This is a post about gender issues which was thoughtful but also, in parts, strange and funny. Bizarrely gendered consumer items, old stereotypes, some great comments.
This gives a lot of examples of dubious marketing. Though some of it raises eyebrows, a few examples don’t seem all that egregious. I’m not surprised many men and women might prefer different cards, but certainly not all, at all.
I remember that in my teens in the late 70’s, there was a glimmer of hope that children’s toys were getting less gendered. I thought at the time that, by the time I had children, surely they wouldn’t end up being discouraged from playing with trucks or trains or dolls based on their gender.
Now there are pink Legos for girls.
I think it is probably wrong to place strong limits or discourage which toys one might prefer. But it is probably also true there are some innate differences and that choices made would often be pretty traditional, for better or worse. The wiring is more similar than different but maybe not exactly the same. Of course social effects affect this too. But colours often seem lazy. I can understand new parents being excited though, and will cut them some slack.
I agree the gendering of toys is out of control, but many girls (and women) love pink. Why can’t we have our STEM toys be pink if we want them? And why can’t boys have pink LEGOS too?
Signed, a 40 year old woman who is frustrated that very few household items come in purple.
What cracks me and my husband up is toiletries marketed to men. The shampoo bottles are all slate grey and angular with special man scents because it’s rugged man’s shampoo! These are the kinds of things I think we just take for granted. I mean if shampoo just came in the same bottle regardless of gender, would anyone even notice?
It gets better. Deodorants marketed to women have names like Spice Market or actual plants. Men get “Arctic Force”. My armpits probably sometimes, maybe often, smell worse than I would prefer. But they don’t require a team of soldiers to hose them down, nor movement to Tuktoyaktuk so as not to offend those who don’t get the concept of personal space.
The price differences for the same effing products (ones specifically marketed to women - the pink ones - are more expensive) really pisses me off. The #12 girl’s hair product is more than 2x the cost of the boys version, and the #37 pic with the women’s laxative that is 30¢ more cost and half the amount as the “normal” laxative, are outrageous. FTS!!
Yes, my husband’s is Arctic Edge, where he apparently needs to teeter on the brink of plummeting death in some frozen hellscape in order to feel like a man.
My unfavorite example of pointless gendering involves the naming of high school and collegiate athletic teams.
If the male team is the “Bonecrushers”, why does the women’s team have to be called the “Lady Bonecrushers”? Just call them both the “Bonecrushers”. Fans will figure it out.
My favorite is men’s razors, which for some reason all have names that sound like attack helicopters.
Imagine playing on the Lady Trojans.
My favorite (or least favorite, really), are Dude Wipes. The first time I saw an ad for them I honestly thought it was a parody ad, but no, they are a real product. I guess normal flushable wipes are too feminine; we need manly wipes to clean our butts after taking a big, manly bowel movement. As far as I can tell the only real difference is that they’re bigger and the scent is different (or they’re available in unscented variety).
Really I would never use that product or the normal unmanly wipes. Even though they advertise them as “flushable” those things wreak havoc on the sewer system. Although since they’re bigger the Dude Wipes are probably even worse in that regard.
My very favorite:
Coincidentally, I was buying cleaning products when I saw something called “Scrub Daddy.” It’s a scrubbing pad, shaped like a smiley face, and yellow. Beside it was the Scrub Mama - the same thing in pink.
In fairness, if there is ever a time when you are sweating, it might be while climbing ice cliffs to Castle Black, while wearing five layers of fur…
Yeah, I get that more products = more shelf space = more sales, but are Dude Wipes more, less, or equal cost as the “normal” wipes that women may use? I suspect if they came out with “Fem Wipes” they’d cost more than the regular, and have less product.
If I am going to manwipe, and I am not, at least it should have the decency to smell like barbecue sauce.
It’s nice to know that I can have a girly CPAP machine!.
Well, OK, I can’t - it was discontinued years ago. Missed my chance, dammit.
But at least my MASK can still be feminine!
Oh, nope, it can’t. I’ve got a large head even for a guy. That thing won’t fit my basketball-sized noggin. When I switched to a new DME provider a couple years ago, I very specifically told them “Do NOT give me the “for her” version of the mask. It WILL NOT FIT. I repeat. DO NOT GIVE ME THE “FOR HER” VERSION”.
Naturally, that’s the one they sent me.
To be fair, differently-sized headgear may fit different people better. You could, however, just label them “S-M” and “L-XL” or something. I don’t think that pink straps really add all that much.
I’ve been tempted for years to buy a stick of “Naval Diplomacy”.
Around the holidays I’ve seen our store selling gift packs of men’s cleansers with a “gunpowder+whiskey” scent, which I guess is good if you want your coworkers to think you’ve been handling firearms while day-drinking just before you show up for work.