JustReading sent along a screenshot of the “shop” tab at Etnies.com. It separates their products into “mens,” “girls,” and “kids” (the grammar mistake is theirs too).
So, yeah, men are men and women are girls. We’ve featured more examples of this phenomenon: a vintage ad for “girl” pens and “Beer Man” and “Beer Girl” Halloween costumes. Listen also to Bob Barker’s creepy girl talk.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 7
ikkyg — June 13, 2010
I think its more of a case that etnies doesn't target adult women - their style of sneakers are usually worn by adult men, teenagers and children. Men and teenage boys have been lumped together "Mens", then teenage girls is a distinct category "girls", and then children "kids". Seeing as they are "skate" brand, I doubt very much they have many adult women customers necessitating a "women's" category.
Kestr — June 14, 2010
Ok, but even if we assume that your interpretation of their marketing is correct, it still begs the question as to why a teenage male is a man and a teenage female is a girl.
The Electro Monster — June 15, 2010
T-shirt Companys sometimes put "guys" and "girls", which gets over the whole men are men and women are girls thing.
Alice — June 16, 2010
Is this a function of social pressure though? Men over the age of, say, 16 tend to be insulted when they are referred to as "boys". Women, on the other hand, are encouraged to be as young as possible, for as long as possible. If a woman of 30 was mistaken for a "girl" of 17, she would probably be flattered. A man who is mistaken for a boy would be offended. So if the target audience is aged about 25, it makes sense to make the distinction men/girls.
That's not to say 30-year-old women want to be referred to as girls (I'm talking to you, disgusting Boots adverts). But 30-year-old women probably don't buy skate shoes.