Thursday, March 8, 2012

hey, it's international women's day!

Yeah.
Apparently, Google has something to say about this.













Which, inevitably, includes...
Flowers?
(that one for mother's day last year)



And for father's day? A tie! Because, oh, no, women can't wear ties. (I also like how it's a little bit crooked)



 
Women must like flowers, right? According to Google, yeah.
Um, Google? Way to kill the stereotypes! With more stereotypes.
Sounds quite effective, Google, I must say.
Hey, Google? I don't like flowers! Unless they're dying (this from a photographic standpoint).
Flowers are too delicate. Is this flower thing supposed to be a whacked out metaphor? Is this why you put flowers on anything that's distinctly woman-related?
I can build on this metaphor.
People only like flowers if they're beautiful.
Google? I suggest that you stop trying to find these symbols that you think represent gender. Flowers. Ties. Just make one out of, like, the word "woman" or something like that.
And, heck, make a pink one for father's day. A blue one for mother's day. A green one for international women's day.
Just break those gender barriers, just for the heck of it!
Not all women are the same, 'kay? Not all women unconditionally love the color purple. Or flowers. Just like all guys aren't totally on board with the color blue or ties.
Google, we're not all the same flower-loving person.
We are strong, not fragile and weak like a flower.
We deserve more than we get.
And if we're fragile, if we're weak, it's because we are forced to be this way.

4 comments:

  1. I don't think this is really fair. I mean, I get what you are saying.
    But say someone wants you to draw a stick figure of a boy and a girl.
    You could draw the general stereotypical girl stick figure. Long hair. Maybe a skirt. Chances are no skirt. Anyways, a lot of girls have short hair. So you might want to leave the default with no hair at all. Then you could do the same thing for the boys. Maybe you would change your design to have longish hair, just to prove that boys can. But that would be unfair to the girl. The only way you could really be fair in this situation is to draw to identical stick figures labeled with a bunch of disclaimers.
    This is rather pointless. The only real solution is to not draw stick figures at all. But google does want to draw a stick figure. Google does want to be creative. So google uses a rather quaint stereotype to convey the message.

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  2. I agree - basically ANYTHING could be considered a stereotype. People seem to be getting angry at stereotypes only because they're popular. They forget that it's not the stereotypical factor that we're supposed to be fighting. Because, honestly, there's nothing wrong with flowers. Flowers are cool. It's the STEREOTYPE that "all women love flowers" that we're fighting. And we should fight anything like that. If someone said "all girls should like the color green" , they wouldn't get nearly as much hate as someone who said, "all girls should like the color pink."
    I mean, if google DID use the color blue for its mother's day thing like you suggested, wouldn't that be offensive and suggesting that girls HAVE to like the color blue? There are many girls who don't like the color blue. There are many boys who don't like the color pink.
    What if there was a tie on mother's day? I suppose then, by your logic, girls would feel the pressure to wear ties and start ONLY wearing them. If people saw girls wearing, say, scarves instead, they would be shunned as "unladylike". And then people like you would rally against ties and hate on google for reinforcing such a horrible stereotype.
    Dresses and ties and flowers and pink and blue are all wonderful things. Don't hate them. Hate the stereotype.

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    Replies
    1. What I mean is, Google has the choice between pink and blue (and tons of other colors, but whatever, simplifying it). Using either one would be equally harmful in a melding-the-minds-of-our-generation-to-favor-one-color-over-another way. So, basically, they choose the more generic one, because it will convey the idea better. They're not trying to reenforce the stereotype; they're just taking advantage of it. Because of the pink-and-women-are-related connection in people's heads, google is able to use the color pink to symbolize women and get people to go "oh, I get it". And they didn't even use pink. Someone decided to opt for the less stereotypical purple. At least they're trying.
      I'm all for feminism and stuff, but some people go way overboard. I've seriously read things like "Do you KNOW what I saw the other day? A girl wearing a pink dress!!!! OMG it was like the most offensive thing ever I got so mad and went home crying." We need to slow down and enjoy pink dresses for what they are: a piece of clothing. It's clothing that this girl likes. She enjoys wearing it, not necessarily because others have forced her to believe it's the only acceptable thing for her to wear, but perhaps because she likes the way it looks. Maybe she just likes the color pink, and that's fine.
      Wearing a pink dress is one thing. Forcing others to because they're girls is another. But lately, people seem to be getting worse and worse at making that distinction.
      This comment kind of went off topic, but I've been reading this blog for a while and I felt a need to get this out. Please calm down.

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    2. i really see what you're saying here- and reading that again i realize that i did sound like i was pretty much slamming anyone who DOES like pink or flowers and is a member of the female society. which isn't what i was trying to say at all. i realize i should write these things slower and actually WRITE what i "was trying to say" instead of just trying to say it.
      you make good points, and i appreciate you saying these things. i used to love pink. my best friend loves pink. my mom loves flowers- and i don't think there's anything wrong with this, like you said.
      and i do understand that it's really hard to draw a gendered... thing, and go all nix on the stereotypes. because it's hard to make people understand without them (because this is just how we're wired).
      and thank you very much for your good points.

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