Tracey at Unapologetically Female reminisces about how some of the gadgets from her youth had the words “man” and “boy” in them (via Feministing). She writes:
Ever notice how gadgets can have the word “boy” or “man” right in the name and they’re still considered universal, but we all know that if they had been given more feminine names, no self-respecting boy would ever use them? A few too many of my favorite pastimes as a kid involved such masculine-named devices.
The Gameboy:
The Discman:
The Walkman:
I’m too tied up with summer projects to go searching for current examples, but if you think of any and post in the comments, I’ll add them.
ADDED!
Abby mentions The Virtual Boy and The Talk Boy:
Tyson mentions Pacman:
Anonymous commenters mentioned the La-Z-boy and Manwich:
Maria, Cycles, and Julie mentioned Craftsman tools, the Ironman Triathlon, and Yardman respectively:
Ryan mentioned Burning Man:
Jo mentioned Hangman:
And Reanimated Horse mentioned The Running Man:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Hh-4fAeBE[/youtube]
There is also some conversation about product mascots named Mr. and Mrs., but I’ll leave that for another post. I’ll plan another post for products named “girl” and “woman,” too.
If ya’ll think of more, I’ll keep adding them!
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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.