Netflix wants you to stop saying “chick flick,” the innocuous phrase we use to refer to movies adored by the female population.
The company took to Twitter last week to denounce the term:
Quick PSA: Can we stop calling films “chick flicks” unless the films are literally about small baby chickens? Here’s why this phrase should absolutely be retired (thread):
— Netflix Film (@NetflixFilm) April 15, 2019
The company then proceeds to lecture on five reasons why this phrase is offensive. Here they are:
1. “Chick flick” is synonymous with romantic comedies, which suggests women are the only people interested in romance and comedy.
2. There aren’t similar categories for men. You don’t hear people asking to watch “man movies.”
3. It cheapens the work that goes into making these types of films.
4. It suggests “chick flicks” are trivial.
5. There’s nothing inherently “gendered” about liking a lighthearted film with a strong female lead and an emotional arc.
Since number five is just another version of number one, I think it’s fair to assume that’s where Netflix’s real beef lies: with the fact that films about romance and relationships are inherently more interesting and entertaining to women. When men do attend these films, they typically do so to make their wives and girlfriends happy. If it were up to them, they’d be at a Marvel film.
Anyone who’s married or who has been in a relationship with the opposite sex for any period of time knows this is, by and large, true. You know what else they know? That there’s nothing wrong with it. That it doesn’t need to change. That a man being a man and a woman being a woman, and the gendered choices that invariably go along with this, are not offensive to everyday folks. Referring to a film as a “chick flick” is simply helpful to hone in on what the movie is about. People like to know what they’re getting at the box office before they spend their hard-earned money to see it.
Where on earth did companies get the idea that scolding its customers, or biting the hand that feeds them, is a good thing? Are the millennials in charge of Netflix’s poorly designed public relations strategy really more interested in social justice than in making a profit? If so, they’re in the wrong line of work.
Netflix, stick with making films and TV shows and keep your politics to yourself. People are free to refer to films any way they see fit. That’s how the free market works. Or didn’t you get the memo?
[Also read: Netflix defends the romantic comedy, two decades after the genre was ruined forever]
Suzanne Venker (@SuzanneVenker) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is an author, columnist, and relationship coach known as “The Feminist Fixer.” Her newest book, “WOMEN WHO WIN at Love: How to Build a Relationship That Lasts,” will be published in October 2019. Suzanne’s website is www.suzannevenker.com.
