idle thought #597

I was in the mood so I went back and watched a few House Flipper let’s plays, and, uh. It’s not the same. The game is exactly as I remember, but maaaaaan the classism and sometimes the sexism is not even hidden, but it’s on full display. Stains are gross and even a bit leads to calling things a “pigsty”, which is messed up in its own right (as that could easily lead to racism too, particularly with how many minorities make up lower classes). There was one house where the parent got a divorce and disowned her kids and the guy was going on about how sorry he felt for her for losing her kids (?!?) right up until the point he found an unmade bed and then went ‘you know, she was probably a horrible mother’. I actually like the trend since the pandemic where people realized we don’t have to pretend we’re all perfect robots. No shade on you if you personally like things to be neat and tidy; we all have different preferences. But it’s good that we’ve stopped shoving women in boxes quite as hard, because I’ve seen my mom’s anxiety spike every time we have someone over and she doesn’t have time to vacuum for the fifteenth time and move a few things that show the house is lived in out of the way, and it’s not intrinsic; she thinks she’s an absolute failure of a woman and wife if she doesn’t. It seems a lot like a way to keep women busy and “in their place”, even if they work or do other things with their time, and it sucks.
And of course I didn’t notice any of this stuff when I was a kid. Well. Not that I was a kid. That was 10 years ago, which is a long time, but still.