My experience as a married guy is that stuff made specifically for women tends to be shoddier and more expensive.
I think there’s some lack of control variables here, though I think the answer still will come out that being a man is cheaper. We should assume similar social and economic classes, similar ages, similar health conditions. So, certainly, a man with a very prestigious job that requires him to wear an expensive suit, and be groomed according to the standards of that class will be more expensive than for, say, a woman working as a receptionist at a small business.
Yes, women have a higher expectation of grooming and physical appearance than men in pretty much every social class. There are certainly some classes where men will get regular manicures and facials and all, but chances are women in that class are getting all of that, expensive dying, waxing, etc. Similarly, the price of men’s fashion tends to be cheaper than comparable women’s fashion. So it seems to me that the social class stuff will tend to cost the average woman more.
When you get into health stuff, assuming similar health conditions, obviously there are some conditions that affect one more than the other, but many of those are probably rare and mostly balance out. But when you get to the whole genitals and reproduction, it seems to get way more expensive for women, dealing with periods, birth control, pregnancy, birth. Sure, men have prostate problems and testicular cancer, but women also get ovarian and breast cancer. I just can’t imagine that men aren’t quite a bit cheaper in terms of health costs.
That said, there certainly are some things that cost more for me. For instance, men tend to be bigger in general and have more muscle mass, so men generally have to pay more for food. I’d suspect that the average man’s “toys” are probably more expensive, such as cars and bikes, electronics, etc. But I imagine the latter part probably has as much to do with the fact that men tend to make more and tend to have more left to spend on hobbies than women do.
or, you know, just don’t color your hair.
I think we need to compare equivalent categories. Some men buy lots of expensive suits also. I work in Silicon Valley, and if women managers do all that stuff to themselves it is news to me. Of course men don’t either.
When my son-in-law had a law practice and my daughter was in grad school he spent a hell of a lot more on clothes than she did.
You keep using the words “expected to.” Stop it. You’re making yourself look silly.
Have you not witnessed the rise of the murse? About half the guys I see on the train every morning are carrying a messenger bag or some such. They’ve become popular and fashionable what with everyone and their dog carrying all kinds of gadgets around.
Seriously, I’m an adult woman who doesn’t walk around in rags, but I suppose I missed the memo that I was expected to spend $90 on each article of clothing (some, sure), pay for expensive skin care items, maintain a pedicure at all times to show up to a place where no one sees my toes, have my eyebrows waxed monthly, wear pantyhose, constantly be replacing undies.
Without needing to be ridiculous, I agree that being a woman is more expensive - without needing to throw in lifetime costs of insurance. Women’s clothing tends to be flimsier and yet more expensive than men’s (grr), maintaining my hair costs a hell of a lot more than any man’s I’ve known, I pay for tampons, razors (though I’ve begun buying mens’ - why am I paying more for the same razor in a different package again?), and good make up, but I don’t need to constantly replenish my sunglasses supply and I’m not in the salon every other second. I’m paying about $100 every six weeks.
I know a woman who is a bit of a cheapskate. She goes to a bar/restaurant on Pittsburgh’s South-side once a month specifically to use the ladies room, which has a basket of courtesy tampons. I know this because one month I went in with her and drank a Bloody Mary at the bar while she ran to the loo. When she returned I asked what she wanted and she said she wasn’t thirsty. We left after a slurped down my bloody,and she explained.
There’s so many observations to make about a paragraph that includes both Bloody Marys and tampons, but I’ll be damned if I do so before lunch.
Fancy shoes. Expensive dresses. Diamonds. Jewelry. Health products.
You know expensive it is for a man to buy a woman all that crap!?
It’s a European Carryalls!
Huh? We’ve had briefcases for a long time.
Heh. I missed that. It was a Sunday brunch thing…
From talking to parents they say their daughters usually cost more. Meaning their sports and activities cost more (ex. ballet vs football and HOPE your daughter doesnt fall in love with horseback riding), there clothes cost more, and their hair cost more. Plus girls tend to shower more and longer leading to larger hot water bills. Boys though can make up for that in food costs. Ever tried feeding a teenage boy?
But then again being female they are eligible for more college scholarships many of which are gender specific. Its also easier for girls to get athletic scholarships.
If you think that’s an option, then you’d make a pretty bad professional woman. It’s barely even acceptable for minimum-wage workers not to dye their hair. It’s different for a guy with short hair that’s gracefully going silver at the temples. For a woman with long non-blonde hair that’s half-gray and half-natural**? Nobody **wants to look at that mess, no matter how clean it is.
What a load of crap.
Absolutely. I don’t think I know one woman older than 30 who doesn’t color her hair in some way.
This buying razor stuff - for both sexes. I assume that means disposables? I shave every day, have a lot more to shave than peachfuzz, and I have a nice razor with 45 edge blades that I change once a month at most. And I far prefer it to the disposables I’ve tried. The handle is itself very cheap, especially if you wait for a coupon.
Just curious.
I’m starting to get worried now. My hair is 90% brown, 10% gray, I wear Target clothes, and my nails have never been professionally mani- or pedicured. I don’t even own nail polish or perfume.
Is everyone is laughing at me behind my back? :eek:
To be honest, I never got the obsession with coloring one’s hair and I don’t do it. But I’d say at least 50% of the women I know do it. I mean, have you ever seen the size of the hair color section, even in a grocery store? They’re not selling those to ghosts.
Let’s not get into a whole “a real man loves a natural woman so why are all these women wearing all this stuff” sort of discussion, if anyone was thinking of going there.
Maybe white women are expected to color their hair. But that’s certainly not true of black women. We may get pressure to straighten our hair, though this is changing as natural hairstyles become more common. But coloring…not so much.
I have felt pressured by my coworkers to dress more fashionably, which would require me to spend more money than I normally do on clothing. But…the pressure doesn’t come from my managers. My division director is a woman and she is fashionable and doesn’t say a bad word about anyone’s attire. No, the pressure comes from women who are at my professional level or below (like the secretary). And it’s also not serious pressure, but rather like good-natured ribbing that I can laugh off.
HOWEVER, I don’t work in the corporate world. I’m a scientist amongst scientists and engineers. Female scientists are expected to be a little less fashionable than the norm. Indeed, if you dress too nicely and look too “girly”, you may risk not being taken seriously. So I have definitely chosen the right profession!
But in defense of even sven, I agree that women in certain professions are expected to look a certain way. My psychotherapist is a perfect example of this. She’s 77 years old. If she dressed like your typical 77-year-old lady on the street, she would not get clients. Hell, even I would think twice about her. So she’s stays sharp. Her nails are perfect. She’s got the fancy bangles and earrings and the perfectly made-up face (expensive cosmetics, not that cheap Wet and Wild shit). I don’t know much about clothes, but I can tell she doesn’t shop at Macy’s. Nieman Marcus is probably too bargain basement for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she also spends a pretty penny on special undergarments. Maybe if she were 36, she could get away with the frumpy attire that I might be tempted to wear to work. But she is not 36. She’s a 77-year-old woman competing against 36-year-olds for clients. That requires her to look a certain way.
In contrast, her husband is a professor and he dresses like your typical 80-year-old grandfather. Because no one cares if their professor looks like an old man. But people don’t want to get counseling from Granny in the applique sweater and polyester slacks. And if I’m still working at the age of 77, I’m also going to have to be aware of how I dress…if I want to be taken seriously. A 36-year-old can show her bare legs off and wear Tevas into the office. Someone with wrinkles and varicose veins and sagging body parts, not so much.
So anyone who says that women don’t get a lot more of this kind of pressure than men do don’t know what they’re talking about. But the pressure definitely varies depending on the line of work we’re talking about.
We don’t count money spent on the house as a hobby, but a lot of men would buy less house, decorate it less, buy less expensive furniture, and spend the savings on other things.
My wife doesn’t. She’s a professional. She has a times but not lately. At 54 she’s starting to get gray mingled with the black, but it’s coming in evenly so it looks fine.
However, I remember seeing some women with long shaggy black hair where the gray came in like lightning streaks. They looked like witches. I’m all for natural, but sometimes it’s just not the look you want to project.
I spend a pittance on shaving. Admittedly I have a light beard, but I can’t see it costing enough to rate a discussion here even for a very hairy man.
I agree with those above who say that it’s cheaper for men, as long as they’re celibate.