Friday, January 4, 2013

Why is 'Tech' only for men?


When I first saw this post titled, "The Finest in Gentleman's Tech Haberdashery" my first thought was 'I want that'. I mean who wouldn't want a fabulous grey tweed laptop bag. I mean it's tweed for goodness sakes. Then I reread the post and I got angry. I realize that certain things are marketed towards men and certain things towards women. I also realize that in the craft/handcraft world there are not as many options available for people who do not prefer floral skirts, something I am trying to rectify at Meandering Design. I think a large part of my frustration lay in the fact that these were 'tech' items. The stereotype of gender roles, and I am going to admit that those stereotypes color my vision as well, is that men use tech and women, what, don't?!

The main photo accompanying the article could have been taken at my apartment. Mid-century modern-check, streamlined wood furniture-check, grey tweed-check, and antique cameras-check.

Image from Apartment Therapy

I do not mean to pick on Apartment Therapy. In fact I recommend their site and highly recommend the book. I hope to start a discourse on how we represent items. Every single thing in that post is something that I would buy for myself, well, except for the gold plated iPhone. It is time to look at how gender roles and stereotypes function in our society and recognize that women use tech and like tweed. 
-KMC

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