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“The World Is Built For Men”: Woman Gives 20 Examples That Show How Women Are Discriminated In Everyday Life
Men generally dominate key institutions. They govern, manage, preach, and according to TikTok user Allie, they have built the physical world for themselves, too.
To illustrate her point, she started a TikTok video series. Standing in front of a green screen displaying her research, Allie provides a wide range of real-life examples of how women are discriminated against on a day-to-day basis.
From using power tools to getting medical prescriptions, here are some of her arguments.
More info: TikTok
TikTok user Allie has created a video series to show people that "the world is built for cis men"
@allie_202_ ##greenscreen and the list goes on… part 4? 😜 ##women ##gender ##politics ##feminist ##feminism ##misogyny ##equality ##leftist ##liberal ##democrat
♬ Say So (Instrumental Version) [Originally Performed by Doja Cat] - Elliot Van Coup
The most popular upload has over 1.3 million views
Image credits: allie_202_
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Car crash dummies are built with a male standard, meaning that in car crashes, women are almost 50% more likely to be seriously injured than men.
This article goes in depth about this sad, but true, fact: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes
That's a long known problem. There are standard (=male) dummies, children dummies and baby dummies but not women dummies. This causes many problems with women drivers and passengers in the case of a crash - especially if that crash is frontal https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/crash-test-bias-how-male-focused-testing-puts-female-drivers-at-risk/
A lot of medicines are tested exclusively on men, so women end up getting prescribed doses that are way too much for them.
There's a very recent study on the matter that proves how severe this is: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812161318.htm
I spent 7 years trying to find a good antidepressant. A friend of mine (a woman), knowing that I was a sensitive person, recommended I try the lowest dose. I found the 'right medication' right after, it's 75% of the minimum dose of a medication I already tried, which is usually prescribed just to see if there are no side-effects before being doubled. I open the small capsule every morning to empty it a bit. My doctor believes it's in my head, that I should not feel it at such a small dose. It's not the first time this happens.
Women are often misdiagnosed. They experience 50% higher rates of heart attack misdiagnosis, because they get less typical-symptoms, like subtle chest pressure or tightness in the chest, rather than the male presentation of full-blown chest pain.
Here's a recent study that proves this fact: https://www.jcreiterlaw.com/posts/women-more-likely-than-men-to-suffer-misdiagnosis-according-to-studies/
Head rests in cars - they push women's head forwards funny, especially if they have their hair up. It's not comfortable or safe.
Same for seats on trains. I've noticed how they are custom built for a man of about 1,75 m sitting upright. Don't dare being smaller or the back of your head will be pushed forward by the "neck rest" intended for the taller man!
It's considered totally normal for women to take birth control and deal with all of these side effects, but barely anyone ever talks about making birth control for men.
This study shows that male vs female contraceptives had almost identical side effects, yet male contraceptives were not fully developed due to these effects: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmjsrh/2019/12/04/adverse-effects-male/
There's always absurdly long lines at women's restrooms because they're built unfairly with not enough stalls.
This article goes in depth why that's the case, listing economical and sexit reasons why this problem remains in our lives; https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/women-men-bathroom-lines-wait/580993/
They often have the same footprint as the men's restrooms. One key difference is that, even if you have the same number of stalls, there will still be a longer line outside the women's toilets because women have to take longer. For a pee - a man has to open a zip, whip out his penis, relax a few muscles, shake, replace and wash his hands. Women need to first get half-undressed (literally, the bottom half must be undressed) to perform the same function. Women's lines would be shorter if we were given different equipment to use. And that's without entering into menstruation delays. Really, to be equal in timing, women need more stalls.
NASA had to cancel its first all-female spacewalk because they didn't have enough women-sized spacesuits.
Women often cannot comfortably reach the safety bars on metro subways.
This is true for children and shorter men, but as more than 50% deal with this problem, they should have found a way to change it for sure? Well they didn't
Speech-recognition software is 70% more likely to accurately recognise male voices. When Siri was released in the US, she could find prostitutes and Viagra suppliers, but not abortion providers. If you told her you'd been [sexually assaulted], she'd reply "I don't know what you mean by that".
This article goes in depth about this issue: https://hbr.org/2019/05/voice-recognition-still-has-significant-race-and-gender-biases
This makes sense, actually. Alexa understands me almost every time I speak to her. However, my wife has to repeat herself to Alexa half of the time.
For my family, Alexa always ignores my mom and listens to me and my sister. My mom jokes it's like having a third daughter.
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It's because they (Alexa, Siri etc.) have been tested (maybe even only) on men during development
Its the same reason facial recognition does so much worse for non whites too
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This is a result of de facto segregation in tech fields. Women have been discouraged, both actively and passively, to not go into technology. When you have a team of 10 people testing your new X recognition software, its not going to learn about variation outside those 10 white, Berkeley accented, male vocal ranges. It then gets sent to a lab to be tested by 25 white, variously accented, male vocal ranges.
Does anyone actually need an Alexa or Siri? I've never had either one and don't feel that my life is incomplete.
Hey Google listens to my husband, my dog, the tv and sometimes farts... but not my voice.
That abortion thing might be a more uniquely US thing due to the controversy surrounding it, rather than it being a specifically gendered thing.
Not everything you haven’t experienced is a “uniquely US thing”. Abortion is legal in every single state in the USA, controversy or no.
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As a woman I have never had any trouble with this. I feel like most women don't speak clearly or enunciate and they tend to speak too quietly. If people speak up and speak clear they won't have an issue regardless of gender.
This is actually more complicated, human speech is an extremely complex sound. If 10 people who all grew up in the same house speaking one language said the same word they would all sound just different enough that the software might have trouble recognizing the word. It's not just male vs female either. The sound of an individuals voice depends on the size and shape of their throat and vocal cords. It can also be affected by diseases like Parkinson's that affect fine motor control. This is why it's suggested that you take the time to train the AI to recognize how you as an individual pronounce words.
That's because most people working in there are white men? -Which brings in another actually interesting (but big) topic, which is closely relevant to this one, but not to be discussed in this post.
I've actually experienced this. Our echos both seem to just ignore my wife more than they do me.
More developers are male, so when they test things, they're inherently testing it on a male voice. Should they probably find some women to do their testing also? Probably, but the nature of development means that management is up your a*5 for a deadline and you just want to get it done and move on to your next thing.
Siri never understood me! Even when I was just saying 'Siri'! Google assist always got me fairly well.
Well having sex and getting a boner is good, killing babies is murder. Why would Siri know where one can go to kill a baby? Sexually assaulted? Go to the Police, you shouldn't need directions for that, just dial 911.
The feature on the phone is supposed to do internet searches for you and provide useful information. If I was assaulted I would probably have to first go on the internet and find resources about help lines to call and what to do next as I wouldn’t have this information off the top of my head.
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Because of gender differences and metabolism office spaces are often way too cold for women.
This article proves the fact is true: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/science/chilly-at-work-a-decades-old-formula-may-be-to-blame.html
To be fair it is easier to wear an extra layer, than to undress. Considering male white color drescode -- men have to wear a jacket almost all the time, while for women it is ok to wear just a dress, or short sleave, or have a skirt/pants that doesnt cover her entiraly. As a woman i think we have it easier and have more options then it comes to temperature at workplace.
Women are under diagnosed with autism because the diagnostic criteria was written for men and they haven't bothered updating it.
This article goes into depth of this issue: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/14/thousands-of-autistic-girls-and-women-going-undiagnosed-due-to-gender-bias
CPR dummies are almost always male-bodied, so people who are trained CPR often don't know how to perform it properly on women. This was true until just recently a female CPR dummy was released. However, not many countries have those and traditionaly CPR is still being taught on male body manikins:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/new-female-manikin-vest-to-help-train-rescuers-on-proper-cpr-technique-for-women
The original CPR dummy was named Annie ("Annie Are You Ok? Are you OK, Annie?") and the face was modeled after a woman, however the body did not have breasts because it was "unseemly" to present such a model in public. This is changing, but many of the CPR dummies today do not have breasts.
Smartphones are often way too big for female hand sizes.
This article tries explaining why the most popular smartphone brands to not cater for different hand sizes: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/smartphone-size-design-for-woman-hand/
Some women have shared they have yet to sit on a chair with their feet flat on the floor. It's true that shorter men have the same problem, but on average male person's height is 5,9 when a female person's height is only 5.35 in the US
I've yet to sit on public transport or a plane and get my knees into to the gap between my seat and the one in front!
N95 masks often don't properly fit the faces of women and Asian people, putting them in danger. Here's a recent study on this: https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/many-n95-respirators-do-not-properly-fit-women-or
Women can't usually properly grip household tools because they are made for male hands.
Not only that, but battery driven machines are too heavy for me to use over more than five minutes. My wrists kill me. I had to spend DOUBLE the amount of money on a drill that plugs into the wall and has a smaller grip.
It's a given that women aren't able to reach top shelves in their own houses.
This article lists how in fact the whole kitchen was designed based on average man's height:
https://qz.com/509501/why-kitchens-arent-designed-for-real-women/
Fitness monitors (like fitbits) often don't accurately count steps when women are walking strollers (or anybody, for that matter, women just do it more often).
Equipment at the gym - there's a lot of machines women can't use because they can't be adjusted to them properly.
I haven't been to the gym in 15yrs, but when I was last there all of the equipment was adjustable using 'pull-pins' and other easy adjustment methods. I would expect todays newer equipment to even more so.
Keyboards/mouses are built with male sizes in mind, increasing rates of carpal tunnel/tendinitis in females.
It's really good that there is increasing awareness of this. It wasn't done this way with ill intention, just with a lack of awareness. Medicine for ages has focused on and tested it's meds on young, slim, white, male patients as the standard patient because their test subjects were usually university students of exactly that description. We now see that this is harmful to women, children, older people (metabolism changes with age) and anyone who isn't slim or white (skin cancer comes to mind). Male engineers have built tools and cars and many other things from their own personal use experience, without thinking of the fact that people do come in all sizes and shapes. Children live in a world built for adults for exactly the same reason.
This is the most sensible and useful comment I have seen on this page.
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I’m surprised there was no mention of seatbelts. They are not designed for short people or anyone with boobs.
I'm a woman, and yes, things are unfairly favorable for men, but this is just getting ridiculous. A lot of the things she mentions do come in smaller sizes, they are just a bit harder to find. I have ZERO problems finding tools that fit my hand. Now, it takes a while to find that one perfect tool, but it does for EVERYONE. The chair thing is a matter of height, not gender. Really short people AND really tall people of all orientations have a hard time finding things that fit them in a mass produced world.
The problem is that women aren't "short people", we are just women. WE are half teh population and for us it's the normal size.
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'Allie' got all of her information from a single source - the book is called "Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez. She has then regurgitated this information blindly without any evidence of critical thinking or further research to back anything up. Stealing another woman's content in this way without giving credit is unethical. (I kid you not, this content is just straight ripped-off from the book).
I don't like it either. The topic is huge and really important, IMHO everyone should read the "Invisible Women". But what has been done here is horrible.
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This article is ridiculous. Its main and only argument seems to be "I can't find a smaller size of a given object —> thus they must have been built for 6ft tall men —> misogyny".
Well, how do you explain it then? Sheer ignorance? Lazy thinking?
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I'm a tall woman and a lot of this is BS because I've been struggling with way too low kitchen counters, ironing boards, too short broom sticks, bag handles etc for my whole life. They're all designed for a not so tall women and if you are even a bit above the average, it's way too small/short.
Everything got higher here in 40 years. It used to be lower and pants were not as long. Come live in the Netherlands where everyone is tall.
Load More Replies... Some of these things are true, however a lot are just a case of you can't design something that will suit everyone. Both men and women come in a veriaty of heights and sizes, and you can't design for everyone. For example, I'm over 6ft and one of the problems I find is kitchen counters are designed too low for me, leading to having to stoop and getting back pain quiet quickly. Head rests in cars and trains also dig into the back of my head a lot of the time because they are not high enough. Just things you have to deal with because the world can't be exactly right for everyone
There are many things that work for women that do not work for men. Prime example: five times more is spent on breast cancer research than prostrate cancer research while more people (men) die of prostrate cancer than people (women) die of breast cancer. And while I'm at it, I hate the term Cis men!
"And while I'm at it, I hate the term Cis men!" Do you know what it means or why it's a relevant term? What's to hate, for Pete's sake?
Load More Replies... While I agree that many things are designed for male specifications (e.g. many professional female football players don't get their own kits, and instead get large hand-me-downs from the male players), this article is a bit weak. There isn't much evidence to back it up, and some of it is based on opinions or on experiences by only a few people. I don't know how much of it to believe.
Please refer to "Invisible Women" book by Caroline Criado Perez... Covers all this and more
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I am a woman an I have NEVER had any problems with the things said here. Masks? Tools? There are sizes, grow up. Most female bathrooms have more stalls and still there are women who take forever to pee when It should be 2 mins, but they spend forever checking themselves on the mirror. Pay more attention to more importante things instead of this whining because you are making women look stupid
Seems like the world is built for big people rather than small. Which makes more Sense than the other way around. If Something big fits, something small probably will fit too. But i don't get the part why it's specially for cis men. Are gay men smaller on average?
Small people DON'T actually fit into places built for big people, which you already know, because it's unsafe for children to ride in the front seat of cars. Airbag deployment can decapitate anyone 5' and smaller. Seat belts don't cross their shoulders, but their necks.
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Half of these problems are just general problems that small people face, not just woman.
I'm not trying to be a d**k, it's kind of an honest question: are household items like washing machines and brooms designed for the average woman?
I've definitely used cleaning products that are made for very small hands, such that I can only get a few fingers on them. And glasses that are too narrow to get my hands in to clean. So a few things in this category seem deliberately designed for women. But my wife complains my vacuum cleaner is too heavy (she has her own lighter one now) so it seems like there might still be male engineers forgetting to product test their designs with women, even if women are likely to be the main users.
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Some of these things could actually be life-threatening for women! Why haven't they changed these things?
Because the people who design and build them think we don't matter!
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Amazing book by Caroline Criado Perez.... "Invisible Women" details all the research that back this up, a s well as a bunch more stuff! #defaultmale
Maybe this 'Allie' should credit the book that she clearly just stole all of these 'facts' from. Using another person's work and passing it off as your own is very unethical. The fact that she presented all of this without doing any critique or research of her own, as well as her failure to disclose the source of the information or acknowledge the originl author makes me dislike her intensely.
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I'm sorry but most of this is just an excuse to have a go at men. Men come in different shapes and sizes too. The author of this fails dismally to understand and acknowledge this. Yes I know there is a lot of stuff that is unfair on women. The pay gap, toilet facilities and space suits etc. But be fair.
Aw, show us on the doll where your feeling were hurt by the thought of women having equity? Women can have lower quality of life due to lower pay, they can die more easily in car crashes and you say "bE fAiR"?? Grow up. We're not just oddly-shaped men, we're women.
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Quite glad that both men and women alike think this post is just a load of drivel...
with the exception of the birth control issue where the men testing said they wouldn't use due to the non life threatening side effects, most of these issues are because the designs factor women into them. not sure if that was because perhaps the designers were men and used men as the measure or not. but, as a short woman i sure would like to use my upper cabinets and not have to wait for my tall grandson come over.
So instead of complaining, why don't these women get together and start a company and start producing all the things they are complaining about. They have identified the problem, they know what the solution is, now all they have to do is build it. Its not like there are no women designers, architects, scientists, engineers, business leaders, venture capitalist, etc. Get together, form a company, and make things better. The way the article makes it sound is that everything is unfair because patriarchy, but they are wanting the men to fix the issue.
Why should women have to? Current companies just need to incorporate more women into the design process. There are very real reasons to have a diverse workforce
Load More Replies... I love how all the mansplainers come out on threads like this to try and say it doesn't match their experiences (duh) or claim its somehow discriminatory against men. White men really just cannot stand to not be the center of attention.
You can guess person's skin colour from his comment? How wonderful!
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I’m female. I find no issues with any of these things. Maybe because… I Suck it up? The world isn’t all one size fits all. They go with an average.An average would be 5 ‘9” on things as stated. People are mostly between 5 and 6 feet which means 5’9” is pretty close. Headrest doesn’t fit properly because your ponytail is up? Adjust your hair. Ridiculous articles like this drive a rift in society, not all of us are whiners.
As a woman I can say I have never had an issue with any of these things. I can hold tools I can hold my large smart phone no problem there are literally vertical bars on busses and trains that everyone can reach wear a lower pony or hair down if it pushes you too far forward in the car birth control for men isn't as easy to make as birth control for women they are working on it. The medication testing is bullshit they test on everyone to make sure it works well. They sell smaller chairs go get one if you're too cold put on a damn sweater. I swear our female ancestors would be so embarrassed of women today and how whiny they are when we have so much more freedom and so many more things made just for us. Go to the hygiene section at any store and see the hundreds of options of lotion and shampoo and conditioner and razors and soaps all marketed for women all scented with sweet floral and fruity smells. Go to the men's section and you'll see they get one maybe two options for any of that.
Apart from a relatively few but important biases, with the most important being employment (which is not even mentioned here lol(also depends on the job though, but mostly there is bias)), the rest is just forced anti-feminism (not real anti-feminism). Manufacturers don't make things bigger because they are against women, or because they are pro-men. It's many times a standard thing to make something bigger than to make it smaller, because smaller can mean unusable, but bigger can be clankier/more annoying to use but still usable. A relatively shorter person can (uneasily but still) fit in something big, but a tall person can't fit in something small. And to add, we have many choices nowadays so even though it might not be the standard it should still be pretty possible to find things of our size.
What a lovely little whinge fest this is. Most of it is wrong and the stuff which doesn't work for women is only waiting for a woman to invent the solution instead of whining about how unfair the world is. If you're looking for sympathy it's in the dictionary between sh*t and syphilis.
I'm a 6ft1 tall woman, so I don't have the same issues regarding height, hand size etc as most women do in this world but trying to get diagnoses for ADD and Autism as a woman was impossible.
So, no. Stop being such a girl. It's not because you're female that you had a hard time getting diagnosis. It's becasue: a) they're not easy diagnoses to make, and if it did come easy then you should probably seek a second opinion; b) these conditions overlap in their descriptions, signs and symptoms a lot, even if their causes might vary greatly (ASD - congenital develepmental condition; BPD - childhood trauma; both have a lot in common in description and experience); c) Autism and ADD are most easily identified in children, and if it wasn't easily detected while you were a child then it will only become more difficult to identify as you get older because you both grow into them and also learn strategies to cope with the conditions that mask their existence; d) might also be that it's not in some entity's interests that these things are discovered - you might end up their liability. It's not because you're a girl. That's something that a girl would say. It's girlish. Stop being a big girl. Be a woman.
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If you're interested in finding out more about this, please read Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. I am currently reading it and it is mind-blowing. (Also, every statement is heavily based on research)
My wife is 5'1 and she is just a short person, regardless of gender, luckily her big strong man can do everything that she can't do, but of course, why should she need me there to get certain things down? Is this not just a short person problem?
well... according to all of this... I'm probably average man :D... No, i absolutely agree with many of this.
Some of these are a problem, like the subway safety bars and crash test dummies. But they make power tools for woman, I hate that they usually come in pink but they are there. One thing that personally pisses off is Xbox controller. They are made only for male hands. I'm talking the brand controllers not the 3rd party ones made post release. Third party controllers are not well made and the software usually lags. I have small hands, like I can wear kids gloves, but my male friends play on Xbox and I can't reliably play with them because I just can't grip the controllers. Because of this I'm Playstation for life with their gender neutral, symmetrical controller.
Even tall women like me have trouble finding stuff to fit sometimes. Like work gloves and Nomex coveralls. I've never found coveralls that aren't made for a really long torso, so I end up with the crotch seam hanging near my knees
that's weird, my wife who is also tall complains most things she looks for are way to small for her. as if things are mostly made for average and small women. specially decent jeans and shoes
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The kitchen one is bs😂 I'm a kitchen and bath designer, there's reasons for cabinets being 18" above the countertop. Also around where I live it's very common for cabinets to go to the ceiling because it looks good and tall men can't even reach the top shelf on those. Some of the points were definitely valid and I can name 10+ more, but some were definitely a stretch lol
Ah yes, the headrest pushes a woman's head "funny", that explains everything, after all women have differently shaped back of the skull. It isn't that this person regulated the headrest wrong /s The whole article makes it seem like women are some weaklings with no common sense. Not all tools can't get lighter so fast, they are limits to technology advancement. And you put things at a height you're comfortable with, regulate chairs etc. The double standard of half this things: can reach the bars comfortably means tall people will bump into those. Do u think giving tall people a concussion when emergency breaking is fine? Besides the medicine one they are wild misunderstandings of how technology works ~sincerely a woman
The cell screen is too large, you can get smaller phones but the screens aren't as big, ooh no! It's too cold so burn more fuel! The safety bars on the bus are too high, lower them, who cares how many people bang their heads on them. Sheesh!
Real life experience here: about 10 years ago I went to a house doctor emergencypost with pain between my shoulderblades, I could point out exactly where the pain was. I was feeling unwell. An old (male)doc was accompanied by a younger female. Hè watched her closely during examination and asked what her diagnosis was. She thought it was stress. Hè said: she is in the middle of a hart attaque and I have already called for an ambulance. He was right and saved my life (hart stopped in the ambulance)
Some good points above, but a large percent boil down to "people come in different sizes, and my size is discriminated against!" Yes, there are tall people and short people, and when something is "one size fits most" or even built in multiple sizes they (manufacturer, the store, etc) aim for the dead center average. Then, lots of more realistic issues (multiple examples of safety equipment, etc) are barely mentioned. Cut out the fat and there might be a better post in here.
I have another one: shoe sizes. Somehow people deciide what size women should have. I am tall and my feet and hands are in proportion. I luckily do not have many of the listed problems but I had to wear mens shoes until I hsd my own to buy special shoes at a shop for mishapen people...
It's called demand, up to certain sizes they won't sell as well depending on the sizes of people. Which is how unless I move to east Asia I will keep wearing children's shoes
Load More Replies... This article raises some areas that really need to be addressed, such as in the medicine field. Unfortunately a lot of that gets lost in the "women are small so if it's big it's sexist" approach. There have been tall women and short men for as long as there have been women and men. Men AND women come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the world will fit very few of us perfectly! Most products are designed (and have been for centuries) around the average user of said item. If you paid attention at school you know how averages can be thrown off by the exception. Some of these are just stupid and shouldn't even be considered as 'built for men' (Such as the Fitbit), learn to understand how the tech woks before jumping to 'sexist'. It's a shame that important messages can get lost amongst ignorance.
If You find it interesting then check Caroline Criado Perez https://twitter.com/CCriadoPerez . She's the author of "Invisible Women" - the book Allie has stolen her whole talk from.
Also, I have noticed that a movable shower head in the shower is far more female-friendly than a static showerhead. Static showerheads lack the ability to move the showerhead around to cleanse the biologically female body. A static showerhead cleanses the biologically male body considerably better than the biologically female's. Technically, there are more "unreachable" places on a biologically female body that a static showerhead cannot reach. Movable showerheads can, naturally, reach and cleanse those places properly.
That's plain ridiculous. Are you so scared of touching yourself that you rely on rinsing alone
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Life is'nt fair. Its not fair for disabled people, people with dwarfism, people over 6-7 foot, fat people, skinny people, men (In some cases), women (In SOME cases), and not fair for people in general. So this rant above makes no real sense.
NIce and easy for you to say, seeing that you are in the group the world is bult for.
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if you’re born a man in this world, welcome to millions of advantages. If you’re born a woman, welcome to suffering.. unequal rights, and things that are made only for men, and many more..
It is outrageous, and what about womens privileges? So much stupidity it makes my blood boiling. World is not equal in many life aspects. Small pockets? Than find one with a big one, I can do, so you too. Loo queue? Loo and leave not fix your make up for minutes. Ladies contraception? Use women condom. In so any instances women have easier, custody, lower sentences, skirts during summer. It is so much stupidity, do not look for issues when there is none. Not going to mention me too, with so many life's destroyed by a lie, and the real victoms are not believed afterwords, men and women. Women encouraged to go beyond and men being crushed for not being menly enough. Stop that nonsense. People are dying of covid/hunger equally, I just wonted to wright war, but again in many countries military service is obligatory for men and voluntary for women. Men can not go alone to a park, or he will be accused of being a creep. Let people live their life as long as they do not hurt anyone
What if you get in a car crash? Or have a heart attack? Or need a new drug, strictly tested on me? This is a real problem, and although many items on the list seem unimportant, they contribute to a larger problem. You sound impressively ignorant right now.
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"I would trade medical discrimination and a higher chance of dying in a car crash so I can sit comfortably for a few hours on a plane" LOL
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Don't be stupid Dave. Trans men are men who were born female-bodied, so struggle with many of the issues that cis women have. Specifying "cis men" in this case is entirely appropriate because trans men actually need to be excepted.
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It's really good that there is increasing awareness of this. It wasn't done this way with ill intention, just with a lack of awareness. Medicine for ages has focused on and tested it's meds on young, slim, white, male patients as the standard patient because their test subjects were usually university students of exactly that description. We now see that this is harmful to women, children, older people (metabolism changes with age) and anyone who isn't slim or white (skin cancer comes to mind). Male engineers have built tools and cars and many other things from their own personal use experience, without thinking of the fact that people do come in all sizes and shapes. Children live in a world built for adults for exactly the same reason.
This is the most sensible and useful comment I have seen on this page.
Load More Replies... I’m surprised there was no mention of seatbelts. They are not designed for short people or anyone with boobs.
I'm a woman, and yes, things are unfairly favorable for men, but this is just getting ridiculous. A lot of the things she mentions do come in smaller sizes, they are just a bit harder to find. I have ZERO problems finding tools that fit my hand. Now, it takes a while to find that one perfect tool, but it does for EVERYONE. The chair thing is a matter of height, not gender. Really short people AND really tall people of all orientations have a hard time finding things that fit them in a mass produced world.
The problem is that women aren't "short people", we are just women. WE are half teh population and for us it's the normal size.
Load More Replies... 'Allie' got all of her information from a single source - the book is called "Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez. She has then regurgitated this information blindly without any evidence of critical thinking or further research to back anything up. Stealing another woman's content in this way without giving credit is unethical. (I kid you not, this content is just straight ripped-off from the book).
I don't like it either. The topic is huge and really important, IMHO everyone should read the "Invisible Women". But what has been done here is horrible.
Load More Replies... This article is ridiculous. Its main and only argument seems to be "I can't find a smaller size of a given object —> thus they must have been built for 6ft tall men —> misogyny".
Well, how do you explain it then? Sheer ignorance? Lazy thinking?
Load More Replies... I'm a tall woman and a lot of this is BS because I've been struggling with way too low kitchen counters, ironing boards, too short broom sticks, bag handles etc for my whole life. They're all designed for a not so tall women and if you are even a bit above the average, it's way too small/short.
Everything got higher here in 40 years. It used to be lower and pants were not as long. Come live in the Netherlands where everyone is tall.
Load More Replies... Some of these things are true, however a lot are just a case of you can't design something that will suit everyone. Both men and women come in a veriaty of heights and sizes, and you can't design for everyone. For example, I'm over 6ft and one of the problems I find is kitchen counters are designed too low for me, leading to having to stoop and getting back pain quiet quickly. Head rests in cars and trains also dig into the back of my head a lot of the time because they are not high enough. Just things you have to deal with because the world can't be exactly right for everyone
There are many things that work for women that do not work for men. Prime example: five times more is spent on breast cancer research than prostrate cancer research while more people (men) die of prostrate cancer than people (women) die of breast cancer. And while I'm at it, I hate the term Cis men!
"And while I'm at it, I hate the term Cis men!" Do you know what it means or why it's a relevant term? What's to hate, for Pete's sake?
Load More Replies... While I agree that many things are designed for male specifications (e.g. many professional female football players don't get their own kits, and instead get large hand-me-downs from the male players), this article is a bit weak. There isn't much evidence to back it up, and some of it is based on opinions or on experiences by only a few people. I don't know how much of it to believe.
Please refer to "Invisible Women" book by Caroline Criado Perez... Covers all this and more
Load More Replies... I am a woman an I have NEVER had any problems with the things said here. Masks? Tools? There are sizes, grow up. Most female bathrooms have more stalls and still there are women who take forever to pee when It should be 2 mins, but they spend forever checking themselves on the mirror. Pay more attention to more importante things instead of this whining because you are making women look stupid
Seems like the world is built for big people rather than small. Which makes more Sense than the other way around. If Something big fits, something small probably will fit too. But i don't get the part why it's specially for cis men. Are gay men smaller on average?
Small people DON'T actually fit into places built for big people, which you already know, because it's unsafe for children to ride in the front seat of cars. Airbag deployment can decapitate anyone 5' and smaller. Seat belts don't cross their shoulders, but their necks.
Load More Replies... Half of these problems are just general problems that small people face, not just woman.
I'm not trying to be a d**k, it's kind of an honest question: are household items like washing machines and brooms designed for the average woman?
I've definitely used cleaning products that are made for very small hands, such that I can only get a few fingers on them. And glasses that are too narrow to get my hands in to clean. So a few things in this category seem deliberately designed for women. But my wife complains my vacuum cleaner is too heavy (she has her own lighter one now) so it seems like there might still be male engineers forgetting to product test their designs with women, even if women are likely to be the main users.
Load More Replies... Some of these things could actually be life-threatening for women! Why haven't they changed these things?
Because the people who design and build them think we don't matter!
Load More Replies... Amazing book by Caroline Criado Perez.... "Invisible Women" details all the research that back this up, a s well as a bunch more stuff! #defaultmale
Maybe this 'Allie' should credit the book that she clearly just stole all of these 'facts' from. Using another person's work and passing it off as your own is very unethical. The fact that she presented all of this without doing any critique or research of her own, as well as her failure to disclose the source of the information or acknowledge the originl author makes me dislike her intensely.
Load More Replies... I'm sorry but most of this is just an excuse to have a go at men. Men come in different shapes and sizes too. The author of this fails dismally to understand and acknowledge this. Yes I know there is a lot of stuff that is unfair on women. The pay gap, toilet facilities and space suits etc. But be fair.
Aw, show us on the doll where your feeling were hurt by the thought of women having equity? Women can have lower quality of life due to lower pay, they can die more easily in car crashes and you say "bE fAiR"?? Grow up. We're not just oddly-shaped men, we're women.
Load More Replies... Quite glad that both men and women alike think this post is just a load of drivel...
with the exception of the birth control issue where the men testing said they wouldn't use due to the non life threatening side effects, most of these issues are because the designs factor women into them. not sure if that was because perhaps the designers were men and used men as the measure or not. but, as a short woman i sure would like to use my upper cabinets and not have to wait for my tall grandson come over.
So instead of complaining, why don't these women get together and start a company and start producing all the things they are complaining about. They have identified the problem, they know what the solution is, now all they have to do is build it. Its not like there are no women designers, architects, scientists, engineers, business leaders, venture capitalist, etc. Get together, form a company, and make things better. The way the article makes it sound is that everything is unfair because patriarchy, but they are wanting the men to fix the issue.
Why should women have to? Current companies just need to incorporate more women into the design process. There are very real reasons to have a diverse workforce
Load More Replies... I love how all the mansplainers come out on threads like this to try and say it doesn't match their experiences (duh) or claim its somehow discriminatory against men. White men really just cannot stand to not be the center of attention.
You can guess person's skin colour from his comment? How wonderful!
Load More Replies... I’m female. I find no issues with any of these things. Maybe because… I Suck it up? The world isn’t all one size fits all. They go with an average.An average would be 5 ‘9” on things as stated. People are mostly between 5 and 6 feet which means 5’9” is pretty close. Headrest doesn’t fit properly because your ponytail is up? Adjust your hair. Ridiculous articles like this drive a rift in society, not all of us are whiners.
As a woman I can say I have never had an issue with any of these things. I can hold tools I can hold my large smart phone no problem there are literally vertical bars on busses and trains that everyone can reach wear a lower pony or hair down if it pushes you too far forward in the car birth control for men isn't as easy to make as birth control for women they are working on it. The medication testing is bullshit they test on everyone to make sure it works well. They sell smaller chairs go get one if you're too cold put on a damn sweater. I swear our female ancestors would be so embarrassed of women today and how whiny they are when we have so much more freedom and so many more things made just for us. Go to the hygiene section at any store and see the hundreds of options of lotion and shampoo and conditioner and razors and soaps all marketed for women all scented with sweet floral and fruity smells. Go to the men's section and you'll see they get one maybe two options for any of that.
Apart from a relatively few but important biases, with the most important being employment (which is not even mentioned here lol(also depends on the job though, but mostly there is bias)), the rest is just forced anti-feminism (not real anti-feminism). Manufacturers don't make things bigger because they are against women, or because they are pro-men. It's many times a standard thing to make something bigger than to make it smaller, because smaller can mean unusable, but bigger can be clankier/more annoying to use but still usable. A relatively shorter person can (uneasily but still) fit in something big, but a tall person can't fit in something small. And to add, we have many choices nowadays so even though it might not be the standard it should still be pretty possible to find things of our size.
What a lovely little whinge fest this is. Most of it is wrong and the stuff which doesn't work for women is only waiting for a woman to invent the solution instead of whining about how unfair the world is. If you're looking for sympathy it's in the dictionary between sh*t and syphilis.
I'm a 6ft1 tall woman, so I don't have the same issues regarding height, hand size etc as most women do in this world but trying to get diagnoses for ADD and Autism as a woman was impossible.
So, no. Stop being such a girl. It's not because you're female that you had a hard time getting diagnosis. It's becasue: a) they're not easy diagnoses to make, and if it did come easy then you should probably seek a second opinion; b) these conditions overlap in their descriptions, signs and symptoms a lot, even if their causes might vary greatly (ASD - congenital develepmental condition; BPD - childhood trauma; both have a lot in common in description and experience); c) Autism and ADD are most easily identified in children, and if it wasn't easily detected while you were a child then it will only become more difficult to identify as you get older because you both grow into them and also learn strategies to cope with the conditions that mask their existence; d) might also be that it's not in some entity's interests that these things are discovered - you might end up their liability. It's not because you're a girl. That's something that a girl would say. It's girlish. Stop being a big girl. Be a woman.
Load More Replies... If you're interested in finding out more about this, please read Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. I am currently reading it and it is mind-blowing. (Also, every statement is heavily based on research)
My wife is 5'1 and she is just a short person, regardless of gender, luckily her big strong man can do everything that she can't do, but of course, why should she need me there to get certain things down? Is this not just a short person problem?
well... according to all of this... I'm probably average man :D... No, i absolutely agree with many of this.
Some of these are a problem, like the subway safety bars and crash test dummies. But they make power tools for woman, I hate that they usually come in pink but they are there. One thing that personally pisses off is Xbox controller. They are made only for male hands. I'm talking the brand controllers not the 3rd party ones made post release. Third party controllers are not well made and the software usually lags. I have small hands, like I can wear kids gloves, but my male friends play on Xbox and I can't reliably play with them because I just can't grip the controllers. Because of this I'm Playstation for life with their gender neutral, symmetrical controller.
Even tall women like me have trouble finding stuff to fit sometimes. Like work gloves and Nomex coveralls. I've never found coveralls that aren't made for a really long torso, so I end up with the crotch seam hanging near my knees
that's weird, my wife who is also tall complains most things she looks for are way to small for her. as if things are mostly made for average and small women. specially decent jeans and shoes
Load More Replies... The kitchen one is bs😂 I'm a kitchen and bath designer, there's reasons for cabinets being 18" above the countertop. Also around where I live it's very common for cabinets to go to the ceiling because it looks good and tall men can't even reach the top shelf on those. Some of the points were definitely valid and I can name 10+ more, but some were definitely a stretch lol
Ah yes, the headrest pushes a woman's head "funny", that explains everything, after all women have differently shaped back of the skull. It isn't that this person regulated the headrest wrong /s The whole article makes it seem like women are some weaklings with no common sense. Not all tools can't get lighter so fast, they are limits to technology advancement. And you put things at a height you're comfortable with, regulate chairs etc. The double standard of half this things: can reach the bars comfortably means tall people will bump into those. Do u think giving tall people a concussion when emergency breaking is fine? Besides the medicine one they are wild misunderstandings of how technology works ~sincerely a woman
The cell screen is too large, you can get smaller phones but the screens aren't as big, ooh no! It's too cold so burn more fuel! The safety bars on the bus are too high, lower them, who cares how many people bang their heads on them. Sheesh!
Real life experience here: about 10 years ago I went to a house doctor emergencypost with pain between my shoulderblades, I could point out exactly where the pain was. I was feeling unwell. An old (male)doc was accompanied by a younger female. Hè watched her closely during examination and asked what her diagnosis was. She thought it was stress. Hè said: she is in the middle of a hart attaque and I have already called for an ambulance. He was right and saved my life (hart stopped in the ambulance)
Some good points above, but a large percent boil down to "people come in different sizes, and my size is discriminated against!" Yes, there are tall people and short people, and when something is "one size fits most" or even built in multiple sizes they (manufacturer, the store, etc) aim for the dead center average. Then, lots of more realistic issues (multiple examples of safety equipment, etc) are barely mentioned. Cut out the fat and there might be a better post in here.
I have another one: shoe sizes. Somehow people deciide what size women should have. I am tall and my feet and hands are in proportion. I luckily do not have many of the listed problems but I had to wear mens shoes until I hsd my own to buy special shoes at a shop for mishapen people...
It's called demand, up to certain sizes they won't sell as well depending on the sizes of people. Which is how unless I move to east Asia I will keep wearing children's shoes
Load More Replies... This article raises some areas that really need to be addressed, such as in the medicine field. Unfortunately a lot of that gets lost in the "women are small so if it's big it's sexist" approach. There have been tall women and short men for as long as there have been women and men. Men AND women come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the world will fit very few of us perfectly! Most products are designed (and have been for centuries) around the average user of said item. If you paid attention at school you know how averages can be thrown off by the exception. Some of these are just stupid and shouldn't even be considered as 'built for men' (Such as the Fitbit), learn to understand how the tech woks before jumping to 'sexist'. It's a shame that important messages can get lost amongst ignorance.
If You find it interesting then check Caroline Criado Perez https://twitter.com/CCriadoPerez . She's the author of "Invisible Women" - the book Allie has stolen her whole talk from.
Also, I have noticed that a movable shower head in the shower is far more female-friendly than a static showerhead. Static showerheads lack the ability to move the showerhead around to cleanse the biologically female body. A static showerhead cleanses the biologically male body considerably better than the biologically female's. Technically, there are more "unreachable" places on a biologically female body that a static showerhead cannot reach. Movable showerheads can, naturally, reach and cleanse those places properly.
That's plain ridiculous. Are you so scared of touching yourself that you rely on rinsing alone
Load More Replies... Life is'nt fair. Its not fair for disabled people, people with dwarfism, people over 6-7 foot, fat people, skinny people, men (In some cases), women (In SOME cases), and not fair for people in general. So this rant above makes no real sense.
NIce and easy for you to say, seeing that you are in the group the world is bult for.
Load More Replies... if you’re born a man in this world, welcome to millions of advantages. If you’re born a woman, welcome to suffering.. unequal rights, and things that are made only for men, and many more..
It is outrageous, and what about womens privileges? So much stupidity it makes my blood boiling. World is not equal in many life aspects. Small pockets? Than find one with a big one, I can do, so you too. Loo queue? Loo and leave not fix your make up for minutes. Ladies contraception? Use women condom. In so any instances women have easier, custody, lower sentences, skirts during summer. It is so much stupidity, do not look for issues when there is none. Not going to mention me too, with so many life's destroyed by a lie, and the real victoms are not believed afterwords, men and women. Women encouraged to go beyond and men being crushed for not being menly enough. Stop that nonsense. People are dying of covid/hunger equally, I just wonted to wright war, but again in many countries military service is obligatory for men and voluntary for women. Men can not go alone to a park, or he will be accused of being a creep. Let people live their life as long as they do not hurt anyone
What if you get in a car crash? Or have a heart attack? Or need a new drug, strictly tested on me? This is a real problem, and although many items on the list seem unimportant, they contribute to a larger problem. You sound impressively ignorant right now.
Load More Replies... "I would trade medical discrimination and a higher chance of dying in a car crash so I can sit comfortably for a few hours on a plane" LOL
Load More Replies... Don't be stupid Dave. Trans men are men who were born female-bodied, so struggle with many of the issues that cis women have. Specifying "cis men" in this case is entirely appropriate because trans men actually need to be excepted.
Load More Replies... 