The Virtual Boy
The Talk Boy

Are "Hungry Man" dinners still around?

Can't forget the Manwich or La-Z-Boy. 'Cause, you know, men eat a lot and are really lazy.

Didn't they come out with a Game Girl or something once? Or have I had one too many glasses of breakfast wine?

I remember asking for a Talk Boy for Christmas one year and feeling self-conscious about it only being for boys. Oddly, my mental justification was that if Macaulay Culkin could use it, so could I. Can't explain that one.

They did make a Talk Girl, if I recall correctly (pink, of course). No Game Boy, at least not from Nintendo, to my knowledge. Perhaps it was some kind of a knock-off.

As of late, Nintendo's shed the "Game Boy" name and moved onto "DS" instead. Some insist on still adding "Game Boy" in front of it in conversation. The claim was that Nintendo didn't use the name on their untested new gaming handheld because they didn't want to risk sullying the brand image if it flopped. Given their emphasis on selling games to wider demographics though, I wouldn't be surprised if the elimination of the childish and overtly male "Game Boy" name was a calculated attempt to draw in a wider audience.

It seems that the naming conventions for devices like this have changed -- people want short, flashy and/or sophisticated-sounding names like DS, PSP, iPod, Zune, NGage...well, maybe not so much that last one, but you get my point.

I remember reading somewhere that the use of "man" and "boy" in these contexts are a function of the names being developed by non-native English speakers -- not in terms of gender, but just in terms of having these person-words glommed onto other words. Honestly, would any speaker of idiomatic English before 1980 have thought "What's a good name for a gadget that you walk with? I know, Walk-Man!"

As with anything, you have to consider the cultural and temporal context for where and when these words originated (in these cases, in Japan, in the 80s/90s).

Many times, the word for "person", 人, in Japanese gets translated to "man" in english.

Moreover, it's difficult to be critical of cultures that we are not a part of. It takes an enormous amount of cultural consciousness (framing/context) to be fair and accurate in one's criticism.

If anyone here is familiar with Japanese feminist issues, I would be more than happy to learn about them!

jfrug - I'll see your Walk-Man naming timeline and raise you The Running Man, which was probably named after 1980 and was not only it poorly named but poorly designed. :)

OK, OK, back to serious comments. Sorry.

True, John. But I think the point still stands that had the Game Boy and other similar products been released with a female name in the US and other Western countries, they probably wouldn't have sold nearly as well. The translation issues are certainly interesting as well.

RMJ

Yeah, but those are explicitly marketed to me. That may also be true of say, La-Z-boy, but it's not of Walkmen or Gameboys. So I think it misses the point.

It's odd, since customers are basically women anyways, but I can't think of any comparable examples of products clearly gendered as 'female', the way Gameboy is a male item. You'd think I'd be able to call up some kitchen gadget or whatnot else the connotates 'female' readily, but I'm drawing a blank.

Brian - all I can think of in the same toy/age category is Get In Shape Girl exercise gear.

And although it's unfair to draw anything from comparing only 2 items (like "boys are being taught to play video games, girls are being taught to get pretty") the effect of that juxtaposition is a little chilling.

Brian,
As far as kitchen things (which are marketed to females) go, I can think of Mr. Coffee and Mr. Clean. Odd, that they are masculine, no?

It's not technology... but how about Mrs. Dash? There's a rare example of a feminine name for something that isn't explicitly female.

I had a talkgirl, same as the talk boy only it was sparkly pink and purple.

Yeah, I didn't think of Mrs. Dash. If you start thinking about foods, there's a ton - Mrs. Butterworth, Sarah Lee..a whole lot more I'm sure I can't think of. Then there's also the men pictured on Chef Boyardee and Quaker's Oats. So I guess the realm of food doesn't really seem biased.

It's Mr. Coffee but it's Mrs. Tea.

Food might seem gender neutral, but it's not. Stroll down the cereal aisle and look at the boxes.

Getting outside of names a bit, the characters used to sell food products are almost exclusively male, unless it involves pancakes:

Aunt Jemima
Mrs. Buttersworth
Vermont Maid
Land 'O Lakes
Blue Bonnet

Clearly, I've spent far too much time thinking about this.

a game not a gadget, but Pacman!

...of course this spawned Ms. Pacman.

Which spawned one of the better internet retorts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGwwiBpfZz4

A factor in this is that "woman" is too many syllables for use in a catchy product name. "Girl" is about the feminine option.

And I think Brandon has a point, but Land O' Lakes has nothing overtly to do with pancakes, and one could argue that stick butter is primarily used for baking, a traditionally female activity in this culture.

The only ones I can find that aren't related to foods around my house are Rubbermaid and the Lazy Susan.

I think perhaps from now on, I shall refer to the latter as a revolving cupboard.

Nintendo & Sony: two Japanese companies. The transliteration of the products "geemu-boi," "disuku-man," and "uooku-man" was (likely) a more simple than "geemu-gaaru/gyaru," "disuku-uooman," and "uooku-uooman". Of course, this is merely using the binary "if man, then change to woman" logic. Why not just have name them after object (e.g., "game box"); some abbreviation based on a Jinglish phrase (e.g., DHP standing for "Disk Happy Parade"); or just a random combination of letters and numbers (e.g., KN7), like what Honda seems to be doing?

I think that the basis of the post would have had more weight if it wasn't attacking foreign company objects, but rather looked at products from the US, such as the afore-mentioned "La-Z-Boy" and "Manwich", both of which I abhor as marketing hooks of men= lazy and fat.

I'm sorry to have sent you on a goose chase, I was making fun of the 80s dance craze called the Running Man.

And since the discussion has broadened, I'll mention that another toy naming problem comes to mind with "My Buddy" who was a boy, and then "Kid Sister" who was obviously a girl. Only one has a gendered title. I imagine this is because Kid Sister was an afterthought, but still.

there's always the classic Lady Kenmore line of kitchen appliances! and of course CraftsMAN tools. i don't know if that counts though since "craftsman" is an actually word used in (some) everyday conversations and whatnot.

Ah, how about Brother Sewing Machines?

Iron Man triathlon

Hangman!

Good points. I never noticed his before.

(This coming from someone whose family sent out the "Peace on Earth Good Will to People" Christmas, um, Happy Holidays card.)

To be fair, Pac-Man turned out to actually BE male...

And Ms.Pacman does feature superior gameplay and is/was enjoyed by many males. Also, pacman's name comes from a transliteration of a Japanese term which sounds like pacman, but means something about eating. (no gender, as far as I know.) Naming the character Pacman had the advantage of being easy to read/understand without having a name that was nothing like the original.

Interesting post!

I know this goes into another realm, but I work with horses, and I won't use the term "horsemanship." I once brought up the topic on a horse forum, and people were very defensive about how stupid it is to not like the term. The whole, "You're too sensitive...it's no big deal," argument. However, when I asked if everyone would like to instead use "horsewomanship," no one wanted to. Instead, I use "horserelationship," because it's about our relationship, not the man...or even the woman...in the equation. But it's not easy in the horseworld where practically all the terminology uses "horsemanship."

Bob's Big Boy restaurants.

"makes you say Oh Boy!"

I wonder what the female equivalent would be?

"Gail's Good Girl" - I'm not sure "Bob's Big Girl" would go over so well.

I was flipping channels a while ago and saw what I hoped was a joke...an Iron Girl Triathalon. Sadly, no joke. Would it be so hard to name it Ironwoman?

However! in my looking, I found out: the Ironman Hawaii is the "Ironman World Championship", plenty of women compete, and Paula Newby-Fraser has the record for most Championship wins overall (8) AND most non-championship wins overall (24!).

Also, I'm taking up the "revolving cupboard" cause - excellent new name!

Chore Boy sponges come to mind...just an extra thought.

http://www.yardman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/topcategory_10201_16503_-1
Yard-man lawnmowers

http://toysforbigboysltd.com/
Toys for Big Boys (a bit off-topic, since this is the name of a motorcycle/ATV store,and not a product, but the name always bothered me)

players of which grow up to go to Burning Man

That's because in today's messed-up Liberal world it's important for women to feel as powerful as men (which will never happen), but men and boys will not want to be women unless 1) raised by a single mother or 2) molested by a male at a young age.

Definitely have to agree with the mixer and food processor. Don’t know where I would be without them. I also love my Vitamix (quite an investment for sure) because it works so well.