Dec 10 2008
The Male Minority?
A lot of old psychology text books follow the same general format. They will cover different topic like emotions, intelligence, attitudes and temperament. And then right at the back there will be two thin chapter, or even appendices. The general category that these chapters would be ‘abnormal psychology’. One would be about children, and the other about women. Men were implicitly normal; anything else was deviant.
But I noticed a funny thing today on Facebook. It was just one of those interactive games. You can put a ‘Xmas Tree’ on your Facebook profile and then people can put gift boxes under it that you virtually ‘unwrap’ on Christmas to reveal pictures of gifts (with virtual Facebook gifts it really is the thought that counts). You can go through and choose pictures that match the interests of the person you are giving them to. But look at the categories for the gifts–>
Xmas, animals, flowers, cookies, clothes (by gender), food, jewelry, food, handbags, perfume, sexy things, movies (stealth advertising), for men, sporting, gadgets and watches. I find this abso-fing-lutely fascinating (so, okay, I am easily amused). A lot of the general categories are intrinsically female biased to the extent that they predominantly or entirely contain items marketed and targeted to female consumers. And there is a separate little ghetto to go and find stuff for a male. Is this the leading edge of the male as a minority? (Gender is never meaningfully a ‘minority’ but this is a word often used as code for a disadvantaged, exploited or marginalised group–i.e. women are often categorized as a minority even when this is not empirically true).
I would say: yes and no. Yes, the male recipient is a minority consideration in this application. But is the reason that the female is considered more normative?
For a start shopping is seen as a female activity and application of this type (and online social networking in general) leans female. So this marginalising of male-oriented gifts may reflect a simple empirical majority of female users as both givers and receivers. Add to that, what is under the male category? A leather jacket, wine, cars, coffee, scent, golf clubs, motorcycle, dressing gown, tie, wallet. Which of these do I (yes, I am a woman) personally own?
Leather jacket: yes, a unisex-style motorcycle jacket.
Wine: yes, a bottle of merlot in the fridge–not because I drink it cold but it is the easiest place to store it.
Car: well, no.
Coffee: duh.
Scent: Yes, and yes it is a male-marketed scent. Old Spice. Seriously, I like Old Spice.
Golf clubs: no.
Motorcycle: I am a former bike owner but currently have just a moped.
Dressing gown: yes, and yes it is a male-styled design. I prefer muted designs and a full-length fit and found that in the ‘for men’ section.
Tie: yes. I was a teen in the 80’s, so sue me.
Wallet: several.
The majority of the gifts in the male section would not be inappropriate to give to a women. A few are clearly marketed mainly for men but are not in particularly macho categories (scent, robe). So maybe the main issue with the ghettoising of male gifts is actually this: there are very few items that are intrinsically inappropriate to give to women. Women have expanded their tastes to every color, scent, gadget, activity, grooming product and type of clothing. Even when a product is marketed to men, most woman will still happily use it if they like at (or at least I clearly will but I think the same is true of most women).
But after the eighties were over most men retreated back to dull colors, musky scents and the usual gender-typical clothing. You cannot (with rare exceptions) give a guy buy a frock or a bunch of flowers. But plenty of women would love a blazer or a Dremel drill set (hint, hint–a cordless Dremel stylus with matching screwdriver would be nice of anyone was wondering). So male gift interests are arguably genuinely a subset of overall gift interests in that that there are many things you can give a woman that more men would not want, but very few that you could give to a man that a women wouldn’t also enjoy.
So, guys: welcome to Appendix B. At least until y’all learn to relax and turn to the pink side. (Perhaps we should all give the men in out lives Hello Kitty jewelry and handbags to help them escape potential minoritization this Christmas?)
Not to gender stereotype, generic male gifts tend to be clothing, which has always been fairly gender-neutral. Men can be hard to shop for unless their obsessions are completely apparent. Also, as far as giving virtual gifts to people over the internet…. Let’s face it–it’s a million times more likely that women will take advantage of this app as opposed to men.
P.S. You have a Facebook account? I just recently caved in and created one for myself. It’s pretty overwhelming. Then again, I have A LOT of friends… because I’m awesome.