Women vs. People

It’s time for a round-up of all the reader submissions illustrating the annoying habit of having products and products-for-women. The phenomenon illustrates the way we continue to think of men as people and women as women, thereby centering men and men’s lives as “normal” and women’s as “special” (and not in a good way). Anti-Monkey [...]

Imagine There’s No Gender: It’s Not Easy, But We Can Try

“Imagine a world without gender.” That’s the directive in the email signature of Judith Lorber, author of Breaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change. It’s one I find deeply inspiring, but I can already hear the chorus of feminist objections. Let me address some of those from my perspective as a feminist sociologist. Without gender, [...]

Playing With Gender

I am gendered, just not in all the ways you might think. Whatever part of my brain makes me like makeup and sparkly jewelry isn’t going away any more than is my tendency to argue, solve problems and boss people around. I have no problem emphasizing different aspects of my sometimes feminine, sometimes masculine gender [...]

To Sit or Not to Sit: Gendering How We Pee

Tiffani W. at Peppermint Kiss sent in a great example of the social construction of gender and the devaluation of all things feminine, a comic posted at The Oatmeal: According to Tiffani, Women sit down to pee.  Women are sissy bitches.  Therefore, sitting down to pee makes you a “sissy bitch.”  If that second sentence [...]

(Young) (Male) Americans Prefer Boy Children

In a previous post I’ve argued against framing a preference for boy children as “culturally ‘Asian.’” New data from Gallup, sent in by Kari B., shows that this preference is alive and well among Americans, at least among men. While women are most likely to have no opinion and are about equally likely to prefer a girl [...]

Where Are the Girls in Children’s Lit?

When people chide me for being a night owl, I blame Tolkien. I was only 11 when I pulled my first all-nighter, but I was driven to stay up till I finished The Lord of the Rings. By the time I reached the end of his 1,000-page saga, however, a part of me felt a little [...]

J. Crew’s Toenail-Painting Ad Causes Pink Scare

The sweet J. Crew ad I celebrated last week has ignited a “pink scare,” with socially conservative commentators outrageously upset. The ad features a mother– J.Crew’s creative director, Jenna Lyons–and her son delighting in one another’s company on a Saturday afternoon by painting their toenails hot pink (and thereby selling J. Crew’s Essie nail polish). The ad doesn’t [...]

Gendering Toys is Good for Nobody

I wasn’t surprised when my son, Zachary, was teased for bringing My Little Pony in for first-grade show-and-tell. After all, I had been following the story of Katie, a first-grader in Evanston, Illinois, who had been mocked for choosing a Star Wars water bottle. Katie’s mother, Carrie Goldman, blogged about the incident, and her post [...]

What Do Sexy Halloween Costumes for Men Look Like?

In many parts of the Western world, Halloween (for adult women, and increasingly for girls too) has morphed into an opportunity or imperative to dress “sexy”. Such costumes for women and girls are par for the course, where men usually go for scary, funny, or creative. Brandi H., however, found a link to “sexy costumes [...]

From the Stacks: Only Virgins Need Apply

This charming little notice from UC San Diego appeared in the June 1974 No Comment section of Ms. It’s outrageous to think that just 36 years ago non-virgins were banned from becoming homecoming queen. But have we really come that far? Just last month a Michigan trans boy was stripped of his homecoming king crown. [...]

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