a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by Saouka
Saouka  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Sexual metaphors used to market gendered technology

    Or, said differently, she is penetrable, easy to display, easy to manipulate, easy to use, and cheap to own.

Is this where everyone stopped reading, or was it just me? I forgot that USB sticks were now metaphorical detachable penises. The whole "Do you think I'm still pretty?" is a good thing to complain about, but when were we told the RT is female? I don't think that came out in the advert. Unless that can be shown, the entire 'deconstruction' falls apart.

    Do you still think I'm pretty?
Well this wasn't said 'pathetically', it had the same monotone the rest did. Is it pathetic to say? I'm not sure. It's arguable that the female voice was chosen because Siri is female and that voice is what we associate with Siri. The jump to Microsoft also being sexist seems a little contrived. However, the language use might get me. Pretty isn't a masculine word, it's a feminine one. Even if I might choose my technology based on how it looks (I'll go for nicer looking mediocre headphones over ugly good headphones any day), I don't gender them as female. I think that point can be accepted; the final phrase could be see as a problem. It's not surprising that Apple products are designed for looks as well as functionality, something that Microsoft doesn't usually pay the same amount of attention to, so I don't think the punchline hinges on _women_ being only useful for their looks, but instead that Apple should spend a bit more time on function like Windows did.

    “Don’t leave me,” she implicitly begs, “you can still use me, too.”

Oh wait, the final phrase is now implying that the iPad wants to get fucked. Christ.

And it's petty for me to call this out, but

    eveyrday
should probably be spelled correctly.




fr33lunch  ·  4065 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm sorry to say I disliked this article too. It struck me as a high school position paper, written by a disengaged student. Ever go looking for something that just isn't there?

thenewgreen  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Agreed. The ad that I just watched from the post doesn't seem sexual to me at all. Do I still seem pretty? just seems to be a jab at Apple placing aesthetics over function. I thought it was a rather well put together ad.