"What Makes Women Click" makes Julie Sick
I just finished reading, What Makes Women Click?
on the ZDNet site.
Now there is a story that does loads for the image of women as
technically competent! (giggle, twirl) Apparently, we don't go on the net to find
info about computers, to participate in discussions, or to read
alt.sex.stories -- we go there to fuckin' *shop*!!!
Ohhhhh, baby, gag me with a hackneyed cliche!
In direct reference to the article, I couldn't resist making the following observations:
>"Alert them to things they are interested in
> (with their permission, of course)."
Read: Women are wimpy, delicate whiners who will keel over at the barest hint of
roughness.
>"Convenient. More than 91% of the women
>surveyed want to simplify their lives and save
>time."
"Oooooh! Simplify this internet thing for me (giggle), it's *way* too complicated!"
>Empowering. Instead of going store to store,
>women can research purchases by going site to
>site.
Oh joy. Convenient shopping equates to empowerment. Who needs things like
respect, equal pay, education, job opportunities or equal rights when all a
girl REALLY needs to feel competent and enabled is easy access to shopping?!
>Fun. Women enjoy checking out new
>cosmetics and clothing trends on the Web.
Strange, because sitting at my computer half the time is exactly why I
don't give a shit about the latest makeup and fashion trends. I'm about as
good at makeup than your average football player is at needlepoint.
(giggle, twirl)
This woman probably read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" one
time too many. The page should be nominated for the "Sappy Site of the Week".
Ironically enough, the women she refers to are:
"middle-aged and upper middle-class. At 41, she
spends six hours a week online at home and has a
household income of $63K. "
And these are women I would suppose have some kind of functional brain. Frankly, her announcement about more trite shopping
sites for women does not excite me, and I don't intend to visit them. She
speaks as though this is an improvement when the type of sites she speaks
about and something like, "babes of the web", are simply two sides of the same crusty
old stereotype.
I'm sick of being talked down to and infantilized, as if I can't handle
the "real thing."
This author only perpetuates the stereotype of women as vapid and innocuous.
Compare this to articles directed to men about the net, which are all
about performance and skill and exploration and all that good stuff. This
shit has been making me sick since I was a little girl. NO, I don't want to
go shopping, I want to build something, I want to travel somewhere, I want
to live a great something!
...And yes, I do know that you can put more than one
file on a floppy disk, thank you very much. Shit like that just doesn't cut
it.
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