There was a time when a TV dad could gently correct his son on gender roles without the internet exploding. But today? That same scene might cause a hashtag war. A clip from the ’90s sitcom, Home Improvement, has resurfaced, and people are pointing out just how much things have changed — or maybe, how much they haven’t.
The video, which went viral on TikTok, is from an episode of The Feminine Mistake that aired in 1997. It features Tim Taylor, played by Tim Allen, teaching his son Brad a lesson after Brad tells his girlfriend to make him (and Tim) a sandwich. Tim calmly tells him no and then explains why.
Tim Taylor teaches his son about gender roles
@_psylem_ Let’s go deeper as to why #90s #dads we’re built #different #90skids #nostalgia #men #realmen ♬ original sound – Psylem
In the episode, Brad’s girlfriend Angela offers to make him a sandwich. Brad asks her to make one for his dad, too. At first, it seems harmless. But when the two are alone, Tim gives his son something to think about.
He doesn’t yell. He just asks, “You ever wonder why she does stuff like that?” Brad says Angela enjoys it, but Tim replies, “Sometimes girls do that because they’re afraid if they don’t, men won’t like them.” Brad jokes that Tim is only saying that because he married someone like his mom. But Tim pushes back: “I love your mom. She’s strong. That’s one of the reasons I married her.” Eventually, Brad stops Angela from making him a sandwich. “I like you,” he says, “but I don’t think a girl should do stuff for a guy when he can do it on his own.”
Many people kept reacting the same way
The clip has been liked nearly 200,000 times and is drawing thousands of comments. But many people are saying the same thing: if this episode aired today, it might get labeled as “woke.”
One person commented, “This would be called woke today.” Another added, “Back then he was seen as a good dad. Now they’d call him soft or leftist.”
Others pointed out how strange it is that kindness and equality are now seen by some as political. One comment put it this way: “Wokeness has always been around. It’s just that now, people shout about it louder—especially when it makes them uncomfortable.”
Another summed it up simply: “I got so many of my lessons in being a man from ‘90s sitcoms. Just human lessons. Not activist stuff.” It turns out that what some people now call “woke” was just common sense back then. And maybe still is.