If anything, this story makes me look down on Citibank and the people that they hire.
The first time I watched the ad for Citi’s True Name initiative, in which transgender actor Asha Doucet grapples with what self-identified first name to use on his credit card, I was deeply moved. The commercial captures him contemplating different choices like “Robert,” and “James,” before finally settling on “Justin” in a powerful nod to the sheer importance of being seen.
How devalued, I thought, would I feel if I wasn’t recognized by my name? And that’s coming from a cisgender woman who doesn’t face nearly the same pervasive issues as the transgender community.
However, when I showed it to my 9-year-old twin boys, they had no reaction. Zero.
It was then that I realized that my boys’ reaction—or lack thereof—was a sign that my children hadn’t yet learned the biases, conscious or unconscious, that so often cloud our adult lives. They hadn’t been exposed to the challenges and hardships within the transgender community.
No, it’s a sign that that 9-year-old boys do no give a shit about some dude picking out what name to use on a credit card, which is about the most pedestrian and banal experiences a human being in the developed world can have.
This is the commercial in question.
That is some really shallow woke bullshit. Seriously. Do you have any idea how hard it is to change your name on a credit card? Not fucking at all is the answer.
So two boys being nonplussed at this drivel is perfectly natural.
I would put money on them really wanting to play with Legos and really resenting mom making them sit there and watch a commercial about some guy trying to figure out what name he likes.
Mom, on the other hand, is aghast at her 9-year-old sons’ lack of fawning praise and woke tears at the heartwarming shallowness of Citibank virtue signaling to the Left by pandering to a tiny fraction of the population.
Since the birth of our sons, my entrepreneur husband and I have made a point to show that both parents have careers that are important to us. We both have demanding jobs that require early (and late!) meetings and, because of this, both parents share an equal responsibility for managing our home and family.
We do our best to cover for each other and step in to help with the kids when the other is stretched thin and we’re lucky to have a caregiver who does much of the heavy lifting when we’re both consumed with work. It’s not a perfect science, but embedding gender equality as a constant in our home, my sons have grown up with less exposure to antiquated gender roles.
Two corporate executives having a nanny raise the kids. Then mom occasionally shows up to sound like corporate HR.
I believe in the importance of showing my children the diverse array of family structures and as such, we’ve purposefully surrounded ourselves with families that look different than our own. From gay parents to biracial parents to single parents, my children have far more exposure to the non-nuclear family than I did growing up and, for them, this is the norm.
Hot damn is mom a racist. Does mom allow the family to have any friends that they actually like because of common interests or shared values, or are all of their friends selected based upon a diversity quota? Also, the erosion of the nuclear family is largely the reason America is in the shit condition that it is. Sorry, but it’s true. The fact that the non-nuclear family is the norm is a bad thing.
In my role at Citi, I’ve had the opportunity to help lead our efforts to drive diversity and inclusion. First, through championing the launch of our True Name initiative for transgender and non-binary clients, and also by driving more inclusive hiring processes and onboarding as we strive to meet our representation goals while fostering an environment rich with diversity of thought, experience and opinions.
At work and at home, I want to surround myself with that same diversity of thought.
That last part is bullshit. I guarantee it. Does anyone really think that this woman would tolerate someone at Citibank saying “hey, can we not pander to the radical trans-activist Left and instead not fuck with gun retailers by having policies more restrictive than state laws?”
I also strive to foster a culture of candor and inclusiveness at work by asking open-ended questions and soliciting different perspectives in everyday conversations to encourage diverse viewpoints. It’s important that whenever possible, we’re amplifying these conversations on a broader scale through town halls and panel discussions. For example, I recently participated in a candid conversation in front of thousands of colleagues on how I’m incorporating this year’s International Women’s Day theme #ChooseTo Challenge in my everyday life. In order to make significant progress, it’s discussions like these that are necessary to turn talk into action.
How candid was her conversation, really?
Did anyone stand up and say “maybe customers really don’t want their fucking credit card to mau-mau them over gender issues when all they want is a low APR and good rewards.”
I doubt it.
I feel very bad for this woman’s sons. They represent the majority of us who are bored and annoyed with corporate America shoving this woke bullshit in our faces, then doubling down when we tell them we don’t want to hear that shit.
Used to be we protected our children from the world, now it seems like parents are throwing them on the woke pyre for clout.
Fully expect them to send their kids to reeducation summer camps and brag about it.
Moloch is back!
When I was 9 the last thing I cared about on TV was an ad for a bank, my only concept of “banking” was to ask mom or dad for a quarter to buy a candy bar.
I’d bet her next step would be giving her son’s hrt and lopping ’em off to “teach” them about diversity.
The fact that it partially satisfies her revenge against her own children for defying her politics will be ignored.
I guess the future must be bright! The real problems must be solved. Otherwise, why would the world be expending so much time and energy to change all of society to make a fraction of a percentage of society Not feel like a misfit, when they are? Let’s fix imaginary problems!!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I remember correctly ,not long ago people who encouraged mentally ill people to embrace the delusions and helped them maintain that insane belief, and deciding your sex isn’t your choice, it’s insane to think it is,
Well, the ones who don’t tell them that
Are
Enablers..
That used to be a bad thing. Now if you’re not, you’re A transphobe..
Screw them. My first credit card (in ’87) is Citi-branded and I quit using it and another Citi-branded card when they went anti-firearms-industry. I lost the second due to disuse and am now using the old one once every 9 months for a minimal purchase just to keep such a longstanding account “alive.”
“That is some really shallow woke bullshit.”
Bingo. Give that man a cigar.
“…was a sign that my children hadn’t yet learned the biases, conscious or unconscious, that so often cloud our adult lives”.
Wait… what???
I thought the whole point of all this crap was to remove biases, prejudices, etc… Am I missing something?
Yet, here is some woke A-hole that is actually upset and bothered that her kids don’t have a bias against transgenders. And, she wants her kids to have those biases. She wants to make a point that transgenders are different!
It is not enough that her kids do not care about another person’s sexuality, they have to make a celebration of it.
I’m sure Woke Mom was going to step on her children in some way or another to make sure her Virtue shined brightly.
If the kids had reacted negatively, she would have posted a glowing review how she shamed them into Glorious acceptance.
Had the kids reacted positively, she would have posted one of those “Mouth of Babes” bits. In fact, I suspect this is what she wanted them to do.
In any case, Woke Mom here doesn’t really deserve the title, as she just sees her kids as pets and props, just like she sees other people as pets and props to further herself.
Celebrating the renaming of a mentally ill woman who surgically butchered herself in order to resemble a man? And her boys didn’t give a damn one way or the other? There is hope for the boys yet….but I doubt if the female parental unit will allow them to grow up to be normal (not cis-gendered, whatever the hell that means) productive members of society.
Schwehr: Yep. Children as performance “art”. Even more pathological than those jive “baby on board” placards. (Wait, what!? Did DOT require placarding of the little germ spreaders?….)