"?

From their website:

* Harvard Sailing Team is a New York City based sketch comedy group. We are not affiliated in any way with Harvard University or its sailing program.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 6:16 AM on April 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

Also, those actors looked like jocks to you?
posted by oddman at 6:18 AM on April 6, 2010

What the fuck? Who acts like this? Are the people in the videos even humans, or shapeshifting aliens filming a reconstruction of human behavior based on what they've gleaned from transmissions of the TV show Friends that are just now reaching their distant world? I just... wow. I can't really articulate how viscerally anti-this I am. I don't understand how these people grew up in the same culture as me but might as well be from fucking Mars for how well I can relate to them.

I can't favorite this enough.

The bit about physical violence against women was horrifying.
posted by odinsdream at 6:21 AM on April 6, 2010

Actually I knew two dudes where pretty fucked up. One of them had diagnosed mental health issues. The girls remind me of those two dudes, right down to things like the "I just want to see 'em die" comment. If you've never met dudes that acted like those girls, you've lived a sheltered life. I'm not friends with either of them anymore, though, they were both huge assholes.

* Harvard Sailing Team is a New York City based sketch comedy group. We are not affiliated in any way with Harvard University or its sailing program.

Oh okay.

Also, those actors looked like jocks to you?

Okay, here's what I thought of:

The Yale Daily News profiles alumnus Anderson Cooper, and it provides us with both a window into his obsessive nature and insight into his sexy silver tresses:

After failing to keep up with his teammates and having his dreams of rowing dashed, Cooper found another seat for himself at the front of the boat. At 5-feet-10, Cooper decided to go down to 125 pounds to make race weight as a coxswain.

Since they were supposed to be on the sailing team, I thought that was why they were so skinny. And btw, it kind of ruined the joke, because actually it looked like they probably WERE as obsessed about food in real life as they were in the video, or at least the beginning of the video that I watched.
posted by delmoi at 6:41 AM on April 6, 2010

This YouTube commenter said it best: guys don't talk that much ..... ie " HEY WHY DON'T SHUT YOUR F*ING MOUTH ... AND WATCH THE GAME"

That would have been a lot more realistic.
posted by desjardins at 6:52 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Beans.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:12 AM on April 6, 2010

As someone who works in a college and regularly sees the behaviors of a couple of hundred young men and women everyday, these videos are not as far off as some may believe.

I have heard numerous sets of women talking about dieting together in that same, "OMG" tone of voice. I've heard women calling their boyfriends and doing the, "Say you love me, too. No, please! Just say it. If you don't say it, I'm going to be mad," and so forth.

Minus the drinking (not privy to the after hours club of the undergrads these days), I've seen guys say many of the things said in this video about women (and worse!).

One of the professors I work with teaches a class on diversity for business students. She has them engage in an exercise outside of class where the students take on the gender roles of the opposite sex in terms of behavior and then write about their experiences and how the people who encountered them behave. One girl in this class went out to dinner with some friends dressed in baggy jeans, a baseball cap, and a loose t-shirt. She sat on her chair with her legs open and her arm thrown over the back. She only drank beer. And she kept her wallet in her back pocket.

Her friends --- all girls --- were mortified by her behavior. Partly I imagine because of how sudden this change of behavior was and how unexpected, but they also kept telling her that girls just don't act that way and that people would think she's a lesbian.

So while these videos may be playing caricatures, I don't think they're as off the mark as people might like to think. And I think erstwhile ungulate probably has the best interpretation as to how these videos should be viewed for maximum funny.
posted by zizzle at 7:13 AM on April 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

Harvard Sailing Team is a comedy troupe? Holy crap.

I have a strong feeling an actual sailing team from Harvard would be funnier.
posted by koeselitz at 7:13 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I knew a brilliant man once who said that in the social world, evidence of the status quo without an explicit criticism acts as an argument for the status quo.

It is true that there are people that act like this. I am pretty sure that simply representing the roles and behaviors, even if it is in a comical manner, acts to spread and reinforce the roles and behaviors. Unless there is an explicit criticism, which this lacked.
posted by idiopath at 7:39 AM on April 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

Great performances redeem mediocre writing. Especially the women's half--would have been much funnier with more apathy and less bluster.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:45 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have a strong feeling an actual sailing team from Harvard would be funnier.

Finding this out made my opinion of the sketches drop from "mildly amused that a sailing team would pull such a weird promotional stunt" to "sweet jesus, this is the best they could come up with?"
posted by kdar at 7:45 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Isn't the Raincoats cover of "Lola" fucking fantastic?

Yes. The Raincoats cover of "Lola" is the best thing ever.
posted by steambadger at 8:02 AM on April 6, 2010

This was... eh.

I, too, would have been much more impressed had this been done by a sailing team...

That said, I think there is something substantial to these stereotypes; and what matters more than how predictably people talk, is how predictable are their often unvoiced emotional responses.

Male and female intellectuals often sound indistinguishable; male and female salt-of-the-earth types also can sound pretty much the same. Still, there are concepts and linguistic patterns that will predictably affect the vast majority of men in the same way, while not having the same effect on women; and there are concepts and linguistic patterns that will predictably affect the vast majority of women, while not having the same effect on men.

And, again, such patterns will tend to produce predictable effects regardless of education level, temperament, or sensibility. Most like to think that the differences between men and women, if they exist at all, are superficial and conditioned, and that beneath the surface, there is similarity; actually, it seems much more the case that the similarities-- and by definition, those expressed through speech-- are learned and socially conditioned, while the differences are intrinsic, fundamental, and often unconscious. The more precisely one questions, and the deeper one delves into, the arbitrary objectives X and Y some given male values, and questions why he values this particular X and this particular Y, and questions what he believes he must do in order to experience X and Y, and questions the results X and Y will give him... the more you'll see structural resemblances between his internal map and that of some other random male, with some other set of values for X and Y. And the deeper you go into a given woman's mind, the more you'll likely see the structure (the structure, and not the content-- so, how some datum X relates to X1 and Y, not what X happens to be) of her internal world probably mirrors the structure of some other female, chosen at random.

Put another way, a male and female sitting in a booth in a bar may both be equally enthusiastic and knowledgeable about Hegel, while both may know and care nothing about softball. And the male and female sitting in the booth next to them may be equally enthusiastic and knowledgeable about softball, while both knowing and caring nothing about Hegel. Couple 1 may sound alike; couple 2 may sound alike; both couples may sound different from one another. Usually, though, the two men will think about highly valued content, whether Hegel or softball, in structurally similar ways; and the two women will think about highly valued content, whether Hegel or softball, in structurally similar ways; and these two ways of thinking will tend to differ.
posted by darth_tedious at 8:59 AM on April 6, 2010

Usually, though, the two men will think about highly valued content, whether Hegel or softball, in structurally similar ways; and the two women will think about highly valued content, whether Hegel or softball, in structurally similar ways; and these two ways of thinking will tend to differ.

"I read philosophy so I can score with brainy chicks."
posted by empath at 9:21 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I actually liked this. It's wonderful to have friends who refuse to conform to gender stereotypes, and to disregard them ourselves, but that doesn't discount the fact that there really are people who act like this. The behavior in this video might seem trite and inauthentic

I really didn't.

At best, it's tired, unfunny crap that's no better than the standup classic of "White people perform an activity like THIS, but black people perform that same activity in a different way!"

At worst, and honestly this is more how I feel since the bits I saw seemed rather mean-spirited, it's not far removed from them doing "Whites will be Black" wherein they badly mangle AAVE about crime at each other as they stuff fried chicken and watermelon into their mouths.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:37 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Awful.
posted by rusty at 10:20 AM on April 6, 2010

My impression of "Guys Will Be Girls" was they were off the mark due to their body language, especially towards each other, and speech patterns. But "Girls Will Be Boys" was a closer to what I've seen guys - or sporty dykes - do. Although the women still spoke too quickly, and interrupted each other more, than guys would. It's no news that women observe (and can imitate) men more than the other way around due to gender oppression.
Could have been much funnier all around.
posted by Dreidl at 11:50 AM on April 6, 2010

As someone who works in a college and regularly sees the behaviors of a couple of hundred young men and women everyday, these videos are not as far off as some may believe.

See, that's exactly why I think it's very, very meh. If they're going to skewer gender stereotypes and actually be really funny, they'd have to go a lot farther. This plays more like a college orientation gender-sensitivity group dynamics exercise.

My youth group use to run with this kind of skit as comedy to great effect, adding a second layer of contextual humor via the well-known kids skewering their own "types" as well as male/female stereotypes.
posted by desuetude at 12:11 PM on April 6, 2010

I can't speak for the men, but the women were far from the mark. They talked to much to be group of guys watching a game and all of them seemed to be from some strange place that gives men a combination of New Jersey and Brooklyn accents with random others thrown in.
posted by Megafly at 12:57 PM on April 6, 2010

I think, for me, it helped to watch the women's first. Simply because they did an overall better job, but finding out it was a sketch comedy group took away most of the shine of the production and acting value as I'd originally assumed they were athletes just doing some funny bits to promote themselves.

That said, I found the women's to have too much talking. And the men's bit about putting the pet down seemed out of left field and could have been done without. The men also seemed to generally be trying too hard. If I'd watched the men's first, like it was supposed to be done, I would have brushed off the second one entirely before finishing it.

I also agree with desuetude, if they're going to exaggerate college life, there were so many better ways to have accomplished that than a football game and talking about diets. I hate to say it, but even a movie like House Bunny did a better job portraying college life stereotypes. But I love Anna Faris so I might be biased.
posted by june made him a gemini at 1:13 PM on April 6, 2010

I'm guessing this isn't going to add much to the conversation, but at least in the Headspace Belongin' to Me, oh dear God did these embody a new level of awful.
posted by WCityMike at 9:56 PM on April 6, 2010

Crap.
posted by apiaryist at 9:57 PM on April 6, 2010