TFM is an online website geared towards college students that includes articles, videos, stories, and a “Babe of the Day” section. The “Babe of the Day” section is supposed to mimic the phrase “Catch of the Day.” Is this hinting that females are comparable to fish? TFM claims that it is “fraternity humor” and the website is “satirical.” However, as a female, I do not find demeaning implications to be funny or satirical on any level. Not all of the articles are bad or directed towards females, but there is a large amount of content that is extremely misogynistic.
Total Frat Move claims that the viewers “shouldn’t take TFM so seriously.” How can anyone not take articles about moral issues “so seriously?” TFM has written articles that perpetuate rape culture. Rape and sexual assault are SERIOUS issues and should be taken SERIOUSly. There is an article about getting a girl to go home with you which includes the line, “…go get more alcohol.” If this isn’t perpetuating rape culture, I don’t know what is.
The sad thing is that TFM tries to defend themselves by saying that it is the viewer twisting TFM’s content to be sexualizing women, not the writers themselves. Total Frat Move responded to an article discussing the outrage of females feeling sexualized by a party invitation saying, “We are looking for the fun ones, and say f*** off to a tease…. Please wear something tight.” The response to the females’ outrage is “Everyone has to be mad about something, right?”
The problem of the offensive invitation is enraging in itself, but the response is even worse. Instead of allowing the females who felt sexualized and upset by an upsetting invitation, this website has to bring up the issue in the most demeaning way ever. Putting blame on women who felt insulted by such a suggestive message by saying “everyone has to be mad about something” is not right. Whether it is supposed to be a “joke” or not, some things are just not “cool”. For example – serious issues about pressuring and sexualizing women – it just isn’t funny or something to take lightly.
More evidence for why TFM sucks is their list of “50 ways to be a good girlfriend.”
No, TFM, “the only thing less sexy than insecurity is love handles” – the only thing that isn’t sexy here is your “sense of humor” and your attempt to shame women’s bodies and confidence.
Right. Okay. So, you can expect your girlfriend to “look good naked the entire relationship” but she isn’t allowed to expect the reciprocal from you? That makes a lot of sense. Not.
#29 isn’t funny. It just isn’t. This reminds me of when we were in the third grade and whenever a boy picked on a girl, adults said it was because he had a crush on her (which is also a thing that shouldn’t be a thing). TFM, you aren’t funny and if you think you are, you’re immature. Belittling women (and other people in general) doesn’t make you more of a man.
“Remember that you’re our girlfriend, not our mother,” yet you are telling girls to “keep your downstairs tidy.” Hmmm. Something isn’t adding up here. TFM, you DO NOT have a right or a preference on how a girl takes care of HER body. The problem isn’t that this list is a thing. The problem is that people actually believe that it is okay to talk about girls this way because TFM puts their website on a “frat star pedestal.” The website is dehumanizing and it isn’t right.
Not only is TFM shaming girls, but they are creating a bad reputation of being affiliated with a fraternity. It is so easy to look at TFM articles and think that all frat boys are misogynistic and immature. That isn’t reality, though. TFM frames this “frat lifestyle” to be so superior to anyone else in the world, but it is foolish to think that there is anything respectable about that attitude. Stop putting out a bad name for fraternities and stop sexualizing women.
Thank you.
Disclaimer: This article is not at all shaming Greek life or fraternity brothers. It strictly about the Total Frat Move website and how serious moral issues should not be correlated with humor. All opinions are my own.