stupidist thing I've read in a looooong time (Norway and Ikea)
Ikea gets whipped
I honestly thought that something this asinine couldn't happen in Europe. Just leave it the wonderfully whipped Nordic cousins to even pay attention to such a demand.
And I thought political correctness in the States was extreme... this just makes it look tame.
I'm still at a loss for words.
I honestly thought that something this asinine couldn't happen in Europe. Just leave it the wonderfully whipped Nordic cousins to even pay attention to such a demand.
And I thought political correctness in the States was extreme... this just makes it look tame.
I'm still at a loss for words.
Comments
One reason (among many) that I got married was so that I DON'T have to do things like assemble furniture. In the last 12+ years, I have assembled exactly zero pieces of furniture--and I hardly feel persecuted. Quite the contrary. I don't change the oil in the car either (nope, don't drive it in for changes either).
Look, if they want to be "fair" if not realistic, whatever.
I don't have to put together furniture, he doesn't have to wipe stinky butts. It works.
Reading this Person Paper on Purity in Language was probably a defining moment in my becoming more aware of gender bias.
Kind of off-topic but I *love* that guy's books, if you're a CompSci/Maths/Music/Language nerd you owe it to yourself to read them. Mindbendingly good stuff.
seriously though in a particular Asian country i am living in now, it's perfectly legal and accepted to say something like "Chinese female preferred".... and a major newspaper's filler ad for their classified jobs sections says something like
FIND THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB
Advertise In Our Classified Section
....
so i guess i'm just pointing out two cases maybe one where over-PoliticalCorrectness gets dumb and another case where people need to be aware that "find the right MAN for the job" sounds a tad sexist
edit1: *sigh*
edit2: *sigh*
edit3: actually, i think the IKEA ROBOT idea kicks ass.. am i right or what??
edit4: i can picture it now... and the IKEA ROBOT could be part of their whole new rebranding campaign to deflect the bad PR from this kind of stuff... i'm calling them right now....
edit5: ah bugger it. it's 2 AM and i wanna go to sleep....
I'd give a big high-five to ikea if they had nude women assembling tables in their new manuals
Originally posted by ZO
Ikea gets whipped
I honestly thought that something this asinine couldn't happen in Europe. Just leave it the wonderfully whipped Nordic cousins to even pay attention to such a demand.
And I thought political correctness in the States was extreme... this just makes it look tame.
I'm still at a loss for words.
You're making a big deal about not perpetuating stereotypical gender roles? That's, uh, unfortunate. But I'm going to work tonight, so I'm sure some of the managers and their "nuke the towel-heads and pave it over with a parking lot" comments will top yours. God I love you people.
Originally posted by slughead
I actually wish we had so few problems that our president ranting about wanting to see more chicks in an instruction manual was "news."
Ahem!
Until they sort out that word, it seems that pictures of male stick figures assembling cheap furniture are perfectly okay.
This is such a non-issue.
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
I'm not sure if that last comment was a joke or not, but manual means by hand, not by men.
I am handing you some sarcasm goggles. They'll help.
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
Fair enough. I just thought it was an odd comment to make since the link I posted earlier lampoons people who make that exact argument seriously in order to undermine more logical complaints. Especially when you then followed it with a pronouncement that this is a non-issue.
The whole thing is ridiculous.
I suppose now they'll have to start printing the manuals in full colour so they can show the entire mixed-race, multi-generational, variously capable, ambiguously sexually oriented, extended family assembling that coffee table.
Oh wait, is that a free-trade coffee table?
Originally posted by audiopollution
The whole thing is ridiculous.
I suppose now they'll have to start printing the manuals in full colour so they can show the entire mixed-race, multi-generational, variously capable, ambiguously sexually oriented, extended family assembling that coffee table.
Oh wait, is that a free-trade coffee table?
I told you guys, man, just use androgenous-looking robots!!! until the robot liberation movement of 2040.... so you got 35 years of using and depicting robots as slaves...!! come on, let's make a most of these next 35 years...
PS. you don't wanna go into the environment side of IKEA and furniture and stuff. trust me, that's a whole 'nother can of worms
Originally posted by audiopollution
The whole thing is ridiculous.
I suppose now they'll have to start printing the manuals in full colour so they can show the entire mixed-race, multi-generational, variously capable, ambiguously sexually oriented, extended family assembling that coffee table.
What about people who have no family or gender?
I'm offended.
Originally posted by audiopollution
The whole thing is ridiculous.
I suppose now they'll have to start printing the manuals in full colour so they can show the entire mixed-race, multi-generational, variously capable, ambiguously sexually oriented, extended family assembling that coffee table.
Oh wait, is that a free-trade coffee table?
Do you actually have a point? Beyond harrumphing about how ridiculous this is?
Like, perhaps, offending people is good? That young girls do not need realistic role models portraying women as the astronauts, soldiers, prime ministers and yes, furniture assemblers, that they have been and will be. That governments should not care about equality? That any attempt to rebalance society towards traditionally under-represented groups is a slippery slope that will inevitably lead to your children being forced to become cross-gendered, dark-skinned, homosexual communists and therefore we should roll back all progress since only wealthy, white, male landowners could vote?
Votes for women, non-whites and the poor have all been dismissed as ridiculous in the past, usually with better arguments than you're presenting, so please, indulge me and take a stand: what is actually wrong with (and exactly why is it ridiculous) with wanting IKEA instructions to feature images of women assembling the furniture?
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
Do you actually have a point? Beyond harrumphing about how ridiculous this is?
Like, perhaps, offending people is good? That young girls do not need realistic role models portraying women as the astronauts, soldiers, prime ministers and yes, furniture assemblers, that they have been and will be. That governments should not care about equality? That any attempt to rebalance society towards traditionally under-represented groups is a slippery slope that will inevitably lead to your children being forced to become cross-gendered, dark-skinned, homosexual communists and therefore we should roll back all progress since only wealthy, white, male landowners could vote?
Votes for women, non-whites and the poor have all been dismissed as ridiculous in the past, usually with better arguments than you're presenting, so please, indulge me and take a stand: what is actually wrong with (and exactly why is it ridiculous) with wanting IKEA instructions to feature images of women assembling the furniture?
no i think for a lot of us outside of europe, it is both pleasing yet distressing in a way that europe 'is way ahead' and more enlightened in a way that they can focus on this sort of stuff...
in some countries young girls have to marry at 14 and don't get to be astronauts, some may have to become soldiers or suicide bombers... in other countries that are considered liberal and developed, two men holding hands walking down the wrong street (where you can't always know where the 'wrong' street is, could be the okay street at just the 'wrong' time) can get hurt pretty bad
i think we're all just a bit flabbergasted overall by the diversity in the world... i know i am, like i said, where i'm living right now you can totally get away with advertising "slim attractive chinese female secretary female required, between 20-28 years of age" for a fairly professional high-level position.... not just in advertising, or pr or anything...
as this global village thing starts happening more and more, we'll be exposed to quite a lot of new things. just wait till china and north korea eventually start opening up more to the world, for exampl.....
?
I just read this quote in an article on film majors in the New York Times:
"People endowed with social power and prestige are able to use film and media images to reinforce their power - we need to look to film to grant power to those who are marginalized or currently not represented," said Mr. Herbst, who envisions a future in the public policy arena.
That's an argument along the lines of what some of us are saying.
When we let stereotypes guide our orientation through life we don´t learn to be individuals with our own unique history and abilities. Learn the children from before kindergarden that they are unique and are able to do what they want. Then furniture assembling persons won´t have to be role models for you. Then role models are not chosen if they looks like you but if they possess a certain quality that you can identify yourself with.
And i think that Ikea should make stick figures as to leave the sex of the figure questionable, and just name them a name that could be used for a man or a woman... like larry. or susan.
But really, name it sam. Samantha.. or Sam... both are called sam.