Just something I've always found amusingly hypocritical about feminism: corporations are disgustingly sexist assholes when they cater to perceived desires of a female market segment AND when they don't.

kellykebab · 2013-11-09T04:34:28+00:00

A lot of people in general seem to believe that large companies have these ideologically-driven missions to influence society or mold the public discourse or some horseshit like that rather than cater to well-researched spending habits and explicitly expressed desires in order to make money. It's just narcissism. Bic doesn't give a fuck about you and your gender issues. They just want you to buy their stupid fucking pens. And you probably will. [edit: If it seems like Korporate Amerika doesn't cater to feminist ideals as much as heteronormative ideals, it's because the latter are almost certainly more clearly and consistently expressed by consumers' buying habits. I generally find that "marginalized" political groups' supposed desires are all over the fucking place and quite often, completely contradictory. This is likely due in part to the fact that they spend so much time criticizing the status quo rather than actually doing the heavy lifting of designing a coherent, thorough blueprint for the way the world "should" work.]

As far as the phone issue goes, presumably Apple et al. test their products for user satisfaction before selling them. If so, there is likely some kind of demographic record of their testers. My guess is they test with a roughly even distribution of men and women, but perhaps not. Either way, research would go a lot further than the hyperbolic complaints of a single activist. The article's title claims something definitive that the writer didn't give a fuck about actually looking into. In this case, I agree that feminist ideas are being employed very dogmatically.

notnotnotfred · 2013-11-09T04:05:13+00:00

I'm still undecided if Jezebel is an elaborate troll or not.

All jokes aside, these scenarios are totally different. One is saying (stupidly I might add) that a product is sexist because it favors one gender in its design, while the other is expressly marketed towards a gender arbitrarily.

TheSacredParsnip · 2013-11-09T13:39:01+00:00

Feminism: the fight for slightly more convenient phones for women.

isaackleiner · 2013-11-09T03:24:45+00:00

Protip: tech companies design and build what sells. If women don't like big devices, they should speak with their wallets. It's not as though there aren't a myriad of choices out there. If 50% of the smartphone market decides they want smaller phones, I'm pretty sure HTC et al. would comply.

anonlymouse · 2013-11-09T06:42:10+00:00

It's silly, yeah. But the Bic for her pens serve no practical purpose. They aren't designed for women, nor do they cater to women. They just have some pretty colors and a "for her" sign thrown on them.

anonlymouse · 2013-11-09T06:46:55+00:00

The first person I knew who had a Dell Streak was an Asian woman (small hands). The first person I knew to own a Note was also an Asian woman. I think she's confused about what women actually want. They were the ones driving sales of phablets.

2013-11-09T06:52:01+00:00

Right, because those Asian people have fucking gigantic hands, after all, Americans designed the diminutive iPhones.

you-were-warned · 2013-11-09T07:57:30+00:00

I am a woman, i have small hands.. there are a few times in life where this has come up as a disadvantage eg, couldn't take up the sax because of my little hands, i couldn't do much about that, but i was perfectly capable of buying a phone that fits well in my hands, and it is something i consider when looking for a new phone, it really isn't difficult

Pantsyr · 2013-11-11T00:26:53+00:00

My wife - she of the smaller hands, went out and obtained an S3 Mini. Why - because it's better for someone with rather small hands to use. She tried the S4 and S3, didn't want an IPHONE and then lo and behold a smaller S3 that fitted. So seriously Jezebel what a load of tripe. Could not the author of that tripe simply have tried out phones before buying like a rational human? Guess not.

Phrodo_00 · 2013-11-09T06:36:19+00:00

It's weird, I've read a lot about men finding phablets less handy than women because women usually carry purses anyway, while we have to rely on our pockets.

raptorrage · 2013-11-09T05:53:44+00:00

A pencil is pretty much a pencil. Bic for her seems like shameless feminizing to get money out of me, when I can write with a normal pencil, thank you.

Some devices are too large for my hands, so I went with a galaxy s ii because a) it was on sale, and b) it fits in my hands. They're running a business. If your hands are abnormally tiny, understand that there may not be enough money to be made in accommodating you.

ghoulobst · 2013-11-09T12:50:48+00:00

Nothing they do makes sense.

They get upset that easy bake ovens aren't marketed towards boys enough, so they demand for there to be a girl and a boy version, which you think would offend them even more.

germaneuser · 2013-11-09T19:27:44+00:00

To be fair, the articles are written by two different authors, even if they are published by the same site. However, I would not be surprised if they would both agree with each others' article. Still, would be even more hilarious if both articles were penned by the same author.

guywithaccount · 2013-11-09T23:09:13+00:00

Okay, I know feminism has to be deconstructed and all, but really?

2013-11-09T05:22:43+00:00

[SOME] Women are never satisfied.. Fuck.

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