Thursday, August 25, 2005

Media Rage

Many thanks to Pashmina for alerting me to this article in last Thursday's Telegraph, all about how women are too stupid to download music or work an MP3 player. The whole thing has enraged me so much that I can barely form a coherent sentence, so it's lucky that Gendergeek has marvellously deconstructed it all already.

I was particularly moved to incandescent fury by these little gems of insight from "psychologist and usability expert" Tom Stewart:

"Women are often discouraged by other women from learning about technology. They are conditioned by society to want to be seen as different to men. Building Meccano bridges and piecing together model aeroplanes teach boys to enjoy tinkering with things, but girls are encouraged to play with dolls instead.

This makes them more interested in relationships and how people behave, so they focus on the usefulness of a gadget, not on how it works. For example, they like using mobile phones because they are big talkers, so they see it as helpful to be able to make calls all the time"


I'm not much of a talker as it happens, but I can think of two words I'd like to say to our Tom. Anyone got his mobile number?

13 comments:

ScroobiousScrivener said...

WOW. I'm... stunned. Most of all, I'm deeply confused as to what reality I'm living in, when it so obviously isn't the one inhabited by the Telegraph. I completely fail to see all the women around me shrugging helplessly at their high-powered mobiles, laptops and MP3 players. Rachel Forder must have had to work very, very hard on that article to come up with so many people to support her theory. I can't imagine where she found them.

On the other hand, I do completely agree with the line: "Women are less patient than men: they haven't got the time or the inclination..." Indeed. It's not that we can't figure it out, dumbass. It's just that we're busy people, and we like the things we use to actually be useful to us. (Also, when Playstation games go beyond guns, tits and ass, maybe we'll have a reason to care.)

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Let's get Tom's email and flood him with outpourings of outrage (preferably from our mobile phones). That way, at least he'll know we're capable of operating a keyboard.

patroclus said...

I believe this is our man.

patroclus said...

Before we start the hate campaign in earnest, I hasten to point out that this *might* not be him. Maybe I'll send him a little fax to find out.

h said...

A fax??!? No mobile!?! What century this twit living in?

surly girl said...

"If I'm honest, most of the time I deliberately act helpless, because I know there will always be someone who can help me, whether it's my husband or a male colleague at work," she says. "If I take on board a little of what I am taught about a computer or an iPod, I will have to learn the rest myself. Whenever I hear some new music that I like, I'll just make a list of songs for my husband to download for me."

um, hello????? how many seventies sitcom terry-and-june cliches can someone shoehorn into a single bad article.

i bet michael burke commissioned that.

ScroobiousScrivener said...

Oh, well, one look at that aged visage and everything is explained.

Also and PS: Having thrown scornful comments about Playstation around, I take a little browse in your archives and see that you're a keen gamer yourself and (quite reasonably)resent the equation of games with GTA. So, colour me embarrassed. Ahem. Games are good, really. But personally, I'm still waiting for a newfangled game I love as much as Zork, and I really couldn't be bothered to trawl through the games available to see what lies beyond Beach Volleyball and GTA.

...Anyway. Eagerly awaiting the result of the fax test (poor telecoms challenged dear).

patroclus said...

I'm quite grateful that no one has yet reminded me that I recently spent several blog posts wittering on about how I can't turn my own TV on.

But you know, that was exaggeration for comedy effect. *Cough*.

h said...

Do him, do him now! Don't wait until you find out if it's realy him or not - he might try and make a run for it to Italy.

LC said...

I thought you might find this recent-ish story mildly relevant.

I notice the second most popular item behind the girly mini-iPod is a navigational aid. Hoho.

(Please don't fire me.)

Bearded Lady said...

is it 1905 - have we gone back in time....... You see i'm a woman so i dont really know whats going on in the world at large i'm too busy hoovering and washing clothes

Smat said...

Help - I've realised that I SO shouldn't be anywhere near this blog as I quite like the Boden catalogue (very practical kids clothes), have been wondering about some flowery clogs for the gardening, and don't buy or use (many) techy gadgets (have managed to mess up the wireless internet thing Patroclus - sorry).
I do know some of those women in the article however: they get their kids to do the techy stuff, like email and internet.

patroclus said...

You *can* turn the TV on though, Smat. And you're also an admirable example of a functioning adult, unlike your flaky friend here. Please don't leave me!

Urban Chick said...

urban chick's hubby here - i'm typing this on account of her being too stoooopid to use my laptop - she says to tell you that she thinks it's really cute when i say 'that's two gigabytes of RAM, honey'

[bless her!!]