[Sigia-l] Just for you women out there

[Russell E. Unger]

All of this reminds me of an article about women and cleavage and how
they're perceived (mostly by men) in the workforce that's been storming up
and down a message board I'm on.  Warning to all, there's a photo that's
large and is cleavage-esque, but not really overly racy.  But it exists,
should you choose to open at work:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=3221538&page=1

On Fri, June 8, 2007 9:46 am, Leisa Reichelt wrote:
> According to the Guardian pink = weakness. The article says:
>
> "If you're in a meeting full of men and you get out a pink phone," points
> out Weaser, "you're probably putting yourself at an even greater
> disadvantage."
>
> what the?!
>
> the general gist of the article as I read it is that companies started
> making their devices in pink and women bought them up, because they liked
> them. But that, actually, it was just the companies tricking women into
> buying products that weren't actually improved, just a different colour.
> (This is hardly a new thing, it's just pink that's new).
>
> The article ends by inferring that women must be now seeing sense because
> the new colour palettes from companies like Blackberry now don't include
> pink.
>
> anyone remember that crazy old thing called 'fashion', or, if you will,
> 'trend'
>
> I for one quite like my pink screwdriver. For me, it's a way of feminising
> something that I use all the time quite capably but is still largely
> considered a tool that men use.
>
> I buy it quite aware of the fact that I'm paying more just to get it in
> pink.
>
> It's not a sign of weakness or stupidity.
>
> as for the pink Hello Kitty diamonte laptop - well that just screams
> Japanese youth culture to me much more than it says 'a laptop for chicks'.
> The cultural context here is much more relevant than the gender one in
> this
> instance I'd suggest.
>
> Leisa
>
>
> ref: http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2098269,00.html
>
> On 08/06/07, Emily Leahy-Thieler <eleahy_thieler at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have to admit something: I like pink. Looking at the Hello Kitty
>> laptop
>> makes me happy. I don't know why, but there is a subconscious effect
>> that  pink has on my brain. And as a professional woman, I've struggled
>> with
>> my urge to put Hello Kitty tchotchis on my desk. I wouldn't want my
>> coworkers to infer that I'm silly, incapable, and dim. But, in all
>> seriousness, do the color pink and cute things in general have to mean
>> weakness? Are the standard colors for laptops (black, gray, and white)
>> just
>> a reminder that the technology world has been dominated by men? Can't we
>> be
>> brilliant, powerful women and still love cute, pink things? There are
>> many
>> ways to be feminine and many ways to be powerful. We can be both.
>>
>> *E
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Ziya Oz <listera at earthlink.net>
>> To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
>> Sent: Friday, June 8, 2007 5:54:34 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Just for you women out there
>>
>>
>> Paola Kathuria:
>>
>> > it's not a big leap to pinkify laptops
>>
>> iPods are 'pinkified' too. But, c'mon, look at a pink iPod and then look
>> at
>> this monstrosity. It's not just the color. The whole thing just grosses
>> me
>> out. I'd rather glue a brown Zune to my head than look at this, wouldn't
>> you?
>>
>> I'd easily pay $500 to be able to sit in on the meetings where its
>> design
>> and branding were conducted. How many anthropologist were slain to come
>> up
>> with that gender-cultural insight? Did their focus groups use eye
>> tracking
>> equipment? Did they make paper prototypes? :-)
>>
>> ----
>> Ziya
>>
>> In design, interaction is the last resort.
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------
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>> April 10-14, 2008, Miami, Florida
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> ________________________
> Leisa Reichelt
> Contextual Research & User Centred Design
>
> leisa.reichelt at gmail.com
> www.disambiguity.com
> ------------
> IA Summit 2008: "Experiencing Information"
> April 10-14, 2008, Miami, Florida
>
> -----
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