Oh women, you gullible worthless pieces of crap… it’s a good thing you spend money or the world would have no use for you. To show you how much the world “respects” you, we’ll give you Oprah, Jenny McContagious, The Twilight Series, and just to remind you that you do have a single worthwhile trait (that we can totally use to exploit your shameless credulity) we’ll give you Ricki Lake’s documentary The Business of Being Born. The best part of it all is that if we peddle this asinine bullshit to you using other women as the faces of these “products”, you’ll totally believe it’s empowering… and you’ll love it even more than that thigh cream you’re rubbing on yourself right now. Oh you’re not rubbing cellulite cream on your thighs right now? Really? I just assumed you would because… you know… you’re looking… oh nevermind. Good for you, sister! Embrace your “curvy” figure! There’s plenty of guys out there who are into girls your size.
Voice your Skepchickal indignation! What do you think is the worst woman-woo being peddled at us right now?
The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear daily at 3pm ET.
The diet industry.
@marilove: That is aimed at men and women.
Detox tea. Because you know a cup of nasty tasting hot water will do more than your liver and kidneys to clean your blood.
paranoid thinking = critical thinking
gb: might be for both men and women, but every single woo thing aimed at women hits this point. the government/male supremisists are out to oppress the truth about organic, goddess-centered, estrogenic, magickal solutions to all the world’s problems!
Douches.
@Gabrielbrawley: It’s aimed at women far more than men. Far more.
“Women’s Intutition”
and @elyse, I for one, prefer a curvy figure.
[hmm, booooobies]
@Gabrielbrawley: I gotta go with Marilove on this one. Women have to put up with more directed marketing on diet control than men. If you include the ridiculous depictions of how “pretty” women are portrayed as also part of the “diet” culture, women are getting a constant dose of “lose weight” propaganda.
@catgirl:
Both for hygiene and dating.
Yes, there are plenty of men that will like a woman of a larger size, they just won’t admit it. The sales job done in terms of “ideal beauty” being a bunch of skinny fucks has affected men just as profoundly as women – men just suffer less for it.
Can I go with ‘the entire fashion industry’?
@marilove: @SkepLit:
This could be a case where we are viewing the world from different ahm, shit, viewpoints. But as a guy with a couple of extra pounds it sure feels like the diet and or exercise plans are targeting men heavily. I see a shitload (a shitload is 1.5 metric tons) of adds targeting men to lose the belly fat, love handles, extra chin, etc. All with the promise that I won’t have to do anything. I won’t have to change what I eat or how much I eat or horror of horrors exercise. Perhaps I am more sensitive to the ones aimed at men and you are more sensitive to the ones aimed at women.
Then there are the commercials that say I can turn my dong into a baseball bat if I will just take a pill.
Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. (It doesn’t really count as two. Have you seen them in the same place at the same time?)
@JamieF: I have seen a lot of that and it just hurts the brain.
Did anyone catch the Simpsons on “health food” last night?
@SkepLit: Yep. Jenny Craig, South Beach Diet, Nutrisystem, diet pills, etc. All aimed at women.
Anything advertising to “boost your child’s immunity.” (A particular favorite: Rice f-ing Krispies)
@SkepLit:
There’s also this weird phenomenon of marketing normal foods as “diet” foods, and then marketing mostly to women. I think it’s strange and counter-productive that Yoplait Light and Special K commercials focus almost exclusively on women. Are yogurt and cereal unmanly now? To me it just seems like they are pushing away a lot of potential male customers by labeling it as a feminine food.
Face cream with matrix metalloproeinase inhibitors.
@Gabrielbrawley: Frankly I’ve come to accept that I’m never going to look like the shirtless guy in the twilight ad.
I’m still bothered by all those “just trying to keep you safe” e-mail forwards warning women of imaginary dangers -which really seem to just want to keep us all locked up in our houses (so they can watch us sleep?) where we won’t get in any trouble.
I’m honestly trying to think of a healthy food commercial that aims specifically at men, but I can’t come up with one. Except beer. But that’s neither food nor healthy. I do see a lot of guys enjoying their big beefy burgers from X fast food joint, but again, not healthy. I got nothin’. Anyone else think of any?
@Gabrielbrawley: Uh, yeah, it has nothing to do with being more sensitive. I’m not saying the pressure isn’t there for men, but it’s no where near the kind of pressure woman get in their every day lives. It’s just fine for a man to be schlubby — just turn on any recent sitcom with a fat husband and a skinny wife. Or just look at Ben Afflick or Russell Crowe or Vince Vaughn. Vince Vaughn was fat in the Break-Up, but Jennifer Anniston was perfectly toned (for the record, I prefer Vine Vaughn when he’s fat). If she had been equivalently chubby as Vince Vaughn, she would not have been cast. And look at her chubby boyfriend, John Mayer – never critizided for his extra weight, and dating a perfectly toned woman. But Kelly Clarkson has some actual ass and hips and she’s torn apart. And speaking of American Idol, the women are constantly told they are too chubby, but then Ruben Studdard’s weight isn’t given a second thought by the judges.
And heaven forbid Jessica Simpson isn’t a size 2 when she goes on stage! Or Jennifer Love Hewitt has some cellulite, while still being a size 4.
Just look at diet pills alone. Those are aimed EXLUSIVLEY at women.
Seriously, dude, the pressure to be THIN THIN THIN! affects woman far more than men.
@Gabrielbrawley: Also, as catgirl mentioned, it’s not just the blatant diet ads. It’s also yogurt, or milk (ever see those mil adds that claim if you drink milk, you’ll lose weight? Those were directed AT women, NOT men), or any kind of “healthy” cereal.
@Kimbo Jones: Nope. Can’t think of a one.
@Gabrielbrawley:
I saw The Simpsons and it was hilarious!
@marilove: Yeah, but there’s a substantial amount aimed at men, too. Can’t count the number of “Get ripped!” “Is this the new creatine?” or “Have a longer, harder cock” ads I’ve seen in the just the past day.
@CycleBeeks:
The good news? They can’t make that claim anymore come Dec 1.
@Kimbo Jones: There are plenty of exercise commercials though – they tend to have both an unattainably muscular man and woman. Some have only men. I haven’t seen any with just women unless it’s a “woman’s product” like a pilates machine or something.
@Mark Hall: It’s not quite the same, though, and it’s not as prevelent. The diet industry mainly targets women.
I will say that the media/marketing world does seem to have a big obsession with penises.
The general notion that women who don’t breastfeed or have vaginal births are not real women or good mothers.
@Kimbo Jones: I was going to make a caveat — exercise equipment tends to cater to men, and sometimes women, but the diet industry caters to women pretty exclusively. I was thinking of things like Jenny Craig, yogurt, and especially diet pills.
Women probably encounter the most woo when they are pregnant, and also when they are trying to get pregnant OR trying to not get pregnant. It’s easy to target pregnant women because nobody wants to feel like they are ruining their kids’ lives before they’re even born. It also something that most women don’t deal with on a regular basis, so they’re looking for information anyway.
@Elyse:
Yup. Won’t stop my sister-in-law from insisting it’s still true, though. Sigh….
Psychics. Psychics mostly target women. I don’t think I’ve ever known a man that used a psychic, but I know plenty of women who have. And also Astrology — any astrology site on the internet is likely targeting women and placing ads on sites women frequent.
That men and women are substantially different in how they think, their motivations and their decision making processes.
@russellsugden: I look like him! In that I’m so pale, I’m translucent.
I still have to disagree with you that diets are aimed more at women than men, if that was true in the past I don’t think it is anymore. I see adds from Nutri-system, weight watchers, and various late night miracle pill adds aimed directly at men everyday. Atkins, South Beach were aimed at men as well as women.
I’m not trying to defend the diet industry. I hate the bastards. I think we would all be better off eating healthy diets high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and lower in fat and getting more exercise but that doesn’t make anyone crazy rich.
Abstinence pledges and regaining your virginity seminars.
@marilove: Because nobody knows how to deal with reality better than dead people.
What about teeth whitening? I mean, I’m sure it’s targeted to men SOME, but it seems overwhelmingly targeted at women.
@Gabrielbrawley: Yeah, I really don’t agree, because being skinny isn’t pushed on men anywhere near as much as it’s pushed on women, and I don’t see any ads about how milk and yogurt, two very basic foods, will make a man’s ass smaller.
Pretty much anything endorsed by Oprah is aimed squarely at and eagerly consumed almost entirely by women.
Anything detox- skin creams, food and drinks, wraps.
@dpaul: I WAS JUST THINKING THIS.
I’m going to add “TYRA!” to the list because she’s not much better. Just watch any of her shows on dating. ugh.
@marilove: OK Tyra gets a close second, but Oprah is still the Queen of Woo
Fat-shaming is so pervasive that it effects both men and women. Nobody is denying that. However, the standards are still higher for women than for men when it comes to weight. Muscle-building exercise equipment tends to be marketed more toward men, while fat-loss diets and exercise equipment tend to be marketed more toward women. Of course many diets will have a men’s program and even market to men; nobody is denying that. But they still market to women much more frequently. If I remember, I’ll do a quick survey tonight while I’m watching (gender-neutral) tv.
@ Kimbo Jones : Guinness is food, and is great for you. =o)
@marilove: Most of our asses are pretty small. So much so that they have become the butt of jokes for many a stand up comedian. Its our bellies, chins and necks. along with our aparently tiny dicks and inability to satisfy women in bed that get the comercials. I don’t have anything to say about teeth whitening. Don’t really notice those commercials.
Actually, now that I think about it….how about the entire daytime talk-show industry? Is there (collectively) a greater insult to women’s intelligence and a greater source of wholesale woo distribution? Besides the afore mentioned Oprah and Tyra, we have Mr. Phil, Mr. Oz (I will not denigrate the title Doctor by applying it to these two charlatans), The View, Montel, et. al. Imagine the immediate 20-point boost to the national IQ we’d realize if we cancelled all of these shows (not to mention the Schadenfreude of seeing all the out of work psychics, nutritionists and self-help gurus).
Okay, I have to retract what I was saying about diet ads. I have been googling trying to support my position and I can’t. There don’t seem to be a lot of studies on this but the ones I could find support the position that weight loss ads target women more than men. Some found as much as 10 times more so.
I was wrong.
@Gabrielbrawley:
Don’t worry about your tiny dick. Everyone knows size doesn’t matter… because women hate sex. Only a shameless whore would admit to understanding the difference between a large and a small penis because only a shameless whore would have seen more than one.
The lifetime movie channel, lifetime and oxygen. I see a fair amount of woo on these three stations but more than that I get the disticnt feeling that the people who run them fucking hate women and think they aren’t smart enough to wipe their asses correctly.
@Elyse: Oh I don’t worry about that. That is one thing that I haven’t ever worried about.
@Elyse: If size doesn’t matter why do dildos and vibrators come in so many different sizes from small to normal to horse?
@Gabrielbrawley:
For whores
@Gabrielbrawley:
Shameless ones
@Elyse: Wouldn’t they be more fun than the ones who are all ashamed?
@Gabrielbrawley: Why are you so species-centric in your thinking? Don’t horses deserve a little pleasure too?
@Gabrielbrawley: Well, most women don’t buy the horse sized ones. Having just bought a few items at adamandeve.com (which is AMAZING, btw), most reviews left by women tend to be, “OH MAN THAT WAS TOO BIG!” rather than “Oh man that was too small!” I’d say the horse-sized dildos/vibrators are mostly for novelty, or fetish-use, not every-day-woman use.
@dpaul: I never thought about it from the horses point of view.
http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww36/MrNexx/?action=view¤t=magicitem1.jpg
@Kimbo Jones: @marilove: Supposedly healthy foods and supplements targeted specifically at men are a ubiquitous multi-billion-dollar industry. I could instantly think of a bazillion such products, and it took about a microsecond at Google to dredge up a gullible-buyer’s guide to vast mountains of this crap:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/musclegain.htm
The difference between the male-targeted and female-targeted products is simple: Products aimed at women promise skinny. Products aimed at men promise muscle-building. But that pseud0-difference amounts only to a trivial change in wording. Ultimately, they’re nearly identical variations of the same thing:
“Insecure about your body? Feel inferior to other members of your sex? Terrified of being rejected by the opposite sex? We have the instant magic pill / miracle food solution!”
I won’t dispute that the woman-targeted products are an even bigger market than the man-targeted products, but that’s like pointing out that Alaska is even bigger than Texas, or that China is even more populous that India. Yeah, it’s certainly true that something has to be the biggest, but the more significant point is that they’re all absolutely gigantic.
@dpaul & @Gabrielbrawley:
This was not the direction I thought today’s AI would go. I underestimate you guys.
@Elyse: a little surprised myself but I just follow along happily being naughty.
@ekimbrough: It’s still no where near the same level, though. It’s not just “a little bit of a difference” — it’s a vast difference. A few body building sites does not compare to MILK and yogurt, two very basic foods, being targeted at women as foods that help you lose weight. Ever walk down a cereal aisle? None of that is targeted to men. It’s either targeted to children or women looking to lose weight, the only difference maybe being Cheerios (that seem to target men and women as being a food that lowers cholesterol).
@Gabrielbrawley: Seriously dude, you are the best at making any thread naughty.
@ekimbrough: I don’t recall saying otherwise…just that I couldn’t recall a specific commercial advertising food/diets to men. Also I followed up by adding the caveat that, yes, exercise equipment targets men.
@marilove: But we are now sixty-some comments into the thread and he has yet to find a way of inserting a boobies comment – DESPITE us getting on the subject of dildos as they apply to beastiality.
@Gabrielbrawley: Are you a little off your game today?
@ekimbrough: Also, I’m not saying the diet industry doesn’t target men at all, but it’s completely different, especially when you take how women are viewed by our society as a whole. Fat men face far less obstacles in life than fat women, period.
@dpaul: Well marilove has been all over the milk angle. I didn’t think I had to point out that boobies make milk.
So who’s thirsty?