pink and scented

earlier this week, I purchased some new razors. while this is not something I'd usually announce to world - really, who cares? - but I was struck by the fact that my only real options were a pink colored, raspberry-scented 4-pack or a single teal colored (probably scented as well) razor for roughly the same price.

I, of course, being the grad student that I am, opted for the less-expensive-per-unit pack of 4, but as I was walking to the register, I thought to myself, "why can't gillete make non-pink, non-scented razors for women?" I'm sure I'm paying extra for those 'features' and I really really really hate scented handles. I actually have to open the package and them them sit out for a few days before I'll use them. (probably could just buy guy's razors, but I have yet to investigated the differences between the engineering behind them - not sure I want razors made for men's faces for my legs...)

anyways, all this to say, that when this article, Sex Discrimination and Gender Bias - Why Do Women Pay More Than Men, popped up on my fb newsfeed, I found it quite appropriate to my feelings about gendered products. I always hear guys complain about having higher car insurance costs (but, lets be real, there is some decent science behind that), but you don't hear women complain about the costs of just being a woman. True, I could buy things like razors that are marketed to men, but I can't change the way a car salesman interacts with me (on average, women pay $200 more for the same car as a man) or the way I am treated at the dry cleaners (sometimes the shirt cleaning deals apparently only work for men's button downs, not women's).

really, go read the article. it's enlightening. and frustrating.

on a slightly related note, as I was reading the above article in Marie Claire magazine (which, by the way, I've watched to many episodes of project runway to say that title mentally without Heidi Klum's accent in my head) - I was struck by the 'what's hot right now' sidebar. Just look at the list of what people are reading:

granted, I know that marie claire is not geek girl, but still, it is slightly disheartening to to continually see that 90% of what people are looking at concerns appearance. The description in wikipedia seems to contrast sharply: 'the United States edition focuses on women around the world and several worldwide issues. The magazine also covers health, beauty, and fashion topics.' it would seem that the 'worldwide issues' should be prevalent, but instead the fashion, beauty and 'skinny' topics dominate. At least their tips for career-minded women were decent, but looking at their list of topics initially does not make me want to trust their way of advancing my career as woman. It looks like I should try to manage my perfectly-cut hair, diet correctly while weighing myself on my 'best' scale, and make myself over with the best beauty products of all time to make make myself 7 years younger even though I'm lazy about they way I look, just so I can succeed at the next job interview. I'm a fan of looking sharp at work and for interviews, etc, but I'm not fan of our culture's obsessive desire to change the way we look to fit a certain mold of unrealistic beauty and being judged severely based on the way we look. that kind of seems paradoxical, but oh well - I live in the real world where life can be muddy and my philosophies are not perfectly rational or explainable or complete...