women's vs. men's departments

[blablover5]

I have a funny feeling sometimes it's even worse with women's as women are all supposed to have size 6 feet. If mine were that tiny I'd just fall over all the time.

All of us with big feet should band together, then hold our meeting in the woods and mess with some cryptozoologists.

I gave in and checked. A US women's size 11 is equivalent to a UK 9 and a European 43.

Is that big or just really big there?

 

[Laren]

I have a funny feeling sometimes it's even worse with women's as women are all supposed to have size 6 feet. If mine were that tiny I'd just fall over all the time.

All of us with big feet should band together, then hold our meeting in the woods and mess with some cryptozoologists.

I gave in and checked. A US women's size 11 is equivalent to a UK 9 and a European 43.

Is that big or just really big there?

Impressive, I would say.

 

[Holdfast]

I'm a size 11 in womens here. I think that makes it, what, a 50 over there.

Right.

Really, it sucks to have large-ish feet. I think I am an American size 9 or something like that (41, British size 7). I hate my clown feet, as I call them. Mostly because many shoes just don't look that good any more in larger sizes since they were designed to fit smaller feet.

I think women's sample size is a US 6, so 9 isn't SO much larger. But yes, big enough that it will throw styling proportions off when scaled up.

I'm more or less the UK men's sample size (UK7), so at least I know pictures of shoes in catalogues or online will look similar to real life for me.

 

[Elmo Dukat]

Just got back from Target. I was looking for some shoes for me.

Nice anecdata.

the pink shelves represents the women's shoes. The red, the children's shoes and the blue, the men's shoes.

I went to the nearby fitting room desk where there was an associate who I asked if there was a men's shoes section and she just said there was just the one shoes section.

Maybe this might sound small-minded or ignorant of me

FYI - if you find yourself saying this before commenting on something, chances are it *is* small-minded and ignorant. And by saying it, you're nearly always going to offend a few people (if not a whole class of people). Just so you know, starting threads like this is going to make people think you're just a troll. Maybe this isn't your intention, but this is what I (and others on this board) are seeing.

Case in point:

or whatever but maybe the reason women think they're paid less

(emphasis mine)

This has nothing to do with perception. There is actual data saying that women are paid significantly less than men for doing the same work.

I know there are some that think certain women such as myself are combative and perpetually offended, but honestly, with threads perpetuating stereotypes like these, and constantly having to battle people trying to post their soft porn on this board, what do you expect?

(Disclaimer: this thread being offensive does not mean that there aren't offensive posts/threads about men. Whether there are or not doesn't have anything to do with whether this particular thread is offensive or not)

 

[Rÿcher]

someone forgets to or neglects to write "j/k" in a post and suddenly he's an asshole.

Hindsight, right?

If I could go back and rewrite it more diplomatically, I would but I can't. All I can do is try to explain shit in subsequent posts.

 

[Ariadne]

Women could do it too, and look consistently stylish. Many do. The idea that most women go out and buy a whole new wardrobe every season is false. Most buy a handful of new but not too weird pieces per season (and maybe one more outre item) and fit those into their existing wardrobe.

Well, I more or less did, but that was because I was starting a new job in an office and only had university-student clothes. I picked a lot of really basic things, hoping they'd last a while. And I do repair my clothes, so they tend to last a while.

I'd like to affirm that I AM NOT SEXIST though some of my comments in my initial post would lead you to believe the contrary. I do have somewhat misogynistic tendencies however which it could be argued is different from puerile sexism. Again, perpetuated by the mass media.

I'm not sure you're in the best position to tell whether you're sexist or not... I wouldn't go around saying that I'm not racist, I'll let non-white people observe my behaviour and make that determination

 

[Finn]

I have five pairs- Work shoes, boots, Work Boots, sandals and dress shoes.

 

[Elmo Dukat]

someone forgets to or neglects to write "j/k" in a post and suddenly he's an asshole.

One is responsible for his own speech. This is an internet messageboard. How is one supposed to know you were merely telling sexist jokes rather than making sexist statements?

As for accidentally omitting 'j/k', "rrr, womenz likez shoez" is a little old, isn't it?

Hindsight, right?

Part of being responsible for one's own speech is thinking before saying something. Getting irritated when people call you out for thoughtless speech isn't going to garner much pity from any crowd, and especially not this one, which has more than its fair share of grounded, responsible writers and thinkers.

If I could go back and rewrite it more diplomatically, I would but I can't. All I can do is try to explain shit in subsequent posts.

You can edit if the edit time hasn't expired. Otherwise, you have the option to ask the moderator to close the thread, and you can repost what you actually meant to say in a new thread.

 

[Holdfast]

Women could do it too, and look consistently stylish. Many do. The idea that most women go out and buy a whole new wardrobe every season is false. Most buy a handful of new but not too weird pieces per season (and maybe one more outre item) and fit those into their existing wardrobe.

Well, I more or less did, but that was because I was starting a new job in an office and only had university-student clothes. I picked a lot of really basic things, hoping they'd last a while. And I do repair my clothes, so they tend to last a while.

Yeah, but do you do it every season?

That's the point I was making. Most women, and certainly most professional women with the kind of job where nice attire is an important element of their overall effectiveness at the job just as it is with their male counterparts, don't buy whole new wardrobes every season. They just integrate a few new seasonal items in.

Men operate similarly, in fact, though they tend to be less aware of what they are doing and perhaps buy a little less frequently so integrate items less effectively/smoothly

Having said that, designer ladies shoes and handbags are serious cha-ching for retailers. They have easily the highest mark-ups (200%+, that sort of order of magnitude*) of anything in the store and also tend to sell rapidly and are also relatively easy gifts for men shopping for their partners.

That's why the Saks Fifth Avenue 70% off flagship store firesale earlier this shopping season was so shocking - to see shoes and handbags being sold at those discounts, that early, was deeply, deeply unsettling in terms of expectations of retail sales and the wider consumer economy. Shoes and handbags shouldn't need discounts of that level until much later!


*for some brands it's much higher - Louis Vuitton bags are about 1300%.

 

[Spot's Meow]

There are all female gyms. Just about one on every street corner. I think they're #2 behind Starbucks per capita. Don't know about where where you live but around here there aren't any all male gyms.

Why is that, do you suppose? So women can feel comfortable working out without fear them men are checking them out? Get over yourselves and sweat a little.

Are you serious? Do you really think that responding to comments that your original post was sexist by using another even more sexist example is helping your case?
Yes, we all need to get over ourselves for wanting some personal privacy and to be able to work out without feeling like a piece of meat on display. And of course we must just be self-conscious about our sweat. Um, I don't think that's the problem. Anyone who goes to work out expects to sweat. The problem is that you can't run on a treadmill without guys looking at your breasts like your sole purpose for running is to excite them with your bouncing boobs.

Your posts are quite infuriating and often ridiculous. And sorry, but saying "I'm not sexist!" doesn't exactly make it true.

 

[An Officer]

Is it just me, or have we had an influx of male posters lately, who seem to want to do nothing but compete with women, complaining about all their supposed privileges, liberties and evils...?

I'm beginning to think they actually want to become women! It's baffling. It just reeks of pitiable resentfulness and jealousy. If you want to become a woman, there are a lot of very expert doctors who can help, sometimes free of charge, without subjecting all of us here to your neurosis. Or, if you hated your mother, perhaps you should write her a letter and let it all out. In any case, all this hatred and negativity is not good for you.

I had no idea there so many so called "straight" men here could think being indisposed and in agony a week out of every month, having to go through labour if you want the gift of children, and the menopause, etc were all fantastic and inviting ordeals they want to take part in.

As to general stores not stocking as much choice in male items, perhaps it's because it's usually the long suffering wife, mother, and in some cases sister (I've seen this one myself), who go out to buy their men's personal items. The shops obviously recognise from which side their bread is buttered. OP, if you want all this to change, then more men need to stop being so damned reliant on their women!

 

[Rÿcher]

I mentioned sweat and she thinks it's about sweat.

clearly I'm a worse writer than I thought.

I told you guys about my asperger's, right? Mild autism? (and the first a-hole to suggests I'm using that as a crutch gets spanked. yeah it's an excuse - it's why I am why I am)

Any trekkies here into logic?

I have been seen making a lot of posts which I and I alone think are funny. Would it be beyond the realm of possibilities or logical to assume that some of my original post is me trying to be tongue-in-cheek?

 

[Goliath]

Women could do it too, and look consistently stylish. Many do. The idea that most women go out and buy a whole new wardrobe every season is false. Most buy a handful of new but not too weird pieces per season (and maybe one more outre item) and fit those into their existing wardrobe.

Of course. But then, I didn't say: "women buy new wardrobes every season."

What I said was: "the fashion industry pressures women to buy new wardrobes every season."

When it comes to fashion, the heat is on women, in ways that it just isn't on men. And that has been true since at least the early 19th century.

Women's clothes are like computers: they're obsolescent almost as soon as you buy them.

Men aren't immune from fashion either though - if you buy a suit now, it WILL look noticeably different to a suit bought 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Men's ready-to-wear fashions do change, and sometimes in really big ways. Think of the ultra-wide lapels of the 70s... or some of the ultra-thin lapels of the past couple of years. Those will look pretty odd in a few years time in the way the 70s lapels do, though many men buying them now don't realise it.

And this is true as well. But my point was simply that men's fashions change more slowly than women's. After all, look at the time spans you're talking about here: ten years, twenty years, thirty years.

Come over some time and watch some DVDs from my film-noir collection: sixty years later, a suit still looks like a suit. Or even better, let's leaf through my reproduction of the 1908 Sears & Roebuck catalogue together. Once again--men's clothes look like men's clothes, while women's clothes look like something from another world.

And remember, too: you're a guy who really pays attention to his clothes, and devotes a lot of effort to looking smart and stylish. In fact, you've described this in the past as an art form. Whereas I probably wouldn't even notice most of the differences you're pointing out, until they became really egregious.

I am an academic, after all: as a disembodied intellect, I float serenely through the world of coming-to-be and passing-away, preoccupied with the realm of the forms, unconcerned with merely material things...

Or, to put it in fewer words: I'm a slob. I buy new clothes when the old ones wear out--not when they go out of fashion. And I still manage to dress better than many of my colleagues, at least for work.

 

[trampledamage]

I mentioned sweat and she thinks it's about sweat.

clearly I'm a worse writer than I thought.

I told you guys about my asperger's, right? Mild autism? (and the first a-hole to suggests I'm using that as a crutch gets spanked. yeah it's an excuse - it's why I am why I am)

Any trekkies here into logic?

I have been seen making a lot of posts which I and I alone think are funny. Would it be beyond the realm of possibilities or logical to assume that some of my original post is me trying to be tongue-in-cheek?

And would it also be beyond the realm of possibility that you realise that some of your humour doesn't translate of the page the way you'd like and therefore you become more liberal with your use of joking smilies?

Asberger's or not - you're not so much of an idiot to not know that differences between men and women can be a hot button topic and any discussion of it needs to be very obviously a joke or done in a serious and even-handed way.

 

[Goliath]

Or women think this because they are being paid less for the same work and have to be substantially better than any competing guys to be even considered for the same position.

I'm not sure what field you work in, and I can't speak for them all, but in my own field, both of those claims are just not true.

 

[Rÿcher]

Asberger's or not - you're not so much of an idiot to not know that differences between men and women can be a hot button topic and any discussion of it needs to be very obviously a joke or done in a serious and even-handed way.

...and yet here we are. People pissed at me probably avoiding me like the plague.

I'm just always trying to understand. How does this always happen?

 

[Holdfast]

Camelopard: Yeah, re-reading your first post, I get your point (and to be fair, probably skimmed it too quickly before replying the first time; sorry about that).

 

[Goliath]

Camelopard: Yeah, re-reading your first post, I get your point (and to be fair, probably skimmed it too quickly before replying the first time; sorry about that).

No need to be sorry.

I mean, it's not like you were wearing green dancing slippers, or something...

 

[Elmo Dukat]

Asberger's or not - you're not so much of an idiot to not know that differences between men and women can be a hot button topic and any discussion of it needs to be very obviously a joke or done in a serious and even-handed way.

...and yet here we are. People pissed at me probably avoiding me like the plague.

I'm just always trying to understand. How does this always happen?

Just as another FYI - many more people than you know on this board have an intimate knowledge of Asperger's. Interesting that I don't notice those particular people having such a problem with sexism, in general.

I take issue with Asperger's being some catch-all excuse for lack of forethought. That's just not true. If anything, greater carefulness and attention to detail should drive your words, and it should bother your sense of logic and honesty that you don't myth-bust your false, blanket claims by actually researching your statements.

So no, "I have Asperger's" isn't going to absolve you of the responsibility for thinking about the consequences of your words. If anything, that's offensive to Aspies. They aren't blundering fools. Reduced empathy doesn't translate to use of anecdata, insulting groups of people with (false) blanket conclusions, and so forth.

 

[Rÿcher]

part joking, part serious? I try to avoid blanket terminology wherever possible where "all" department stores have mostly this and none of that and "all" Jewish people do that.

except one:

I *always* fail.