Doritos– for women!

There may be a lot of terrible and terrifying stuff going on in the world, but now we’ve got something wonderful to look forward to: Lady Doritos! (Thanks, J-Bro!)

Because women have been struggling, and failing, to enjoy Doritos, Nooyi said that Pepsi is designing a series of innovative chips for women. The products will be packaged differently and offer, “low-crunch, the full taste profile,” but, “not have so much of the flavor stick on their fingers.” It’s serious flavor-equity gap created by generations of phallocentric chips that PepsiCo is bent on closing.

 

 

Finally… Men can drink wine!

OUT WITH A FRIEND AT A BAR, GRAHAM WISHED HE COULD ORDER WINE, BUT DIDN’T WANT A “SAUVIGNON BLANC” OR “PINOT” IN STEMWARE WHEN HIS FRIEND HAD A CAN OF BEER. HE BOUGHT MANCANWINE.COM THAT NIGHT.

For more exciting news about MANCAN, go here.

 

(Thanks, E!)

Largely gendered product

From a web store carrying bullet-proof survival aids for schools, etc. No protective professional clothing for women, except for white lab coats. Mind you, motorcycle jackets are becoming higher fashion. There are plenty of pages of protection relevant to school kids, but as far as adult clothing goes, the influence is distinctive and odd. It seems to be Hollywood westerns and (maybe dated) thrillers.

Presumably a bullet proof jacket would have helped here:

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No commentary needed

Thanks, R!

What women voters want: a pink campaign bus.

Really?

 

(Thanks, Mr Jender.)

Presidential rejection of toy gendering

Merry Christmas!

In a video making the rounds this week, the president joins First Lady Michelle Obama to present gifts to the Marine’s Toys for Tots program at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. When it’s time to sort the toys into “boy” boxes and “girl” boxes, President Obama goes against the grain.

“You know what? I just want to make sure some girls play some ball,” he says as he places a basketball in the girls bin.

A few moments later, “T-ball? Girls like T-ball.” And into the girls bin goes the Little Tikes set.

At one point Obama appears to catch flak from the crowd of onlookers for placing a toy tool kit in the girls bin.

“Girls don’t like toys?” he replies.

Ladybird drops gendered book branding

Since we frequently point out the occasions when toy manufacturers and the like make depressingly gender-normative gestures with their products, it’s a pleasure to also point out the occasions when they get things right. So: three cheers for Ladybird, the popular publisher of childrens’ books, who have undertaken to remove any gendered labelling from their collections of stories, since “we certainly don’t want to be seen to be limiting children“.

In the interests of editorial impartiality, it should be noted that other publishers have made the same pledge: Dorling Kindersley, Miles Kelly Books, and Chad Valley have also undertaken to refrain from publishing new titles with gendered branding.

This is a result of pressure from the Let Books be Books campaign, a subsidiary of the Let Toys be Toys campaign, worthwhile enterprises both.

Barbie F*cks It Up and Feminist Hackers Save the Day

…So, I wasn’t going to click the link. Sexist books and toys are ubiquitous, and one grows weary of reading about them. But it turns out that even though the Barbie I can be… A Computer Engineer book is even more awful than you might expect (Barbie herself doesn’t write the code: she needs Steven and Brian for that.), Pamela Ribon’s righteous rant in response to Barbie’s ersatz engineering is worth the price of admission:

THE FUCKING END, PEOPLE. Despite having ruined her own laptop, her sister’s laptop, and the library’s computers, not to mention Steven and Brian’s afternoon, she takes full credit for her game design— only to get extra credit and decide she’s an awesome computer engineer! “I did it all by myself!”

Flip the book and you can read “Barbie: I can be an Actress,” where Barbie saves the day by filling in for the princess in Skipper’s school production of “Princess and the Pea.” […]

When you hold the book in your hands to read a story, the opposite book is upside down, facing out. So the final insult to this entire literary disaster is that when you read “Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer,” it appears that you are so fucking dumb, you’re reading “Barbie: I Can Be an Actress” upside down.

Even better, if it weren’t for Barbie I can be… A Computer Engineer, we would never have gotten to enjoy the Feminist Hacker Barbie site, at which readers are invited to improve the original book. Here’s one user’s suggested improvement:

Update: Great news! A female PhD student in computing has re-written the book to make it what it ought to have been in the first place. Here’s her version. Yay, intertubz!

“Find me a boyfriend” notebook

Go do your thing, Amazon reviewers. (Thanks J!)

Gendered product: The fiat 500c GQ

 

 

 

2014 FIAT® 500c GQ Edition

Getaway Driving for the Modern Gentleman The FIAT® 500c GQ Edition brings classic design and style to the sophisticated, modern gentlemen of the world. Defined both by its agile engine and desirable amenities, this handsome automobile captures the spirit of the confident, well-dressed man.