Sexism 3.0
October 23, 2009
by Kathryn Ciano
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When Apple banned the “iBoobs” application – denying small screens everywhere sexist looks at a jiggling rack – it looked like Apple had decided to keep sexist apps out.
Guess again.
This week Apple approved a Pepsi application that allows men to select a “type” of girl they’d like to “score” on a given evening:
The app, released last Friday, purports to help men pick up any one of 24 types of women, such as the “sorority girl,” “cougar,” “rebound girl” or “punk rock girl.” Users can choose the type of woman they have their eye on, then get coached on facts that might be useful, such as computing a carbon footprint to impress “the treehugger.”
Suggested pick-up lines can be risqué. To pick up “the artist,” the app recommends the following line: “You know the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. I wonder what else she shaves.”
Classy!
The obvious question seems to be: What self-respecting girl wouldn’t be able to see right through this nonsense to the uncreative, insecure relying on the app. But a better question is: Why is Apple encouraging men to objectify women?
According to the WSJ:
PepsiCo apologized in a Twitter feed, saying, “Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it’s in bad taste & appreciate your feedback.”
and:
Not everyone dislikes the Amp iPhone app. Boston dating coach Thomas Edwards, at theprofessionalwingman.com, gave the app his stamp of approval.
“This actually could be useful for someone you went on multiple dates with,” he said, in a video message posted on his blog. A guy could pull up links to local vegan restaurants if he were dating a “treehugger” type, he noted.
Mr. Edwards said PepsiCo jumped the gun by apologizing so quickly.
“Stop being negative,” he said, addressing people who are quick to pass judgment. “There’s no harm done here.”
One of the major themes of The New Agenda addresses objectification of women. It’s time to re-examine our assumptions, ladies.
Apple has merely responded to market forces that demand an occasional offensive application. But it is some women’s willingness to dismiss gross behavior like this with a coquettish giggle that has allowed objectification to continue.
Women are more than “types” to be scored. By comporting ourselves with self respect, living with substance, and remaining aware that piggish applications like Pepsi’s “type selector” exist we can counter sexism still prevalent, and still disgusting, in advertising.
It is important to draw a distinction between an actual commercial that is broadcast to all, and an app, that has to be searched out among literally hundreds of thousands of apps that are available for i-Phones. And, it is also important to note that a male version of that app is probably headed to an i-Phone near you, and if not, there should be as it would probably prove as funny or funnier.
Maybe there should be a ‘tasteless app” monthly fee assessed. Sort of like a cigarette tax or a liquor tax. Since the use of the product could dummify somebody, then maybe they should pay for the privilege of being dummified?
But just to completely blow this topic open, how is this different than gossip? And if a tasteless app fee is to be assessed, than should a gossip fee be assessed as well?
anything that caricatures women makes their life more difficult.
Anne Marie, I totally agree with you, but couldn’t the same be said when women gossip about men, or even other women? What we have here might be a case of male “externalized” gossip (the caricature of women via the i-pod), versus the internalization of gossip that also goes on in society.
Both may be equally “wrong”.
Alessandro, will you please ram it?
Alessandro,
I understand that you feel that either no gender should be “stereotyped” or both genders should be “stereotyped”. I stick with the neither because even if there was an app that stereotyped men, society doesn’t look at a stereotype of a man with a beer gut and equate it with ability. Where if a woman has larger breasts or is blonde, she gets put in a category by society that she is unintelligent.
Plus, if one creates an app on instructions for women to hook up with men it would not be viewed as a potential threat to men because women don’t (in most cases) hook up with men and force sex on them if they get a “no” response. When women are objectified, whether you think it is in good taste compared to the standards held for men or not, it potentially puts women at risk. That is our reality. Objectification of women gives some men the license to go after sex regardless if the woman says yes or not. “She is just a dumb sorority girl, so she was asking for it.” “She is on the rebound and needs sex to get her out of her funk.” “She is a MILF, so she must want sex because she dresses so hot.” Can you see why this type of thing bothers us?
He can’t see it, he won’t see it, and he’s here to be amused at our desperate attempts to get him to give a shit.
No more patience for that garbage on this end. NONE.
Janis, on my facebook account a female posted that she saw nothing wrong with the very app that is being talked about here.
My point is that private gossip can be just as damaging as public objectification.
Opixmom, I find your position intriguing, that if a male app version existed that men would not feel threatened or objectified by it.
Oy vey, it seems that women and men have a long way to go if they are ever going to learn to communicate. I think our society runs on lust which is transformed into greed and that adds considerably to the problem. If someone wanted to convince me to date him, none of these ploys would work. He would have to convince me that he was interested in a real relationship and willing to work things out. I’ve never been able to work things out with a man for more than a couple of years and it would take some convincing. Also, I’m attracted to jerks and so there’s no guarantee that I’d go for it even if the guy was really nice. It’s a shame but that’s how it is for a lot of people. Some of my male friends have similar problems. I think the only answer is to keep talking to each other and trying to change the world. The change will come too late for me to benefit from it at this point but I have to continue to have hope.
I like to compare this application to what would happen if there were 10 black sterotypes you could chose to be friends with. not one would question there were racisms. we have to learn a lot from the civil rights struggle. no quick forgiving as is typical for us women socialized to be above the fray.
i feel really offended, since i chose apple or many decades for my computers and have an i-phone. has anyone an adress to send letters. i want this thing be gone.we need to get a lot of organizations on board.
imagine 10 blacks and then look at 10 women and you should get the picture.
Slightly more than half the planet is female, the remaining are male. Race analogies are more divisive because there are more than two races. So when one picks on any race on the planet, it can be more isolating because it is several dozen races or more against one.
[...] morning I posted at The New Agenda that the iPhone app for “scoring chicks” — since yanked — is a little [...]
I am smart & educated, have a great body, tall and blonde, and make plenty of money and I don’t get typecast as a dumb blonde with big boobs. You ladies need to get over yourselves. This app was pure comedy and amusement. As for Marille, you can easily choose what you want to download from Apple and iTunes so DON’T choose to download the app!! Its like Cable. You can choose to have HBO and Showtime, but if you feel its too risky then DON’T WATCH. You don’t have to buy. Its like Porn on the internet, you can choose to ignore it. Its everywhere. Comparing the app to “imagine 10 blacks and then look at 10 women and you should get the picture,” is the most ridiculous analogy ever. What planet are you living on? You must be living in the dark ages, because a lot has happened since the early part of the century. We have even elected a black President! As women we have come a long way but this app is by no means telling us we can’t be great innovators of today. Its comical. Get over youself.
we should let apple and pepsi know this is offensive to women and will keep us from buying their products. don’t forget pepsi owns other companies and presumably apple does, too.
it wouldn’t hurt to write a letter to the editor of your local paper to let parents know how pepsi and iphone are objectifying their daughters. there are people who will care and not buy these products.
also, write to NOW if you’re a member, urge them to speak out. write to women in congress.
we don’t have to take it any longer. it’s not funny.
I have not even looked at the app. I don’t care to look at the app. I don’t know the content. The problem with protesting the app is it publicizes it, and then there might even be a backlash from people who don’t want to be told what they can and can’t look at.
There are literally a hundred thousand apps or more being designed by mac software companies, each hoping their app gets known. Most apps just die a slow death because there are just too many apps out there. Protesting an app, if it creates too much awareness for it, and thus gains users, could be a bad thing.
It might be better to do a protest behind the scenes than in public since these types of apps dream of controversy to gain notoriety and a foothold.
You all are totally over reacting – I got to preview the app at Digital Hollywood and it was made with humor. Get a life. There are things worth fighting for out there and this is certainly not one of them. I could give you 50 examples of products that fall into this same category.
It is easiest to jump at the most offensive app out there, and unfortunately publicize it by criticizing it.
What if a group could sift through the 100,000 plus apps made for Apple, find the ones that are useful, find the ones that are made by female companies, find the ones that you think are the opposite to this app, and promote them.
Alessandro makes a good point about inadvertently publicizing the pathetic app by criticizing it, but the time to stop ignoring this crap is long past. I believe it is Bes who has often made a very good suggestion that people cancel cable subscriptions and simply download the content they wish to see. I know a few people at work who canceled their cable subscriptions after they learned that all that crap they had to keep blocking is the very thing making the most money for cable companies and driving the technology innovations on the net. All that profit and technological innovation just to hate on women. It’s beyond sorry.
There is something we can do though, as women, if we just say enough is enough. Women make roughly 80% of the consumer spending decisions in this country, and if we decide we’re tired of seeing Keith Olbermann or whoever on the teebee, or pathetic apps for the pornsick, they can be gone in short order if we’ll make common cause with each other to get it done. I’d even go a step further in suggesting that there’s a huge business opportunity for some enterprising media entrepeneur to bundle together a media package that is completely free of misogynistic propaganda. Of course, content that is women-friendly would have to be invented first, but that’s yet another business opportunity! Seriously, what grown person of moderate intelligence isn’t completely tired of the crap designed to snag that all-important 18-25 male demographic? More importantly, though, this demographic doesn’t do the shopping – it’s kind of like that line of Kathy Bates’ in Fried Green Tomatoes after she takes some vehicular revenge, “Face it girls, I’m older and I’ve got more insurance.”
Maybe the various groups out there on the internet that advocate better apps could start creating lists of the better apps. Offer an “approved” logo that an app could put on their site for a fee. This app approved by….
Hello?! What does gossip have to do with Pepsi and Apple having sexist applications? Is this app distasteful? Yes. Does it influence my opinion of the companies involved in a negative manner? Yes. But it becomes sexist when the companies can’t bring themselves to offer the male stereotyping version of the app but only have women as the butt of their apps. Most likely both companies have corporate cultures that are sexist and this is the sort of creativity that happens when women are muzzled within a corporation. By the way I do the grocery shopping for 6 people and I also need to get a computer for one of my children and I think I am sick of hand me downs and male chosen computers so I am going to buy one for myself soon too. I won’t be looking for a pink case.
It could be true that public protest of the app might just draw attention to it. However that would assume that males 13-54 with IQs of less than 70 read feminist blogs. I wouldn’t bet on that. But it is time for feminists to learn how to use power and even to turn lemons into lemonade. So yes do publicly protest this sort of corporate crap and use it to fuel membership drives and fund raising for feminist orgs.
Nick: Your cable analogy fails. Whether you watch content or not you pay for it. You waste your time blocking it and then you still pay for it. The best solution is to cut the cable because not only is is loaded with misogynist content but the “women’s content” is pathetic and has no female viewers. That does not matter to the Media Cartel as they don’t even consider you to be a customer but rather a sucker who lives in a area they have purchased the rights to. The Media Cartel sees the men who buy advertising on their channels as consumers. So “Women’s Content” is content that appeals to men who want to advertise to women regardless of whether women watch or not because advertising rates are not based on who watches but on how many homes the cable company goes into. You can force the Media Cartel to compete in a free market for female viewers by cutting the cable and downloading only the content you choose to watch from Hulu or youtube. If you continue to pay for cable you subsidize shows you find offensive and also garbage “women’s content”.
Nick claims to be a woman who has never been typecast, which is impossible, and then says “You ladies need to get over yourselves”. (Emphasis added.)
Whatever you say, dude. You’re not fooling anybody here.
“Bes said:
It could be true that public protest of the app might just draw attention to it. However that would assume that males 13-54 with IQs of less than 70 read feminist blogs. I wouldn’t bet on that. But it is time for feminists to learn how to use power and even to turn lemons into lemonade. So yes do publicly protest this sort of corporate crap and use it to fuel membership drives and fund raising for feminist orgs.”
Bes — YES!
Modem X, good catch. read Nicks comments again. no female talks/writes like him.
he refers to porn as nothing slightest controversial. naively, you can chose to not see it on the internet.
As the token male here, I would like to say that it appears that Janis is clueless when it comes to describing who I am or what I represent.
Sorry modem x I’m all woman, in the entertainment industry and lets just agree to disagree here. I love all kinds of content and believe we can all choose what we want and don’t want to buy, download or turn on and off! I think there are things worth fighting over and this isn’t one of them. Someone who stands in line to vote and gets turned away because she’s a woman and colored- there is a reason to stand up. But again it comes down to what you believe in, so if it’s something you believe is important than fight for it. It’s all about being American and having the freedeom to choose what’s important to you- so if an apple app is that important in the total scope of life you go girl. It’s more comical to me because I’ve been exposed to many things working in television.
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