This was a discussion on facebook that was brought up by me because of a class reading I had done called "Desire: Design and Society since 1750" by Adrian Forty. The segment I read was chapter 4 and chapter 9. This discussion just includes ideas that I would not have thought of had I not read the articles or discussed it with a friend. I hope you find some ideas that are new to you as well.
You
ryan and i are talking about gender projections on products through design and advertising
what do you guys think? are products inherently designed for women or men? or are they universal
Jack
Report · 5:45am
like what products?
u know 80% of the mall is female crap yah know
You
Report · 5:46am
how bout, knives
or toilets
Ryan
Report · 5:46am
The...Trigun...character?
You
Report · 5:47am
well right now specifically im confused about tampons
is there any male design in them? or is it completely female?
Jack
Report · 5:47am
WTF tampons are for gurls
You
Report · 5:48am
im talking about design
design
not use
design, advertising, etc
packaging
Jack
Report · 5:48am
i dunno what u mean exactly
in case of tampons only girls buy them
i don't know how u mean by designing them for boys
even the packaging
You
Report · 5:49am
are tampons designed, marketed, and packaged with ONLY women in mind...or are male preconceptions of design considered too
Jack
Report · 5:49am
probably not for tampons
but stuff like lingerie prob considers men
You
Report · 5:50am
but its weird, b/c i personally have looked at a tampon out of the box and said to myself, "that wrapping and the design on it is modest and kinda cool"
like its a minimal pattern saying the company's name in a muted color repeated over and over on a warm colored background
and i thought to myself, "thats tasteful"
Ryan
Report · 5:51am
Mark, it's what Itten and albers have taught you!
Jack
Report · 5:51am
maybe u have feline taste, or maybe a male designer thought thats what females like
You
Report · 5:51am
omg X_x
feline
i like that
Jack
Report · 5:52am
ops
ur not a cat sry
You
Report · 5:52am
i do have feline taste...i love milk
ya that could be it, im sure at that point in the production of the product they're trying to save money on packaging individual units and they use less ornamented design and less vibrant color
sup john
what is an inherently MALE product?
Jack
Report · 5:55am
i think ur thinking too much i really don't think tampon packaging has "intentional" design affected by male comsumption.
males don't have thier own product
You
Report · 5:56am
well its for a class so i have to think too much. and you know packaging is VERY well thought out
Jack
Report · 5:56am
yeah condom's, deoterant, and boxers, male clothing may all of female concerns
but Tampons deffinitely do not
You
Report · 5:57am
well condom's are designed specifically for males, but they are made b/c of females
thats kind of a strange example actually
Jack
Report · 5:57am
well no condoms actually have an interaction between females
but tampons are for female private use
You
Report · 5:58am
but theres female deodorant and lots of girls wear boxers
ya thats true
Jack
Report · 5:58am
and boxers are for girls to see (kind of) not rly
You
Report · 5:58am
lol idk about that
Jack
Report · 5:58am
well
at least in some minimal sense
You
Report · 5:59am
tampons are seen by males though...like lets be honest. we see the advertisements, the packages, and the product
so why not design it to appeal to males? b/c otherwise we'd be repulsed by tampons every time we saw anything related to them
Jack
Report · 6:00am
most men don't like tampons
anyways
and I mean humans have similar qualities anyways
you can't soly distinguish something as female taste
You
Report · 6:01am
ya, i mean im indifferent...its like, they need it, w/e. but if they were advertised like hello kitty or my little pony...then i'd hate them
Jack
Report · 6:01am
WHAT
YOU DONT LIKE HELLO KITTY?
You
Report · 6:01am
ha
ya but advertising and designs cater towards certain genders. like a pink ipod. the blue vs pink thing is a great example of that. any product made pink is feminine. why is that? not really for any reason
just b/c
Jack
Report · 6:02am
but really the reason they don't market it like hello kitty and pony, is because they need people to trust them
You
Report · 6:02am
just an extreme example chap
Jack
Report · 6:02am
would you really trust something more if it had ponies on them
You
Report · 6:03am
haha
YES
Jack
Report · 6:03am
-_-
-__-
damn facebook
You
Report · 6:03am
what bout watches too. like male watches are usually bigger and (when you get to high end watches) usually have roman numerals on them...even when you have a nice female watch of the same price, it has arabic numbers, is smaller, and has more ornamentation
Jack
Report · 6:04am
that doesn't prove that tampons have masculine qualities
and yes smaller products are more delicate
girls have more delicate features and guys are bulky
You
Report · 6:04am
no, but im saying most products are gender specific in design
Jack
Report · 6:04am
yeah ok
i'm down with that
You
Report · 6:05am
so why not have that on tampons too?
or condoms for that matter b/c condoms are used by both
Jack
Report · 6:05am
tampons are totally female
You
Report · 6:05am
but are they?
Jack
Report · 6:05am
yes
99.9999999&
You
Report · 6:06am
thats my question...is that is there part of the tampon that is catering to a male design? ...just wondering what you guys thought XP
Jack
Report · 6:06am
no it does not cater to males intentionally i already said that
You
Report · 6:07am
ya but does it at all
intentionally or not
Jack
Report · 6:07am
well u can't figure out something as completely female
anything u design concerns humans in general
You
Report · 6:07am
like you cant tell me you havnt seen a tampon commercial and been like, "she's cute"...i think even that draws a male audience in
ya true
Jack
Report · 6:08am
i'm pretty sure thats not for guys but for girls to be like i wanna be like that girl
You
Report · 6:09am
sex sells though, girls wanna be that girl and guys want that girl. im sure you're familiar with that
and ya it most likely is for girls mostly...but im talkin little ratio here like 10:1 girls...that little bit might have guys attention
Jack
Report · 6:10am
yeah but nothing is completely structural
You
Report · 6:11am
take hartig for example...im sure he's thought about tampon commercials and been like, "i'd fuck her" and then when he sees tampons in the grocery store he references that memory
Jack
Report · 6:11am
it's like discussing maybe water bottles are designed for muscians
cause they can make music with the possibly
You
Report · 6:11am
haha
yup
but that argument fades away once gender gets involved...more people are either male or female than musician or water bottle musician
or i guess...more people can relate to male/female than musician
they've lived with male/female conceptions longer than musical ones
Jack
Report · 6:13am
what i'm saying is that that sexuallity to attract men is not intentional, if your talking about not intentional things if can be linked to EVERYTHING
and a state of everything is not possible to talk about with any real point
Jack
Report · 6:15am
i'm talking about the link. since it can apply to anything it can aply to males and females too
You
Report · 6:15am
intentionality doesnt matter b/c millions of people will be seeing your product...and they're going to have a million and 1 different ways of conceiving that product.
what do you mean?
Jack
Report · 6:16am
it's like asking if a specific thing can be cut in half if anything can be cut in half
You
Report · 6:17am
yeah. but see im trying to find something that cant be cut in half
b/c i dont know that everything can be cut in half
Jack
Report · 6:17am
i mean there's no concrete difference in inttentional and not intentiona
intentional is like diamonds and metal
that youd talk about
and not intentional is like water, gass etc
Jack
Report · 6:18am
like why would you discuss something thats like yes
at some level yes
but if there's no concrete difference
that's actually distinguishable its pointless to make a case out of
You
Report · 6:18am
they're obviously feminine (obviously can be cut in half) but is there some part of it that maybe cannot be cut in half? (cannot be feminine?)
well everything is pointless if you think that way =\
Jack
Report · 6:19am
no
you can talk about how hard it is to cut diamonds
because they are actually hard etc
You
Report · 6:20am
female in utility, but in design?
i mean, its designed just like a penis would work
thats pretty male
You
Report · 6:21am
but it is obscene...they're shoving a piece of plastic with a cotton ball attached to it up their vaginas
while its BLEEDING
You
Report · 6:22am
so when you see a tampon on the ground you dont think that its a long cylindrical rod that women stick in their pussies?
cuz thats the first place i go with it, i see one and im like in that mode for 0.01 seconds
Jack
Report · 6:23am
how does that relate to adding extra obscenity?
it's obscene because it was practical and needed
You
Report · 6:23am
not talking about that anymore
talking about the idea of a tampon
and i understand that
but its gnarly
and not pretty
like a female should be with the preconceived notion of females in society
like hello kitty...can you imagine something that gnarly happening on hello kitty? i think not, thats un ladylike!
Jack
Report · 6:25am
yeah but it's not really a public thing you show to people so it doesn't have to have preconcieved notion of showing it as a female thing
if your talking about the object itself
Jack
Report · 6:26am
i mean little things like this may be worth talking about, but only if your making a point
You
Report · 6:26am
lol
not everything has to have a beginning and an end
anyway, you're obviously not liking my prodding
Jack
Report · 6:27am
yeah but i usually consult my common sense and come to conclusions
unless its something complex
where i need different perspectives
You
Report · 6:28am
well ya, i know tampons are practical and needed and I would never buy one. im thinking intellectually throughout history what is inherently male and female about product designs and how does that affect the packaging, marketing, and consumer participation with a product like a tampon
You
Report · 6:29am
ya but i want to dig into the question...which makes discussion required...and i stated the question at the beginning of our convo -___-
You
Report · 6:30am
of course it is
things that are arbitrary are that way for a reason...that swhat im interested in
why are they that way? what things in society say they're that way
when did those preconceptions come about in history? etc
Jack
Report · 6:31am
yeah now that you reinstated the question, you can think well should we design them that way etc
Jack
Report · 6:31am
i mean your already making the point on your own that not intentionally there's a male attraction to the product regardless
You
Report · 6:31am
im not just talking and sounding like a retard for no reason here XP. i do have a purpose with my discussion
You
Report · 6:32am
b/c im curious what other people think about it
and what parts of it are male and what parts are not
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