I bought this pen (in error, evidently) to write my reports of each day's tree felling activities in my job as a lumberjack.
August 26, 2012 9:32 PM   Subscribe

But now, Bic has saved me! With these easy-to-manage lady pens, I too can record my grocery lists and the agenda for my weekly sewing circle! Yes, that's right; due to these pens' soft grips and lightweight build, even my useless, made-from-porcelain hands can manage to wield them. And what's more, their sweet and rosy color palette is soft on my frail lady eyes! It really is a dream come true!
posted by the young rope-rider (91 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- Brandon Blatcher



 
Yet another collection of over-the-top reviews for a mundane product on Amazon. I'm all atwiddle.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:39 PM on August 26, 2012 [5 favorites]


Shouldn't these fight breast cancer in some way?
posted by benito.strauss at 9:45 PM on August 26, 2012 [41 favorites]


There are many pointlessly gendered products. I think my favorite is the women's (pink) laxatives.
posted by Garm at 9:45 PM on August 26, 2012


Yet another collection of over-the-top reviews for a mundane product on Amazon. I'm all atwiddle.

Over the top? Well spotted you! The ladies do tend to get hysterical about these things!
posted by mattoxic at 9:47 PM on August 26, 2012 [14 favorites]


Well I, for one, enjoy reading creative madness in online product reviews, and the fact that these particular reviews serve a real social purpose makes me extra glad that they were written and that they were linked here.

It's a pity there's no photo of the product, but "Bic For Her" is enough of a starting point by itself.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 9:52 PM on August 26, 2012 [1 favorite]


Oh my god, these are amazing. I was going to excerpt a few of my favourites, but I love them all! The one quoted in the title, though, might be the best.
posted by tickingclock at 9:52 PM on August 26, 2012 [1 favorite]


Pepsi Pink.
posted by brentajones at 9:53 PM on August 26, 2012 [1 favorite]


I'm glad I don't have kids, because the boys would all be getting this stuff and the girls would all be getting over-the-top super-macho stuff.
posted by maxwelton at 9:54 PM on August 26, 2012


I tried these on a whim, and I have to say I wasn't very impressed. The applicator mechanism is far too fiddly, and the plastic tampon inside far too thin (not to mention uncomfortable and non-absorbant) - I'm sure there must be a knack to using them, but I couldn't find it. They also stained my knickers blue for some reason. I really wanted to like these, but it's back to pads for me.

That made me laugh out loud.

I assume these pens cost 150% of the men's version too?
posted by fshgrl at 9:55 PM on August 26, 2012 [37 favorites]


Over the top? Well spotted you!

The more good-faith, charitable way to read that comment would have been to assume that "over-the-top" referred to the satirical nature of the reviews, and not the authors' perceived emotional upset at the product's existence.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 9:57 PM on August 26, 2012 [10 favorites]


The more good-faith, charitable way

The "yet-another" suggested otherwise - but I happily take your point.
posted by mattoxic at 10:01 PM on August 26, 2012


Americans like to be snarky, but I think the Brits do it better. And I say this as a neutral observer.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 10:16 PM on August 26, 2012 [3 favorites]


They work best when combined with permanent ink.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:20 PM on August 26, 2012


But... the product is sort of funny to begin with. I mean, aren't they basically Lady Bics? I kind of assumed Bic was in on the joke.
posted by maryr at 10:23 PM on August 26, 2012


The "yet-another" suggested otherwise

Satirical reviews of bizarre products are kind of a thing. For example, Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz, the infamous Three Wolf Moon, that terrifying horse mask you've probably been seeing around on the Internet, etc.

So I'm assuming the objection is roughly "crazy reviews are years-old, why is this worth linking now" to which I contend that the answer is "because this time they're reacting to a product being unnecessarily gendered instead of just being unnecessarily expensive or just weird and it's worth reading and talking about."

Which, y'know, I guess I shouldn't speak for other people but I'm assuming IAmBroom has already flagged and moved on.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 10:31 PM on August 26, 2012 [12 favorites]


Mod note: Further meta discussion on this can go to Metatalk. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:01 PM on August 26, 2012


These reviews sure do flip my lady-specific bic! Needs more pink, though. And glitter. I here us womenfolk go all a twaddle for glitter.
posted by smirkette at 11:32 PM on August 26, 2012 [1 favorite]


Devil's advocate here, but isn't the average female hand smaller than the average male one? I guess you could make a smaller/slimmer pen without all the stupidity and sexism though.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:43 PM on August 26, 2012


Pray, what is a 'pen'? I do like it so, because it is so pink, but I remain ignorant as to its practical use. Father says not to ask questions because it might give me wrinkles, and to carry on practising my charming giggle so I can one day ensnare a Duke - but I cannot help but be intrigued by the delicate pinkness of this curio.

Deeply pleasing.
posted by redsparkler at 11:53 PM on August 26, 2012 [21 favorites]


Satirical reviews of bizarre products are kind of a thing.

Being snarky in the comments while being ignorant of context is also a thing. I love weird Amazon reviews. They are fun uses of online space unintended by the designer, which makes them even better. I think this one about a Family Circus book was the first I read over a decade ago.
Proustian introspection with Munch's visual conundrums, July 29, 2002
By "momfy"

Yeats once wrote, "None other knows what pleasures man/At table or in bed." Bil Keane, however, seems to have found in his latest 'Family Circus' opus a treasure-chest of pleasures for each and all of us.

There are some who chafe at the seeming repetitive themes within Keane's major works; I would respectfully submit that all great stories are about life and death, love and loss, fear and triumph. If not Keane, then so go Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz and Callimachus, too, for good measure. It is not originality that spawns thought and wonderment; it is the vessels of those themes (Billy, Grandma, Barfy, PJ) that inspire and enlighten.

Keane, as carrier of these vessels, reminds us of a truth so eloquently immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Some books leave us free and some books make us free." In 'What Does This Say', it is clear that the tome achieves the latter, with gusto and aplomb.
posted by Winnemac at 12:16 AM on August 27, 2012 [9 favorites]


Devil's advocate here, but isn't the average female hand smaller than the average male one?

Yes. A bit. But not a lot. Small enough that a given woman's hands may easily be bigger than a given man's. Think height. Average height for women is shorter than that for men, but there are plenty of short men, and tall women.

Q) So why is this targeted specifically at women, rather than say, small men, or more specifically, just people with small hands?

A) because bics are already pretty slender pens, so hand size is not an important factor.

Q) so why is it targeted only at women again?

A) because the barrel is in pink and purple (link to product picture and description). Because obviously all women like pink. So rather than just say, making a bunch of pens of different colours and letting women act like normal people and buy the goddam colour pen they personally want, we need to have a specific 'for her' product because the marketing department is made up of men and have no fucking idea how to relate to women buyers except thinking they want it specifically branded with 'feminine' imagery, condescendingly described as if they're some kind of goddamn specialist sub market instead of more than 50% of the population. And of course, in pink, because what woman doesn't want it in pink?

Of course, the biggest mistake they made was making the ink blue or black. Obviously it should have been in sparkle glitter pink too, and then it would obviously be a winner.
posted by ArkhanJG at 12:21 AM on August 27, 2012 [27 favorites]


I'm not sure what message the pointy-headed death-sperm on the packaging are meant to convey.
posted by Lazlo at 12:32 AM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


I'm detecting traces of sarcasm in some of these reviews.
posted by Ritchie at 1:06 AM on August 27, 2012 [3 favorites]


SCIENTISTS DISCOVER FEMALE SARCASM
posted by louche mustachio at 1:20 AM on August 27, 2012 [27 favorites]


Devil's advocate here, but isn't the average female hand smaller than the average male one?

Right. Same reason women can't use power tools really.
posted by fshgrl at 1:20 AM on August 27, 2012 [5 favorites]


SCIENTISTS DISCOVER FEMALE SARCASM

This is what happens when you give them pens.
posted by tigrefacile at 1:28 AM on August 27, 2012 [41 favorites]


So, is this some kind of flashmob? All the reviews are very recent.
posted by epo at 1:37 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Devil's advocate here, but isn't the average female hand smaller than the average male one?

Mine are smaller. They're also stronger than the average male hand, because I started playing piano when I was three and had lessons from ages 5 to 21, studying piano performance in a US university's school of music. I've also kept handwritten journals since I was 5 or 6 (not sure because it's been confiscated by my family, long story) and I seriously cannot use ballpoint pens because holy cow even the good ones suck. They keep making them flimsier and flimsier. At least at our offices we have old-style Bics with the hard plastic and heads that generally manage to last a few months, rarely as long as the ink though.

Ever since coming to France in 1997 I've used refillable fountain pens, and I am totally addicted to heavy ones because they just feel beautiful in hand. With ball-points, you have to press, which stresses your hand. Fountain pens can't be pressed (bad for the nib), which is fine because the ink flows out of its own accord when the nib touches the page, which is also the reason you need good paper with one, not the type that soaks up ink like a sponge. And when it's heavy, why you just rest it in your hand and write to your heart's content, the weight takes care of itself.

Though I will say that the one time I stopped keeping my journal for a year, I got cramps the first two weeks I went back to it.
posted by fraula at 1:57 AM on August 27, 2012 [6 favorites]


WOMEN: KNOW YOUR LIMITS
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:07 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Woman's pen is pinker than the sword?
posted by chavenet at 2:29 AM on August 27, 2012


Stuff like this really irks me, but sometimes good things happen too. For example, a friend of mine was visiting a toy store and sent me a picture of some Disney Princess Barbies (which I would personally LOVE to have) and was like "please have a girl so I can get these for her!".

About five minutes later I got another text from her apologizing for her "gender normativity" and telling me that of course if I had a little boy who wanted them she would get them for him. It brightened my day to know that my complaints on this topic were actually making a difference.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 2:40 AM on August 27, 2012 [12 favorites]


It's a pity there's no photo of the product...

I found this Bic for Her commercial.

(How dare those rude, inconsiderate boys offer non-gendered, non-pink, non-glittered writing instruments to that poor helpless young thing.)
posted by marsha56 at 3:30 AM on August 27, 2012


Though I will say that the one time I stopped keeping my journal for a year, I got cramps the first two weeks I went back to it.

See, now, I done told you. Those womenfolk are always getting the cramps.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:32 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Same reason women can't use power tools really.

Unless they're pink of course.
posted by marsha56 at 3:48 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Devil's advocate here, but isn't the average female hand smaller than the average male one?

Dr Dracator has it. My hands are enormous. I need a pen of at least an inch to an inch-and-a-half in diameter to fit in my manly grip.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:30 AM on August 27, 2012 [5 favorites]


Strange concept that small hands need a narrower barrel. I've seen a lot of thicker pens touted for their ergonomic correctness: easier to grip, less strain on the hand. Maybe we women aren't supposed to write enough for strain to matter to us?
posted by theplotchickens at 4:43 AM on August 27, 2012


Maybe they're shaped to more easily write on the legs and underarms rather than the face and neck.
posted by Flunkie at 4:44 AM on August 27, 2012 [16 favorites]


> ...because the marketing department is made up of men and have no fucking idea how to relate to women buyers...

In most of the agencies I've worked, the marketing department has had a significant, if not dominant, number of women. Many of whom would approve of creating a pink-and-purple biro for marketing specifically to women (and maybe a black-and-blue counterpart for men). They would consider it an excellent attempt at moving the brand into niche identity segments.

And they would never buy one for themselves because they're not really into that girly crap, although they won't admit it in the planning meetings.

Normativity: It's not just for men to be stupid about.
posted by ardgedee at 4:46 AM on August 27, 2012 [20 favorites]


In case anyone was mystified by this product, it's to do with FMCG "Fast Moving Consumer Goods" marketing.

You make a razor. You want to sell lots of razors. Everyone buys razors. How do you sell more razors?

Why, you differentiate your razors into a female and male version and market accordingly!

They're still small wedges of sharpened metal designed to shave hair, but if you tailor a version that works best on legs over that bit under your nostril, you've created a 'lady shaver', and vice-versa.

The problem is, the large FMCG retailers and their HUGE product development, marketing departments, packaging design houses and advertising agencies jumped the shark many moons ago (5 blades with aloe vera which look like a Ferrari for 'menly men' and a pink petal of rounded corners called Venus for women).

It's stopped being about genuine optimisation for use cases and is pure 'differentiation' bullcrap. Except it works, and they sell more FMCG razors.

...and then some bright sparks who work vertically in the razor division thought it could apply to pens too. Hence this idiocy.
posted by panaceanot at 4:59 AM on August 27, 2012 [6 favorites]


That Venus razor isn't a "pink petal of rounded corners", it's a sculpted vulva with protruding clitoris where your thumb rests. Just so you know what you've been looking at.

Okay, so it is a "pink petal of rounded corners" but it's a rather specific pink petal.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:05 AM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


"Pen is envy." - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
posted by dywypi at 5:10 AM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


Finally, TRUE equality!
posted by blue_beetle at 5:14 AM on August 27, 2012


My son informed me that my wife's favorite color is pink. Which is weird, because as far as I know (and from what she tells me) her favorite color is green. But he insists that she likes pink, because HE likes ALL THE GREENS, so she needs a different favorite color and she's a girl so pink it is.

He's three. We're working on reminding him that people can like whatever the hell color they want. Even if it's the same as his favorite.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:23 AM on August 27, 2012 [4 favorites]


I long for the day when pens come in a genderqueer variety so I can write without pretending to be one of the binary genders.
posted by Foosnark at 5:27 AM on August 27, 2012 [5 favorites]


Oh, internet, some days I just love you.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:33 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Foosnark: "I long for the day when pens come in a genderqueer variety so I can write without pretending to be one of the binary genders."

These look like the kind of pen that can be unscrewed into two pieces. You should be able to find the "masculine" type in the same size. Then just take one of each and swap components. Voila - genderqueer pens!
posted by Karmakaze at 5:43 AM on August 27, 2012 [3 favorites]


I feel like making "Voila - genderqueer pens!" into my facebook status just to confuse the hell out of people.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:09 AM on August 27, 2012 [15 favorites]


Americans like to be snarky, but I think the Brits do it better. And I say this as a neutral observer.

Indeed.
posted by gjc at 6:16 AM on August 27, 2012


I assume this means that women who like "girly" things like this are doing it wrong?
posted by gjc at 6:19 AM on August 27, 2012


gjc: No, it just means that a woman may like a girly thing, or she may not, or a man or genderqueer men may like a "girly" thing, or may not. JUST CALL IT A PINK OR PURPLE PEN.
posted by juniper at 6:26 AM on August 27, 2012


Grr, person, not men. Look how flustered I am.
posted by juniper at 6:26 AM on August 27, 2012


Women, for god's sake, sort yourself out!

Men, shave and get drunk! Because you're already brilliant.

posted by lazaruslong at 6:38 AM on August 27, 2012 [3 favorites]


jokes are so five millenia ago
posted by LogicalDash at 6:44 AM on August 27, 2012


It's stopped being about genuine optimisation for use cases and is pure 'differentiation' bullcrap. Except it works, and they sell more FMCG razors.

If you spend your time in internet shaving fora (I'm not suggesting that you should, by the way), you'll notice an interesting phenomena where men and women use each other's razors and both decide that clearly the other gender's razor is superior. I'm guessing the reason for this is some combination of using a new razor in a more careful way and the subjective value of feeling like you've discovered some kind of a secret solution (cf. all those people who think they're making their hair amazing by washing it with anything other than shampoo)..

Is there any good evidence on whether or not this kind of gendering of products works, in terms of selling products? I tend to assume it does in some areas (like razors), based purely on the fact that everyone I know uses their gender appropriate razor, but I'd be curious to know how effective it is.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:04 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


If you spend your time in internet shaving fora...
"Internet Shaving Forum" does not make me think of people discussing which razors are better than others, tbh.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:08 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


"... but with a more girly voice-over!"
posted by h00py at 7:46 AM on August 27, 2012


...and then some bright sparks who work vertically in the razor division thought it could apply to pens too. Hence this idiocy.


I actually thought the Amazon listing was a parody site where someone took a box of lady razors and stuffed it with pens instead.
posted by bluefly at 7:52 AM on August 27, 2012


Same reason women can't use power tools really.

Unless they're pink of course.


Whoa, this Lady Pink drill is fking punk rrawk. I MUST HAZ IT.

Pink should be the standard color for all power tools, and if I was the Head commissioner over at OSHA, I would fight for that with every last drop of energy I could muster.

PRO TIP for Wolf-whistling lady-desiring construction workers: You really want to get digits for those hot babes shakin' it past your construction site: Use pink-power tools.
posted by Skygazer at 8:23 AM on August 27, 2012


Oops, bad link: Here's that Pink Punk RRawk Drill.
posted by Skygazer at 8:25 AM on August 27, 2012


Pink should be the standard color for all power tools

It's common for tradespeople to mark their tools with spraypaint. Because when there are 6 different sawzalls on the job site, it can be confusing telling one from the other. I painted mine a pleasant coral pink. Because fuck yes, pink sawzall. And pink 1/2" hole shooter.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:31 AM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


My late great aunt owned a store, and had fancy ballpoint pens with her store's name on it. They had pink barrels and perfume-scented ink - not any identifiable fruit or flower, but straight-up perfume - and were the ladiest pens I've ever had the privilege of using. Both the store and I were named after her, so the lady pens had my name on them. I miss my personalized lady pen. If I ever find pens with the same perfumed ink, I'll buy a gross.

I use a boy razor and boy face wash and boy antiperspirant, but I love a good lady writing implement. These Bics For Her? Not lady enough. They need to be about 50% ladier.
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:34 AM on August 27, 2012 [6 favorites]


I think my favorite is the women's (pink) laxatives.

"Yeah, Marcus? We got the results back from the focus groups. You know those lady laxatives that turn your poo pink? Not good. Lots of screaming, fainting, crying, frantic hospital calls. Maybe if we just put the dude laxatives in a pink package? Might save a lot of hassle."
posted by running order squabble fest at 8:41 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


At least at our offices we have old-style Bics with the hard plastic and heads that generally manage to last a few months, rarely as long as the ink though.

Ever since coming to France in 1997 I've used refillable fountain pens, and I am totally addicted to heavy ones because they just feel beautiful in hand. With ball-points, you have to press, which stresses your hand. Fountain pens can't be pressed (bad for the nib), which is fine because the ink flows out of its own accord when the nib touches the page, which is also the reason you need good paper with one, not the type that soaks up ink like a sponge. And when it's heavy, why you just rest it in your hand and write to your heart's content, the weight takes care of itself.


I normally use uniball gel - they're still pretty cheap rollerballs easily available in the UK, but they're much more robust than a normal biro (despite my perchant for chewing on the caps) and pretty smooth and clean to write with for a disposable pen. Or my faber-castell e-motion "fat-boy" mechanical pencil with glorious big soft lead.

That said, your comment has inspired me to spend half the morning looking at fountain pens. I'm a southpaw, and my handwriting looks somewhat like a fatally wounded 5 legged spider has accidentally fallen out of an inkwell and onto my notepad. I think the main reason I ended up a geek was so that I could type everything and never have to try and read my own 'which way will this letter lean?' scrawl again.

I've kept meaning to re-learn to write more evenly, and now seems as good a time as any to have a go. Even started practising with my wife's french waterman cartridge pens, and it definitely feels a nice way to go.

After various reviews, I've nearly decided on a Lamy Al-star for starters, as it seems a pretty good budget pen with a bit of weight and is on sale for the back-to-schoolers at WHSmith. I do now have a plastic waterman with a nice nib from the missus, but the ridge uncomfortably falls just where I grip (I have to hold the pen back further along the barrel so I don't smudge what I've just written being a lefty), and it's a bit light.

Given this thread though? I'm definitely getting the purple one.
posted by ArkhanJG at 8:45 AM on August 27, 2012


Okay, you guys are laughing, but when I was a kid – a "tween," probably – I totally flipped over the pink and purple Bics I bought with my BABYSITTING MONEY. They felt like such a luxury. If I could find a Bic pen museum, I'd link them (they weren't metal, but they looked more like this instead of the usual Bic see-through "stick" pens). It seems sort of pathetic now, I know, but they were thrilling. And I wasn't even a pink/purple-wearing lass. Those pens and a journal-style notebook that wasn't lined school paper seemed like mad extravagance.

And yes, I did write some very bad poetry with them, if you must know.
posted by taz at 8:53 AM on August 27, 2012 [4 favorites]


UK version:

Kleenex for Men


Yorkie (chocolate bar) - Not for girls
posted by triggerfinger at 9:03 AM on August 27, 2012


I've seen the Yorkie bar, and I always got the sense that the "not for girls" was more of a self-aware marketing move - "okay, yeah, we know that trying to gender-segregate candy bars is stupid and we're not seriously suggesting it needs to be that way, we're just messing around". Or even "maybe this is a way to trick the idiot guys who do think there should be gender segregated products into eating more candy bars, while meanwhile the rest of the world will go ahead and do what they want because they won't care".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:23 AM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


Try the Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen . It writes exquisitely (but does not come in pink or purple, and is unsuitable for the fairer sex).
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:50 AM on August 27, 2012


Are women actually buying enough of these 'for women' products for it to be profitable to continue to make them?
Can you pretty much take any product and make it pink and sell that?
posted by yonega at 9:57 AM on August 27, 2012


It depends on whether the pink item also claims to be fighting breast cancer, or if it's pink for pink's sake.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Are these pens fighting breast cancer?
posted by yonega at 10:20 AM on August 27, 2012


I actually write in pink-ink pens all the time because it means that the villainous scum of the earth pen thieves in my office will think twice before raiding my stash. Also sometimes during staff meetings I will stick them in my nose.
posted by elizardbits at 10:29 AM on August 27, 2012 [4 favorites]


as further theft prevention i mean, not recreationally
posted by elizardbits at 10:30 AM on August 27, 2012 [5 favorites]


Are these pens fighting breast cancer?

Doesn't look like it now, but wait until Breast Cancer Awareness Month/until the sales start slipping, and I bet you suddenly they will be.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:33 AM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


The one misusing the pen as a tampon is the best.
posted by medusa at 11:42 AM on August 27, 2012


I think the uglier truth is that if this tactic didn't work with the consuming public, producers wouldn't continue to shove "for him/for her" down our throats.

He's three. We're working on reminding him that people can like whatever the hell color they want. Even if it's the same as his favorite.

Little person's favorites cannot be shared, it seems.

posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:20 PM on August 27, 2012


Little person's favorites cannot be shared, it seems.

My best friend had to surrender allegiance to the song "Thunder Road" when her daughter was three because it also became her favorite song. "No, mommy, stop singing, I wanna hear Bruce sing it!"

Deep down, my friend was more glad that her daugher was also a Bruce fan anyway.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:35 PM on August 27, 2012


But the dirty secret is that men's pens are ergonomically balanced for the frequent masturbator. Bic is reaching out to the large percentage of women who don't enjoy giving handjobs.
posted by klangklangston at 12:45 PM on August 27, 2012


Foosnark: I long for the day when pens come in a genderqueer variety so I can write without pretending to be one of the binary genders.

Ooh! I nominate these changeable rainbow pens as the official "Actually, sexuality is complicated, but that's okay, all variants are equally welcome!" variety.
posted by misha at 1:53 PM on August 27, 2012 [4 favorites]


seanmpuckett: "That Venus razor isn't a "pink petal of rounded corners", it's a sculpted vulva with protruding clitoris where your thumb rests. Just so you know what you've been looking at.

Okay, so it is a "pink petal of rounded corners" but it's a rather specific pink petal.
"

I'm looking at a Venus razor right now, and someone needs to tell Dave in Marketing that the female anatomy is...not quite the way he pictures it.
posted by misha at 2:01 PM on August 27, 2012


"The classic game of Careers adapted to the young female audience. The career choices are Super Mom, Rock Star, School Teacher, Fashion Designer and Animal Doctor. A sample space on the gameboard reads, 'Tell us the names of your 8 children.'"
posted by smorange at 2:38 PM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


"The classic game of Careers adapted to the young female audience. The career choices are Super Mom, Rock Star, School Teacher, Fashion Designer and Animal Doctor. A sample space on the gameboard reads, 'Tell us the names of your 8 children.'"

Hey, they added "animal doctor" and reduced the number of children to 8! What more do you want?
posted by gjc at 5:24 PM on August 27, 2012


Even the fake-"what about the menz" review is brilliant:
I feel I must complain in the strongest terms about the sexism of this item. Where are the "For Him" pens? How can I embrace my masculinity, when there is no pen for me? Am I destined to just watch all of the women around me falling into a sparkly dream of ponies, crochet and butterflies, while I pace angrily here, unable to access the manly world of construction vehicles, barbeques, motor racing and science? I can barely adjust my crotch, I am so angry.
(Metafilter: I can barely adjust my crotch, I am so angry.)
posted by en forme de poire at 9:17 PM on August 27, 2012 [3 favorites]


And inexplicably:
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

Vim and Vi Tips: Essential Vim and Vi Editor Skills, 2nd ed.
I am pretty sure this says something but damned if I know what.
posted by en forme de poire at 9:19 PM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


That real men use emacs, duh.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:37 PM on August 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


Lovely. My pet peeve is the pink tools. They're usually cheap pieces of crap that can't do anything useful like demo out a base cabinet or rip your bathroom mirror clean off the wall. I'm a Craftsman/Skil saw woman all the way, just like my dad taught me.
posted by bendy at 9:40 PM on August 27, 2012 [1 favorite]


Oh, god save us from crap pink tools that are lower quality than cheap-assed pot metal cruft.

My crowbar has a name. Its name is "Gentle Feminine Persuasion." Because some problems are best solved with Gentle Feminine Persuasion. Unlike my old power tools, it's not pink. Although that could change if I'm bored some day.

I remember back before there was spam on USENET, on soc.women, some guy said something like "what would be in a women's tool kit? a shoe?" And I proceeded to list what was in my tool kit at the time. Of course, I was working as an electrician, then, so my tool kit was ... extensive, and included everything from lineman's pliers to a 1.25" rotary hammer (think "hand-held jackhammer"). It was one of my more satisfying "no, i don't think so" posts at the time, as I recall.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:50 AM on August 28, 2012 [3 favorites]


For example, a friend of mine was visiting a toy store and sent me a picture of some Disney Princess Barbies (which I would personally LOVE to have) and was like "please have a girl so I can get these for her!".

I want someone in my life to have a girl so I can get them either Joan Holloway Barbie or Tippi Hedren Barbie. It would be so cool if her only experience of Barbie was as either a curvy office sex goddess or a frosty aviphobe.
posted by mippy at 6:27 AM on August 28, 2012 [1 favorite]


I#ve used uniball-type pens for years - I was advised to use them in secondary school because my handwriting gets vaguely legible with flowing ink rather than Biro. I don't have to write for other people at work but it at least means I can understand the notes I wrote in the morning later in the afternoon.

I don't like the genderization of FMCG for obvious reasons, but also because if you want to buy something and you don't want it in black/grey - which I don't because I'm less likely to lose/stand on something if it's brightly coloured - then it only seems to come in pink. I do not like pink. I like it in cakes and on flowers, but not on me. I want more green and yellow and blue and red things, plz. Even women's coats seem mainly to come in 'neutrals' then the only coloured one in the store will be pink or purple.
posted by mippy at 6:32 AM on August 28, 2012 [1 favorite]


Heddy Lamarr Barbie! Gorgeous sexpot who also geeked out and helped invent spread spectrum technology!
posted by rmd1023 at 6:38 AM on August 28, 2012 [3 favorites]


Just a couple months ago, one of my sisters and I had a great time making fun of Sears: you know those 'professional grade' 5-foot-tall red tool chests on wheels? We found a pink version "just for women!", right there in Sears' tool department...... now I think I've got to get my sister (she's an auto mechanic) one of those pretty flowered hammers for her birthday.
posted by easily confused at 8:42 AM on August 28, 2012


Check out these two reader submitted images and the tagwords associated with this product list.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:13 AM on September 4, 2012


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