another thing is this where are all the books about women;s === well this https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/24/where-are-all-the-books-about-menopause this article made me think of this thread... again... --- probably from the same person I got the image above from but anyway.. ---
I wear men's pants now. Levi Denzien (or something like that) Baggy, lots of pockets. If some man doesn't think my ass looks cute, who cares. His ass probably doesn't look cute either. I can't use most hand tools that have safety buttons, as I can't pull the "trigger " while depressing the safety button. I can, in an unsafe fashion press and hold the safety button with my other hand while squeezing the trigger. Battery operated weed trimmers, leaf blower, my boyfriend bought for me. He gets mad because I don't use them. Well, I can't detach the battery because my fingers can't reach over the top or around the battery to depress the teo sides. Plus you have to press them in with rather a lot of force. I might possibly be able to hold the tool in a vise and depress and detach the battery that way, but seriously I don't want to have to spend the extr time. Why not just shape the damn battery differently? Underwear and bras. Seriously? Uncomfortably and mostly designed to wear with our skintight, pocketless pants so that our ass and boobs look better for men ( some women( but since they are wearing the uncomfortable crap to I give them 100% pass)) .
Oh, and there is no women's deodorant. You can buy Nature Tom's ( or whatever it's called, something like that) But NOTHING, listed as women's deodorant. Mmmmm.... Breast cancer, aluminum..... Mmmmmm
If you're concerned about aluminum (and in general hate the sticky feeling of most commercial deodorants as I do) I strongly recommend looking into Lume. I've been using it over a year now. Goes on like a lotion, comes in an herbal or unscented formula, is specifically designed for sensitive skin, which mine definitely is, and it really works. It has withstood the hottest, stickiest summer I have ever been through in Louisiana, plus a trip down to the Big Easy with nary a whiff of BO. It doesn't stain your clothes at all, doesn't turn white shirts yellowish under the pits (because no aluminum.) Plus the company is very ethical and doesn't have animal ingredients or do animal testing. One tube has lasted me almost an entire year.
^ Over here we have lots of products for women - containing microplastic instead of aluminium: driving satan away with the devil, as a proverb states. So far I've been using a scented powder produced by Bronnley for the Royal Horticultural Society. This Lume sounds interesting. I'll see if it is available over here. Thanks for the tip! On the plus side we do have battery powered gardening tools that fit small hands and have batteries that can be changed even by children. My mom is about 5 feet and has no trouble with them at all. I do have to admit, though, that she's good with all sorts of tools, be it a soldering iron or a hedge trimmer.
I’m under 5 feet so being vertically-challenged is my main problem. Luckily I have someone to reach all the high-up stuff.
^my boss finds it funny to put all the files I need onto the topmost shelf so that every time I must get the stepladder from the lab. I'm taking my revenge by leaving the car's seat in the position I need it - I have very short legs - so that he must move the seat back before getting into it - he has legs like a daddy longleg. Sounds harmless but is actually much harder than you'd expect. Seats are constructed to be sat on while sliding them, heehee
Shoes. Most shoe companies use lasts formed for men's feet not women's feet. Yep, in general women's feet are wide in the front and narrow in the heel. Men's feet are more straight shaped. Also unisex yea, right. It just men's men's sizes.
In the mining sector, in the past the field was dominated by men, and so of course most of the equipment was only ever expected to fit men. But as more and more women have come into the sector and finding their EQ unsuitable, this was proving to be an issue to be solved. Some local women took charge and created a company making coveralls and other related EQ for women, and they've been a huge success and they've since expanded to offering workwear for women in general. https://canada.constructconnect.com...covergalls-women-covered-safety-gear-designed
Doctors nor recognising the different symptoms of heart attack in women is covered in the book as well as other problems women face that are due to lack of training of doctors is issues that affect women.
Another thing that was mentioned in the book. The solution to footwear sizes in the army (I think the US army) was to buy smaller male boots for their female soldiers but if course these shoes fitted the women poorly.
I use a grabber tool but mainly only to pick things up from the floor as I cannot bend easily due to arthritis. I don’t like using the grabber to retrieve things from high places because I am concerned I am going to drop and break things. However this is an example of something mentioned in the book, that when designers are informed about a design problem their solution is often to ‘fix the woman’ rather than ‘fix the problem’. For example, Siri recognised men’s voices about 70% more often that women’s voice. This is also a problem with other voice recognition software. When they were made aware of this problem the designers’ solution was to say that they needed to teach women to lower their voices so that the program recognised their voices. However I must admit Siri does seem to recognise my voice better now than it used to so maybe Apple did make improvements.
I am taller than average, so a lot of the height-related issues aren't often a problem for me. That being said, I still have to stand on a chair to reach the things in my top cupboards in my kitchen. (Which is why I tend to only put things up there that I won't need to access too often...) Yes, the infamous "pink tax". But it's OK, you see, it all balances out in the end, because with the gender pay gap, we tend to earn less on average, so... oh, wait.
I'm male, obviously, but at 5'4" I can identify with some of the issues mentioned above. Someone once asked me to move his car (the street sweeper was cleaning our parking lot). I move the seat all the way forward and still could not put the clutch peddle to the floor without undoing the seatbelt. Speaking of cars, I remember going to the car show with my wife. We were thinking of replacing her car, so I had her jump in as many different models as we could. Every time, she handed me her purse to hold. Her old car (1998 Mercury Sable) had enough space between the driver and passenger that she put her purse there. There wasn't a single car at the show, not even soccer-mom SUVs, that had a decent place for a woman to put her purse while she's driving.
^in that case I can recommend the Suzuki Vitara (a SUV). I use one at work and it has an amazingly spaceous and very deep lided compartment in a sort of armrest between the two seats. https://autofuerst-shop.de/images/product_images/info_images/Mittelarmlehne aufgeklappt_unten.JPG A purse or clutch will fit in easily, even a small handbag. When I drive, mine holds my purse, glasses, camera, phone and a bottle of tea.
Apparently they must be using the new "women's wellness" insert in the Mary Maxim craft catalogues. To hear the Mary Maxim agents' excuses as to why we're greeted with ads for sex toys when we're really looking for projects for crocheting and macrame and needlepoint, there is literally nowhere else where women can shop for this stuff "discreetly."