Asus Comment on Twitter Sparks A Controversy; Is There Rampant Sexism in Tech?

[mantispid]

They got the joke wrong besides... It should be, "...and the model isn't half-bad either."

 

[MissionImprobable]

Oops, my bad... I apologize. I targeted on "international" and jumped on that without looking at the details. But then there are these stats, not a remarkable difference especially when advertising is directed to men...

Changing Demographics of Tablet and eReader Owners in the US | Nielsen Wire

Mobile Devices - New Media Trend Watch USA


Percentage of smartphone, ereader, and tablet owners who are female:
- Third quarter of 2010: 47%(smartphone) / 46% (ereader) / 39% (tablet)
- First quarter of 2011: 48% / 56% / 42%
- Second quarter of 2011: 50% / 61% /43%
(nielsenwire, August 2011)

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums

These are interesting statistics for overall ownership, but not for early adoption. Women are still not as likely as men to pick up devices when they are still in their nascent stages and more prone to bugs and quirks. If you told everyone that a new personal teleportation device were dropping tomorrow you'd get a lot more men who "just have to have it" despite the risks that may come with an untested quantum displacement device than you would women. If you would be so kind though, please do not insert any commentary as to what this says about men's need to have things versus rationality in their purchasing decisions :happy3:

 

[jntdroid]

A couple of pieces of food for thought...

#1 - I think the problem with this comment is two-fold. First, it was made by a large corporation. Yes, it's twitter, yes it's one individual, but it's the face of a large corporation. Secondly, and alongside #1, it had hints of objectification in it. If they had a picture from the front that said something along the lines of, "What a beautiful face, and the screen on the Transformer isn't bad either." Or, "Wow, look how the room lights up with that around - oh and the Transformer is great as well." You get the point... commenting on the behind of a female leans more towards the "object" side of things, while my examples (though not great... lol) lean more towards the "respectful appreciation of beauty" side of things. Doesn't matter if it's true, doesn't matter if the model cared or not. It was a comment made by a seemingly professional organization / large corporation that had hints of objectification in it. That's why there's been an uproar.

#2 - To balance out #1 a bit... As has already been somewhat stated... The fact that this has caused such an uproar, and the fact that the possibility of suing for sexual harassment for this kind of comment even enters into the conversation is a testament to some of the gender biases at play here. Forget objectifying men in the same way (the example of the guy in tight jeans, or whatever scenario). How about defamation of men? If someone can even consider suing for sexual harassment in this case, then I could start a lawsuit against half the networks for tv shows, commercials, etc. (let alone some of the women I work with and know), for defamation of character. Our culture treats men, in a lot of scenarios, like bumbling idiots who are nothing more than 11 year old sex-craving, video game playing monkeys who don't care about their kids and are unable to take any responsibility. Are there some lazy-a#$ men who gladly let themselves fall into this category? You bet. But there are some women who gladly allow themselves to be objectified as well.

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

But there's quite a difference in your situation and this one. If your company tweeted "check out our hot network administrator" with a picture of you then yes there'd be a point.

However, again this model was solely hired to be eye candy. Nothing more nothing less. You know it, i know it, asus knows it and she knows it.

To go this crazy over something that everyone knows is ridiculous. Like the model was like "whaaat? They were looking at my ass? I thought they'd appreciate my mind!" when she got wind of the comment.

Much ado about nothing and a prime example of hyper sensitivity

Yes, it's true she was hired for her looks, and everyone in the situation knows it. Yes, the Tweeter was probably just saying what everyone else was thinking. Yes, sex sells. I'm not stupid - I know all of this. Just because these are 'facts' does not mean that it's a good thing that they are. Just because they're 'facts' doesn't necessarily mean it's professional to have Tweeted that, nor is it acceptable to objectify women, which is what this is.

Maybe this instance is hypersensitivity, but the issue of objectifying women (and men too) as a whole is definitely worthy of sensitivity. There's women recognizing that their appearance is powerful and can sell a product and choosing to model, and there's men thinking "Oh, she's a model so it must mean that she realizes it's alright for me and others to objectify her!"

It's like a man assuming it's acceptable to cat call or touch a woman dressed provocatively simply because she is dressed as such. Just because she's choosing to wear a certain type of clothing doesn't mean she wants you to behave like that. Just because a man can't keep it in his pants doesn't mean a woman can't dress however she damn well wants.

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

Yes, let's see what would be said if this was a cooking product convention with a muscular male model in a speedo in a demo kitchen next to a hanging pot/pan rack with the tag "Now that is one well hung rack"


or better yet, a vacuum cleaner display with the same dressed model and the tag "Now available with an extra long hose for those hard to reach places."

I'll give you all that if it had been a man, no one would have batted an eye. But that's my problem - objectifying people is an issue for both genders, even though men being subjected to it is a less common occurrence in the mainstream media. If a man can't be well endowed or muscular without being objectified, I find that equally offensive.

This isn't to say that I haven't oogled at a well built man before. I'm guilty of it too. It's not cool, but that's how it is.

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

I'll round out my comments by saying that I don't take issue with the "early adopters are mostly male" comment. This is true. I don't necessarily mind the content of the Tweet either, I suppose. What I mind is a large corporation taking advantage of the fact that mostly males are early adopters, and making an inappropriately objectifying tweet for the public to see. Their Twitter account is a representation of their company - now everyone knows that at least one person there with the power to influence consumers thinks it's okay to degrade women to a certain extent. Yes, the comment probably (clearly did, as seen here) went over very well with their target audience (men), but it likely rubbed a lot of women the wrong way, and maybe they will avoid the product? You shouldn't exclude a potential demographic, it could come back to bite you.

 

[czerdrill]

Yes, it's true she was hired for her looks, and everyone in the situation knows it. Yes, the Tweeter was probably just saying what everyone else was thinking. Yes, sex sells. I'm not stupid - I know all of this. Just because these are 'facts' does not mean that it's a good thing that they are. Just because they're 'facts' doesn't necessarily mean it's professional to have Tweeted that, nor is it acceptable to objectify women, which is what this is.

Maybe this instance is hypersensitivity, but the issue of objectifying women (and men too) as a whole is definitely worthy of sensitivity. There's women recognizing that their appearance is powerful and can sell a product and choosing to model, and there's men thinking "Oh, she's a model so it must mean that she realizes it's alright for me and others to objectify her!"

It's like a man assuming it's acceptable to cat call or touch a woman dressed provocatively simply because she is dressed as such. Just because she's choosing to wear a certain type of clothing doesn't mean she wants you to behave like that. Just because a man can't keep it in his pants doesn't mean a woman can't dress however she damn well wants.

There's that defamation of character thing that jntdroid was talking about. You're assuming that every guy who sees that girl is thinking "wow what a hot chick, let's objectify her!"...simply not the case. I think the mature people in the crowd realize that she's taking advantage of her good looks to get a job, for which she knows she might get some comments and she's damn well ok with it. Like I said before, as much as some want to make her out to be, she's not a damsel in distress just trying to make ends meet, and luckily was cursed with beauty so begrudgingly took this job wearing slinky clothes. She's probably laughing at the tweet more then anyone else!

people on twitter whine about everything. its like you can't make a single comment anymore without someone getting offended. there's a huge difference between men just outright objectifying women and someone making a comment about a woman who knows exactly what she's doing.

on another note, your last part about her wearing the clothes she wants doesn't mean she wants you to act a certain way, reminded me of dave chappelle's how women dress standup in DC haha. i wont post the link here because it'll open another can of worms, but it is on youtube for those curious.

it's just a joke, lighten up...both men and women should stop being so sensitive about something so insignificant. i'm sure the girl went home very happy that night, after having been paid for her work, and she wasn't forced to do anything she didn't want to or wasn't prepared for.

 

[TisMyDroid]

Sorry everyone, I didn't mean to ditch but I had to rush out the door and only have a minute now before I am off again. I have not had a chance yet to read the posts but just wanted to say I enjoyed the conversation and the banter. Will read posts later.

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

There's that defamation of character thing that jntdroid was talking about. You're assuming that every guy who sees that girl is thinking "wow what a hot chick, let's objectify her!"...simply not the case. I think the mature people in the crowd realize that she's taking advantage of her good looks to get a job, for which she knows she might get some comments and she's damn well ok with it. Like I said before, as much as some want to make her out to be, she's not a damsel in distress just trying to make ends meet, and luckily was cursed with beauty so begrudgingly took this job wearing slinky clothes. She's probably laughing at the tweet more then anyone else!

people on twitter whine about everything. its like you can't make a single comment anymore without someone getting offended. there's a huge difference between men just outright objectifying women and someone making a comment about a woman who knows exactly what she's doing.

on another note, your last part about her wearing the clothes she wants doesn't mean she wants you to act a certain way, reminded me of dave chappelle's how women dress standup in DC haha. i wont post the link here because it'll open another can of worms, but it is on youtube for those curious.

it's just a joke, lighten up...both men and women should stop being so sensitive about something so insignificant. i'm sure the girl went home very happy that night, after having been paid for her work, and she wasn't forced to do anything she didn't want to or wasn't prepared for.

My beef isn't with the men that the tweet was target at, my beef is with the person who tweeted it. For all I know, no one that saw the tweet agreed with it.

I have a hard time not feeling that jokes objectifying women are significant. If we down play jokes that are offensive and don't let the joker know that it's not okay, society will keep up with it.

 

[MissionImprobable]

My beef isn't with the men that the tweet was target at, my beef is with the person who tweeted it. For all I know, no one that saw the tweet agreed with it.

I have a hard time not feeling that jokes objectifying women are significant. If we down play jokes that are offensive and don't let the joker know that it's not okay, society will keep up with it.

Not to jump into hyperbole, but you really think anytime something like this happens it needs to become fodder for the news and the joker needs to be reprimanded? I think all this has been blown a little bit out of proportion and that quite a few people seem to be giving it far more weight than it's due.

 

[kennykid]

OMG. No one has a problem of them objectifying women to sell merchandise until someone makes a juvenile comment pointing out what's already there. Why don't these people attack the porn industry or even modeling. How about defaming Sports Illustrated for their classic Swimsuit Issue? Miss America has a swimsuit segment so you can admire ... you get it. GET OVER IT, the female form is going to be admired forever regardless of what self righteous bigot's the world over whine about so they get respect for a high moral code. Which in turn makes them more attractive to women. Self righteous women at least. How ironic.

 

[MissionImprobable]

Just something for perspective with this causing so much controversy: Dos Equis Commercials.

The Most Interesting Man in the World says that he practices "a strict catch and release policy" while he is in the company of two women, implying that not only will he be sleeping with both of them come the end of the night, but in the morning they will be sent on their merry ways and that will be that. So, we can have commercials implying the fun of sexual promiscuity, but someone commenting on a female's rear is off-limits? Let's also keep in mind that odds are this Tweet is something that mostly adults would have seen, where as the commercial that I mentioned airs often during sporting events and other television programs that children are likely to see as well.

Some others that just came to mind: Bod Man body spray commercials featuring sweaty, shirtless men engaging in sports, saying over and over again "nice bod;" Charlize Theron has a J'adore commercial where she strips down to nothing by the end of the piece, and it doesn't get much more overtly sexual than that. The energy being put into going after this joke is a joke, don't know how else to put it.

 

[czerdrill]

OMG. No one has a problem of them objectifying women to sell merchandise until someone makes a juvenile comment pointing out what's already there. Why don't these people attack the porn industry or even modeling. How about defaming Sports Illustrated for their classic Swimsuit Issue? Miss America has a swimsuit segment so you can admire ... you get it. GET OVER IT, the female form is going to be admired forever regardless of what self righteous bigot's the world over whine about so they get respect for a high moral code. Which in turn makes them more attractive to women. Self righteous women at least. How ironic.

precisely....seems it's only objectifying women when someone points it out, huh? no one was complaining about this woman standing there in slinky clothes smiling wearing a dress like that, until someone pointed out that she was a woman standing there in slinky clothes smiling wearing a dress like that haha...

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201

 

[ntrddragn]

WTF is wrong with the comment? I swear the world is turning into a bunch of politically correct fake pansies, isn't she a model hired for her looks to sell a product ?

welcome to the united pansy of america. she does have a arse. those women who tweeted 'omg really?' must have great personality. LMAO :icon_ lalaancingNexus

 

[Natey2]

On a booth-babe rear-end scale of 1-10, I'll give the one pictured a low 3.
One's gotta visit other trade shows to know what I mean
The high-scoring ones won't know how to operate a Tablet, but that's OK.