So, I recently saw this commercial about wearing helmets:

https://youtu.be/pD-f45TbvEw

On the surface, it's a cleverly executed commercial - Vikings used helmets, vikings are badass, therefore helmets are badass, wear helmets. Cool, right? There's no shame in wearing protective gear, it makes sense.

...the execution leaves something to be desired. The fearful lead viking who wants to forego protection is clearly childish and immature, afraid of his wife, and does whatever the woman tells him. This unifies almost every negative stereotype women have about men in one character: stupid, irresponsible bravado and machismo, while he's a henpecked husband, and the woman wears the pants, and must look after his man's safety, which he is clearly incapable of by himself.

And the subject is not a coincidence: it would be hard to find a more traditionally masculine idea than vikings - which is exactly why the woke crowd spends so much time subverting this masculinity. On one hand they take any opportunity to portray vikings as incompetent, bumbling, henpecked fools, on the other hand they insert strong female characters in anythibg related to vikings. This is a deliberate, coordinated subversion.

If you wanted to convey the same message without being toxic and diversive towards men, you could just have the vikings being self-conscious about it, or learning the same message in a positive way - hell, you could take a gruesome turn with it, too.

This obsession with subverting masculinity is just tiresome and demeaning.