The headlines of these ads read "karate lessons", promoting a karate school in Florida. These ads play off the fear of many heterosexual parents, that their sons will grow up to be queer. This sort of homophobia leads to all sorts of suffering, including this extreme story of a man killing an infant boy for "acting like girl." "Man up," "Don't act like a girl," and "What a waste" are some of the not too subtle ways in which gay boys and men are told by society that they are not right or enough. This makes me angry and sad.
(BTW, one gay blogger had a different and positive take on this ad: as a kid, he kept getting beaten up so his dad made him take karate lessons. One day he beat the hell out one of his bullies and never had a problem again. His view: karate lessons are especially a good thing for gay boys. I am fine with karate lessons, but not with the ads.)
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