But..."smart" is also in the original version (for the 2nd girl who knows Kama Sutra etc).
Perhaps "dumb" was changed simply because it feels insulting in general, not linked to gender one way or the other. (One could frankly argue wanting to make that change for the original setting, in the same way that Sondheim got rid of "fag" eventually, coincidentally along with "not a person's bag" which feels dated.)
I suspect a good many people weren't aware of the original lyrics when seeing this revival, so "sending the message that men cannot be expected to cook at home" isn't necessarily so. One would have to know the original to feel that way. Meanwhile, "constant showers of praise" seems like something might expect from a spouse of any gender - to me, that lyric points up a complaint about marriage in general, not a gender stereotype. |
