This is actually a problem that I had working with another start up company that focused on buyer power to sell/buy things, kind of like groupon.  It was clear after my first day that they had no idea what women wanted from a shopping experience, what products they bought, etc., and that they wanted me to be their token female (but they couldn't stop mocking women shoppers.)  I respectfully bowed out of that one.

Women can wear tuxedos and cologne, and many have beards.  By saying they are only for men, you are only perpetuating the stereotypes of what women "should" have/do.

"They do, to be fair, show a pair of breasts operating it."

:D

In fact, these items are so specifically marketed toward men that one could logically conclude they are only looking for male employees...  And Scopely would do well to remember that gendered employment ads are illegal in the US.

Yeah, it's an interesting use of Micheal Richards too, who remains a meme about racism despite his protestations of not being a racist. 

While i could argue that i really like Dos XX and would like a $11,000 wrapped in bacon, or that another woman might like cigars or an oil painting it is obviously marketed to men. Once again reinforcing the notion that engineers (their target) are all men. They are not actively trying to recruit any women engineers by offering things that might appeal to more women. Or even offering obviously unisex products. If i were an engineer and saw this, i would think twice about working with them as I would suspect their work environment is very much about the 'good ole boys'.

Here are some options they could have included to lure and/or humor prospective engineers  100 gift cards encased in jello, a segway, massage chair, life size alien from the movie Alien, custom made cologne/perfume to match your body, Apple suite (iPad, iPhone, iPod, computer), jukebox, pinball machine, year supply of wine, fish tank-coffee table,... it really isn't too hard to come up with things that would appeal to both men and women. They didn't even try.

Interestingly, their friend company Hipster (linked at the bottom of the Scopely jobs page) is using a similar "humorous stereotype" ploy, but includes only two obviously gendered products and one of them is female: http://jobs.usehipster.com/ 

Maybe it's easier when your "humorous stereotype" is hipsters, since they're already seen as somewhat androgynous?  Just latching onto the "the Dos Equis Guy" marketing campaign is pretty darn lazy, though.

What would someone do with a spear gun? Hunt whales? Sharks? I should ask an engineer, because it is the worst prize I can think of.

While a lot of these products are advertised to men, all the products on this list would appeal to me.  Seinfeld, beer and bacon are not only loved by men.  Even the beard oil is a great novelty thing.  I don't see a problem here.  

And, what exactly should this employer have offered for women?  I don't think the point is to necessarily receive something you'll use (i.e. the spear gun) it's more for the silliness.  I haven't heard one proposal for an equally-silly "women-oriented" prize.

nm.

I could be wrong, but are these even things most men would really want?

Women don't drink beer?

Lisa Wage forgets that Diane Keaton exists

edit: Wade

Women can like tuxedos too.

That being said, it does seem to be a list of things aimed at stereotypical men. I doubt the company was thinking of people like me when they included tuxedos. It seems lazy and presumptuous, more than intentional, but then again most isms are. If all sexism was blatantly obvious more people would be pissed about it, and it wouldn't be so insidious.

I'm female and I wouldn't mind a year's supply of Dos Equis. I'll take the cash too.

This really reminds me of a common response among those who embrace so-called color-blind racism. Essentially, they say pointing out a problem is the problem. And it is clear here that so many posts just have to say that LW is perpetuating the problem even though she's only pointing out Scopely's problem. It's so telling how embedded we all are in a gendered (or to be more precisely masculinized) culture. 'Oh I have no problem with that.' 'I'm a woman but I like men's stuff!' In doing so, they're discursively supporting this culture's tendency in making men's culture appearing somewhat neutral and unprobelematic. 

Might as well come out and say the obvious thing that isn't getting said - they aren't gearing this thing towards women because there aren't very many female engineers out there to be hired. So they aren't alienating "half of the population" - they're only possibly alienating that small percentage of engineers that are female.

Now is this problematic because budding female engineers might see this and decide that this line of work isn't for them? Frankly, I doubt it, but it seems to me to be the better question to ask.

The geek women I know like bacon, beer, money and cigars.

Am I missing something?

Maybe if more women studied engineering instead of sociology, they would have better paying and more socially useful jobs.

Lol, well put

Ok, so legitimately I'm puzzling in my interpretation of this. My feminist senses are tingling, and obviously I do find this to be both alienating to women and a sad reinforcement of a masculinity that needs to shoot things with spears, while oiling its beard. I don't think this particular company gave much thought to this particular marketing strategy, so I don't give them the benefit of the doubt for having thought through the issues surrounding these choices, BUT: isn't the bigger, broader issue here, about women in STEM fields in the first place? This company is recruiting individuals who manage to make it through the hoops, they're at the end of the educational line (well, not necessarily, but presumably have obtained a college degree) and very few women make it through those hoops. It's an issue of the branding of STEM itself, of the experiences women often have when they do go in to such fields, the constant reinforcement of "math and science are not for you, now go knit or bake something," whether through explicit (e.g., actively hostile environments, coworkers and outright discrimination) or implicit means. While this strategy bothers me STRONGLY, it's to the company's advantage to recruit individuals that have the requisite skills and will perform well, and they're playing the odds that STEM fields alienate women and at the end of the tunnel, it's mostly a male audience. 

They're piggybacking on the problem and exacerbating it, but not the actual cause, so I have trouble with my own feelings here. I think it's only fair for companies to seek the interest of individuals that will meet their needs, but we've stacked the deck against women for STEM education, so they don't attempt to appeal to women, which just reinforces more "women don't belong here" interpretation of the STEM fields. I legitimately do not know where you try to bust through that cycle.

If the goal is to bring in fresh ideas, and new people it seems like playing into the 'old boys club' theme and targeting the demographic everyone already looks to for engineers seems like the opposite of what you should do.

There are fewer women in STEM fields, but I'd wager there's enough of them (and gender non-conforming men) feeling unappreciated, under valued, or just not fitting in at their current jobs to fill a kick stater.

Oh gosh, there's so much going on here it's hard to know where to start. The huge gender imbalance at university level, if not before. The exploitative nature of startups, using a macho culture and the chance of riches to lure people into working insane hours. This is a well targeted recruitment strategy.

IT has a huge gender imbalance problem. Smart people are aware of it, but the problem persists and any fresh insight would be welcome. It's just... it's going to take more than an arched eyebrow. Some sort of deep insight, or a sledgehammer, is required.

When I followed the link, the first thing I noticed was that the "job ad" is the entirety of Scopely's web presence. With that in mind, I don't think its primary purpose is to actually attract applicants; rather, we should regard it as a viral marketing scheme designed to beef up name recognition and reinforce a brand. (Being analyzed in blogs is naturally quite a boost to the viral aspect of that, no?)

It's hard to judge why they've gone the "hipster-geek-boys-club" route with their brand, without knowing what their actual product is. All they reveal is that they're trying to enter the social-network industry (the font of their logo makes that obvious anyway). But this ad might double as a reflection of the consumer demographic they'd also like to attract.

Alternatively, it could be merely playing off a certain stereotype (which happens to be a sexist one) of what kind of people develop successful web startups, as a way of attracting investors and increasing confidence in their ability to deliver a competitive product. 

Only after Scopely launches will we be able to see this strategy in its proper context to know what they were really doing. But I am quite confident that this has very little to do with a shortage of qualified applicants. 

It's probably an intelligence test.  If you took the cash, you could easily purchase any of the items with thousands of dollars to spare.

Don't hire anyone who doesn't take the money.  They'll be a bad engineer.

About half of my software company's engineers are women. They're out there! I launched a project this year with a female project manager, lead engineer, assistant engineer, and designer. And no, it was not for a female-gendered client product.  (IE: the women weren't assigned to the tampon account.)

PS: All engineers like stock options.

I must say, I seldom look at these items and think "those are for boys!" I think the most interesting part of this is that so many people overlook their own blatant gendered assumptions to criticize others'. As for this view making men's culture appear neutral, it's a pretty well known fact in the field of sociology that in fact women DO HAVE far more androgynous gender identities than most men. Just to turn the tables let's talk about how men feel then, about people deeming "masculine" things as mostly destructive and vain - the suggestion is, at bottom, that most men seeking jobs in engineering jobs have the same profile of interests as a group of 16 year old boys from american pie. how many Oprah prizes are gender neutral?  what's more, is a woman smoking a cigar better or worse off in the public eye than a gent smoking virginia slims? These items are not for males only. at all. that argument simply is not valid, and if someone is offended it should be the guys reading this, who feel that females so readily believe that this ad represents the interests of men so much more than their own.  The ad is shallow, the prizes are dumb. The end. 

I'd like some good wine, a 11k cash wrapped in chocolate, a little black
dress from vera wang, and cigars. I certainly don't need beard-grooming
gel. But my mate, who is a woman, would really love the Dos Equis and
the Tuxedo. Lisa Wade better checkiddy check herself before she wrecks
herself.

The truth is...I DO find the ad really offensive because we cannot deny that 'engineer' is a 'traditionally' male job: from female friends studying engineers, I know it's tough to be in it. We just cannot pretend that Scopely is SO RADICAL that while they HAPPEN to have stuff that in the mainstream is marketed to men, the are actually aiming for everyone. They are just being shallow, and we all know that. Let's not de-politicize the issue like that.

But also, we don't want to be as shallow as they are in our critique, right Lisa? I know some female-bodied people who look KILLER in a fancy tuxedo, and who could use that spear gun way better than some of the male-bodied people I know. Let's go ONE STEP DEEPER with out analysis. mmmhmmm.

Please don't use 'LOL' in any more posts -_-

Just what kind of male engineers are they going for anyway? Barely-graduated frat boys from "party schools" apparently.

Can someone please ban WG from this post? They are obviously trolling.

personally if I was going for this - A years supply of coffee with a professional coffee maker.  Don't you know that all good code is caffinated?

Isn't this thing just a Dos Equis ad?? Really?

They have since edited the pictures on their homepage. The tuxedo is featured on a WOMAN and the cigar is being smoked by Demi Moore. They also offer both cologne and perfume. Interesting...