That Obamacare Ad

What’s wrong with this picture?

As it happens, a lot.

First, it is promoting risky behavior. It allows young people believe that if they have insurance or use birth control they can do anything they want.

Of course, the ad tells them, in the small print, that they should use condoms, but, seriously, this message has been drummed into the minds of the young for decades now. The result: something like half of them are happily indulging in unprotected sex.

Besides, if young people are so thoroughly protected against the medical consequences of their actions, why do they need insurance?

Second, the ad has indulged in gender-bending. It has reversed the gender roles and made the woman the one who is aggressively trying to pick up the guy, wondering whether she can get him into bed. Cute, don’t you think?

This requires three remarks.

First, it is nigh unto impossible to find a man who will turn down a woman who offers him what seems to be free love. He will usually go along because he does not want to turn down a woman who is so desperate. Do you honestly think that he is worrying about his modesty or his reputation? He will lose more reputation for say No than he will for saying Yes.

Second, however, if the woman is that desperate the man might suspect that she is slightly unhinged. He might reject the offer because he sees it, not unreasonably, as a threat.

In all honesty, the woman in the add looks more like a stalker than a temptress.

Third, I regret to inform you that there is one circumstance where a woman initiates sexual contact and where a man can choose freely to accept or reject her advance: when he might have to pay for it!